Juego de Banderas

2016 - Painting (Painting)

Antonio Caro

location: Bogotá, Colombia
year born: 1950
gender: male
nationality: Colombian

Juego de Banderas (a play on words that loosely translates to both set of flags and game of flags) is a triptych of modified Colombian flags by Antonio Caro. Although the yellow, blue and red stripes on the first flag are faithful to the original, the second flag at the center has been modified to feature the word Colombia, emulating the typography and white-on-red design of the iconic Coca-Cola brand. Caro’s first version of this logo was a 1976 graphite drawing, and he has since produced several variations in different materials. Equally relevant now as it was in the 70s, the logo juxtaposes the idea of national identity with the process of intrusion of a foreign commercial emblem and problematizes the growing consumerism brought forth by the economic and cultural americanization experienced in Colombia and all across Latin America. A third flag on the right shows a related but different modification: the yellow stripe that symbolizes gold and the country’s riches and wealth has been rendered in black, and the only yellow remaining is used to spell out the word ‘mineria’ (mining). As per several of his works, Juego de Banderas employs symbolic elements in order to instigate a civic dialogue around issues Caro perceives around him.


One of the founders of the Conceptual Art Movement in Colombia, Antonio Caro’s idea-based works are rooted in the social issues of his country. He began showing work in the late 60s in Bogota and subsequently became an important figure in the global artistic scene, developing in over five decades a distinctive, humorous, and highly idiosyncratic visual language with an emphasis on text and other graphic elements. Some of his best known works appropriate and misuse the typography of iconic international advertising brands—such as Coca-Cola and Marlboro—as means to comment of the social and political conditions of his native Colombia and their relationship to the imperialist and capitalist hierarchies of power that now grip their reality. Although he initially gained notoriety as a conceptual artist, over the years his practice has resisted categorizations, easy commercialization—through his choice of materials such as salt, achiote, cardboard and paper scraps—and has consistently questioned the label of ‘political art’ through his distinctive use of sarcasm, wit, and critical sense of humor.


Colors:



Plug the well ( July / August 2003)
© » KADIST

Keith Tyson

The work of Keith Tyson is concerned with an interest in generative systems, and embraces the complexity and interconnectedness of existence...

20 Surrogates
© » KADIST

Allan McCollum

1982

In the work titled The Glossies (1980), an affinity for photography manifested itself before McCollum actually began to use photography as a medium...

Black Hands, White Cotton
© » KADIST

Hank Willis Thomas

2014

Shot in black and white and printed on a glittery carborundum surface, Black Hands, White Cotton both confronts and abstracts the subject of its title...

Related works featuring themes of: » Colombian  
» see more

Primero Estaba el Mar
© » KADIST

Felipe Arturo

2012

Primero estaba el mar ( First Was the Sea , 2012) is a system of equivalences between syllables and silhouettes of waveforms cast in cement...

Trópico entrópico
© » KADIST

Felipe Arturo

2012

Defined as entropy, the second law of thermodynamics proposes that energy is more easily dispersed than it is concentrated...

Metaphors of the presence or conversations at the speed of light
© » KADIST

Nicolás Paris

2012

Nicolas Paris studied architecture and worked as an elementary school teacher before he decided to become an artist...

Colombia
© » KADIST

Nicolás Consuegra

2014

Consuegra’s Colombia is a mirror made in the shape of the artist’s home country—a silhouette that has an important resonance for the artist...

Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

Primero Estaba el Mar
© » KADIST

Felipe Arturo

2012

Primero estaba el mar ( First Was the Sea , 2012) is a system of equivalences between syllables and silhouettes of waveforms cast in cement...

Trópico entrópico
© » KADIST

Felipe Arturo

2012

Defined as entropy, the second law of thermodynamics proposes that energy is more easily dispersed than it is concentrated...

Abece “K”
© » KADIST

Johanna Calle

2011

Johanna Calle’s Abece “K” (2011) is part of a series of drawings (compiled into an artist book called Abece ) based on the alphabet...

Almohada
© » KADIST

Mateo Lopez

2011

Mateo Lopez uses paper as a medium to conjure personal experiences...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

Tschabalala Self’s portrait of Nicki Minaj covers Vogue’s December 2023 issue.
© » ARTSY

Tschabalala Self’s portrait of Nicki Minaj covers Vogue’s December 2023 issue...

Art Basel in Miami Beach Diary: B-52s monkey around, channelling Marina Abramović and the Pérez gets its funk on
© » THEARTNEWSPER

Art Basel in Miami Beach Diary: B-52s monkey around, channelling Marina Abramović and the Pérez gets its funk on Art market Museums & heritage Exhibitions Books Podcasts Columns Technology Adventures with Van Gogh Search Search Art Basel in Miami Beach 2023 blog Art Basel in Miami Beach Diary: B-52s monkey around, channelling Marina Abramović and the Pérez gets its funk on Plus: Scope gets in a pickle(ball), Perrotin says do look up and Elberto Muller takes the slow train The Art Newspaper 9 December 2023 Share Kate Pierson, singer with the 1980s band the B-52s, with one of the works on show at the Spectrum Miami art fair that were jointly created by band members and a group of chimps...

“Wild Style” Turns 40 at Deitch, Curated by Carlo McCormick
© » BROOKLYN STREET ART

“Wild Style” Turns 40 at Deitch, Curated by Carlo McCormick | Brooklyn Street Art BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY “They are all friends, brought together again to mark a momentous occasion,” says Carlo McCormick about what really matters to him when curating the 40 th Anniversary of “the first and foundational movie of hip-hop,” Wild Style...

And The Oddest Book Title Of 2023 Is …
© » ARTSJOURNAL

The Bookseller - Spotlight - Danger Sound Klaxon! picks up the Diagram Prize gong ao link Subscribe from less than £3.50 a week SUBSCRIBE menu close Topics Children's Bookshop Heroes International Libraries Events Academic Prizes The British Book Awards The YA Book prize Publishing Calendar 2022 Obituaries Publishing Calendar 2023 Bookshops The Bookseller's Disability Issue Broadcast News Rights Comment Bestsellers Books Previews Author Interviews Spotlight Features Trade Interviews The Bookseller 150 Bookshop Heroes Rising Stars Events Jobs Subscribe Remember Login Register | Reset Password Search The Bookseller Search Search The Bookseller Search Remember Login Register | Reset Password LOGIN TOPICS Popular Topics Featured Topics Children's Bookshop Heroes International Libraries Events Academic Prizes The British Book Awards The YA Book prize Publishing Calendar 2022 Obituaries Publishing Calendar 2023 Bookshops The Bookseller's Disability Issue Broadcast News Rights Comment Bestsellers Books Previews Author Interviews Spotlight Features Trade Interviews The Bookseller 150 Bookshop Heroes Rising Stars Events Jobs Subscribe Publishing Calendar Books from Scotland Topics Children's Bookshop Heroes International Libraries Events Academic Prizes The British Book Awards The YA Book prize Publishing Calendar 2022 Obituaries Publishing Calendar 2023 Bookshops The Bookseller's Disability Issue Broadcast News Rights Comment Bestsellers Books Previews Author Interviews Spotlight Features Trade Interviews The Bookseller 150 Bookshop Heroes Rising Stars Events Jobs Subscribe SUBSCRIBE Home Spotlight x You are viewing your 1 free article this month...

Related works from the » 2010's created around » Bogotá, Colombia  
» see more

Abece “K”
© » KADIST

Johanna Calle

2011

Johanna Calle’s Abece “K” (2011) is part of a series of drawings (compiled into an artist book called Abece ) based on the alphabet...

Nadie sabe de la sed con que otro bebe (No one knows the thirst with which another drinks)
© » KADIST

Nicolás Consuegra

2012

A residency program in the blazing hot city of Honda, Colombia, inspired artist Nicolás Consuegra to consider the difficulty in understanding the needs of a distant community...

Metaphors of the presence or conversations at the speed of light
© » KADIST

Nicolás Paris

2012

Nicolas Paris studied architecture and worked as an elementary school teacher before he decided to become an artist...

Casa de la cabeza (House of the head)
© » KADIST

Bernardo Ortiz

2011

Casa de la cabeza (2011) is a drawing of the words of the title, which translate literally into English as “house of the head.” Ortiz uses this humorous phrase to engage the idea of living in your head....

Related artist(s) to: Antonio Caro » Cildo Meireles, » Eugenio Dittborn, » Latin America, » Lotty Rosenfeld, » Mona Hatoum, » Pedro Reyes  
» see more

Sal Sem Carne
© » KADIST

Cildo Meireles

1975

Meireles, whose work often involves sound, refers to Sal Sem Carne (Salt Without Meat) as a “sound sculpture.” The printed images and sounds recorded on this vinyl record and it’s lithographed sleeve describe the massacre of the Krahó people of Brazil...

Los Mutantes
© » KADIST

Pedro Reyes

2012

Pedro Reyes’s Los Mutantes ( Mutants , 2012) is composed of 170 plates that combine characters from ancient and modern mythologies...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

The history of the Chinese national flag, from the 19th century Yellow Dragon to 1949’s red design with its 5 stars, and what these symbolise
© » SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

The history of the Chinese national flag, from the 19th century Yellow Dragon to 1949’s red design with its 5 stars, and what these symbolise...

A Flags-Raising-Lowering Ceremony at my home’s clothes drying rack
© » KADIST

Kwan Sheung Chi

2007

A Flags-Raising-Lowering Ceremony at my home’s cloths drying rack (2007) was realized in the year of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China...

Untitled (Zimbabwe)
© » KADIST

Fred Wilson

2009

Fred Wilson’s flag paintings document the 20th century history of African people, indexing the period of liberation from colonialism...

What Color
© » KADIST

Luke Murphy

2016

What Color is Luke Murphy’s outstanding digital painting that elegantly loops in nonstop motion...