There is in Carvajal Brown´s work a latent tribute to his personal pantheon, to figures that complete his fragmented story. Incorporating characters from different spheres of the world through a broken stroke, he connects us to some sort of disenchantment of the portrayed figures, which at the same time reveals admiration for its protagonists. Puzzled images wander in the backgrounds of his scenes, leaving clues about their own psychological swarms through personal symbols recurring in all his works.
The crossing between cartoon and portrait, between irony and pain, between childhood in struggle to a bitter adulthood, between the United States and Chile, gives his work an emotional load with which it is unavoidable to recognise ourselves.
“I feel that my work focuses on my existential conflicts with the constant anxiety I have to fight every day. Along with that, I involve my political views, especially the separation of church and state"
Felipe Carvajal Brown, Santiago de Chile 1996. The son of an American mother and Chilean father was raised by his mother who worked hard for him and his brother. She taught him the English language and everything about the culture of her native country, something that was very important in his human and professional formation.
For a year he studied visual arts in California when his mother moved back, but for mental health reasons, he returned to a city in the south of Chile called Chillán, where he finally studied construction engineering.
In his future, art appears as a real possibility and a constant motivation. He started making drawings with Bic pen and watercolours, which he compiled in a book published independently: "Pipe Ace: Learning from a Sketch". He then moved to Sakura ink pencils and collages.
His main influences range from outsider artists such as Vivian Maier and Henry Darger, Chilean artists such as Nicanor Parra and Francisco Papas fritas, as well as worldwide known artists such as Salvador Dalí, Francis Bacon, Hubert Robert, Paul Jackson, El Greco, Frida Khalo, Andy Warhol, amongst many others.
The key aspect that shapes his work is without a doubt the contrast of his personal experiences: his life in Chile and USA, his time spent in hospital residences , and his choice of an educational path far removed from the world of art. From this world of opposites Felipe draws the energy that characterises his work and for which, as a human being, he is tremendously grateful.