Sisifo

Deborah Castillo is a Venezuelan-born, Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist. She holds an MFA and BFA from Armando Reverón Higher Education School of Fine Arts in Caracas, Venezuela. Castillo has been granted numerous awards and residencies including NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program, (2015), NYC, The Banff Center. Artist in Residence Program in Visual Arts (2015) Canada, Atlantic Center for the Arts (2014), Florida and London Print Studio, (2007) UK as well as "Premio Armando Reverón"; AVAP in the "Young Artist Category" (2013), "XI Salón Eugenio Mendoza" Award, Sala Mendoza, (2003); VI Salón CANTV, Jóvenes con FIA" Award, (2003) Caracas, Venezuela and more. Her work has been exhibited at Museum of Arts and Design (US), New Museum (US), Rufino Tamayo Museum (Mexico), Carrillo Gil Museum (Mexico); Escuela de Bellas Artes, Bolivian Biennial SIART (Bolivia), UCLA (US), ICA (UK), Palais de Tokyo (France, The Broad Museum (US), Smack Mellon (US), and the Hemispheric Institute (US), among others.

Artist Deborah Castillo uses a chisel to destroy a sculpture of Simón Bolívar, the iconic Latin American independence hero. The action of chiseling and scraping away at the face of "The Liberator" critiques the superficial veneration of Bolívar's image by socialists in Venezuela. The title Sisyphus references the Greek mythological character doomed to repeat the same action for eternity--pushing an enormous boulder up a hill, only to have the boulder fall back to the starting point. In drawing this comparison, Castillo questions Bolívar's achievements, as well as the mythology surrounding his legacy.