Daniel Chust
1/06

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An acclaimed and witty installation artist, Chust was born in Brazil. He lives and works in Barcelona and has been widely shown in Spain, France and throughout Europe. For some time now, his extremely diverse installations, which use an assortment of media and approaches, all refer to one subject matter only: the artist's own studio. Some of these "studios" look like children's play stations, colorful and too small for an adult to enter into; others offer interactive opportunities, and others yet function as a still and distant object. One of his model studios includes the following sign: METHODOLOGY OF WORK
1. I have an idea: reproduce my studio.
2. I don't have any idea: reproduce my studio
3. I have another idea: reproduce my studio

In another particularly striking and provocative installation, Chust used actual money he won as a prize – 2400 bills of five euros each, to construct a one-meter long miniature studio. While the studio itself sometimes remains the same over many years, the resulting works offer myriad interpretations and approaches to the meaning of the studio, for the artist, the viewer, and for art itself.
Chust was one of two Barcelona artists chosen by the JCVA for a Jerusalem exchange. He came to Jerusalem in January, 2006.  As his subject matter is his own studio, the JCVA arranged a shared studio for him with a local artist. The work he made as a result of the residency was shown in a joint exhibition with the work of his fellow Barcelonian, Domenec as well as with that of Koby Levy and Doron Rabina from Israel, who were chosen for the Barcelona exchange. The exhibition, Passer By, co-curated with the JCVA by Barcelona curator Marti Peran, opened in May 2007  in the Artists' Studios gallery space in Tel-Aviv and was very well-attended. It opens in Barcelona in the La Capella Gallery in September 2007.
Airsoft


The work Chust produced as a result of the exchange project between the Barcelona Institute of Culture and the Jerusalem Center for the Visual Arts (JCVA) adheres to his usual practice and replicates the image of the Jerusalem studio he worked in. One of the pieces produced here, a miniaturized replica of the studio in porcelain was planned to be granted as a gift to his sponsors. This impulse echoes the dedicatory scenes often depicted in frescos and altar-pieces during the early Renaissance, wherein the donors appear as part of the religious scene.

Here Daniel Chust was aiming to reverse the roles: the artist takes the donor's place and the patron becomes the recipient. Chust's choice amuses and surprises us as he turns around the well-known images of the dedicatory scene.

All of Chust’s works bear the word “air” in their title, and come
from brands or expressions that feature the word “air.” Chust’s titles function as ready-mades that convey mental images and forms. While Airsoft rings of smoothness and evokes a sensual feeling, it is actually the name of an American sports gun.
 
 
Airless

A tiny miniature studio, made of silver and reminiscent of a piece of jewelry, this piece was placed at the very corner of an otherwise empty gallery. A large projection of the jewel completed this installation by drawing the viewer's attention. Finding the actual jewel, which is only three centimeters long, involved some searching, and usually took visitors a little longer.