Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea is proud to present True North, the new solo exhibition of the Italian artist El Gato Chimney, curated by Michela D’Acquisto.

While the compass needle conventionally indicates magnetic north, the true north corresponds to the imaginary and constantly moving point of the geographic North Pole, in which all the meridians converge and from which every direction can only lead south. In absolute antithesis to the latter, the impervious and unreachable north stands out as a destination for countless expeditions, yet never completely conquered: a region that hosts dangers and wonders – from the aurora borealis to the arctic mirages and the natural treasures trapped in amber – whose rhythms are punctuated by the polar night and the midnight sun. More than an accurate position on a map, the term “true north” therefore evokes a place of extremes. Above all, it suggests a mutable and relative concept, the idea that there may exist a highly subjective true north in the imagination of each of us.

For El Gato Chimney, it’s that of the perennial ice, but also of the rocky desert of Mongolia, of the tundra of the Inuit and the Sami. The true north of the artist isn’t subordinated to topography: it’s found where popular magic and shamanic tradition still dominate over reason, but, in particular, where man hasn’t been able to prevail over nature, thus adapting himself to its will.

Supported as always by extensive research, through the works that make up True North El Gato Chimney goes further and further north, on a fictitious journey in search of its elusive essence.

On show large-format watercolors and a site-specific installation.

El Gato Chimney was born in 1981 in Milan, where he lives and works. Self-taught, with a background as a street artist abandoned in favor of a more introspective exploration in the studio, he dedicates his time to the research of a wide variety of subjects: primitive and sacred art, esoterism and spiritualism, folklore, magical realism in literature.

He has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, such as: 2018, Material Earth: Myth, Material And Metamorphosis, Messums Wiltshire, Tisbury; 2017, Eterno Ritorno, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano; 2017, Animal Kingdom, William Baczek Fine Arts, Northampton; HEY!, Galerie Arts Factory, Paris; The Wild Wood, James Freeman Gallery, London; 2016, Don’t Wake Daddy XI, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg; Language Of The Birds: Occult And Art, 80WSE Gallery, New York University, New York; Nothing Is Real, MAO Museo D’Arte Orientale, Torino; The Forest Fire, Galería Combustión Espontánea, Madrid; 2015, De Rerum Natura, Stephen Romano Gallery, New York; Mappa Dell’Arte Nuova, Fondazione Cini, Venezia; Not Man The Less, But Nature More, Summerhall, Edinburgh; Opus Hypnagogia: Sacred Space Of The Visionary And Vernacular, Morbid Anatomy Museum, New York; Praestigium Italia – Imago Mundi, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino; Preternatural History, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano; 2014, Mal D’Africa, Ego Gallery, Lugano; Metapsychic Paths, Galería Combustión Espontánea, Madrid; Mysterium Cosmographicum, Stephen Romano Gallery, New York; 2013, Crossroads, Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano; Immagini D’Io, Triennale Di Milano, Milano; and has participated in international art fairs, including Artefiera, Bologna; London Art Fair, London; Pulse, Miami; Scope, New York; The Metro Show, New York.

Among the publications: Nothing Is Real (Silvana Editore, 2016, Italy); The Encyclopedia Of Fernal Affairs (2015, France); Hunt And Gather (Mark Batty Publisher, 2010, USA); Los Colores Del Underground (Astiberri, 2009, Spain); Arte Contemporanea Volume 7 “Ambienti” (Electa per Repubblica – L’Espresso, 2008, Italy).