Video Data Bank is pleased to present the VDB TV program Germán Bobe: Dreaming in the Gardens of Love, in which we highlight selections from the Chilean-born artist's early video works.  These pieces express romantic exuberance painted in the electric vibrancy of cathode rays as well as longing restraint illuminated in soft sepia-tones and black and white chiaroscuro.  The videos are often simultaneously joyfully campy and intensely serious.  Bobe mixes religious iconography and mythological imagery with queer sensibilities and classic cinema aesthetics to create beautiful and moving artworks.

Germán Bobe spotlights ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as the human body, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, politics, and Western colonialism.  While young, Germán's family left Pinochet's Chile and he spent his childhood and adolescence in Libya, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States and Argentina.  The works presented here were created around the time of his return to Chile which was then a nation emerging from 17 years of dictatorship.  It was a time of exploration and expansion for all the country's artists.

Alongside this program we are happy to announce the release of Germán Bobe: Early Works.  This is a compilation of Germán's early videos, made from 1988-1996, now available for institutional purchase and licensing. 

 

https://www.vdb.org/artists/german-bobe

 

To learn more about Germán's life and practice, read our recent VDB Asks... featuring Bobe.