Marianne Boesky Gallery in Chelsea presents Esto es América, o qual é o limite?, the debut New York solo exhibition by Argentinian artist Gabriel Chaile. Currently on view through October 18th, 2025, the show brings together adobe sculptures, drawings, and photographs that combine ancestral forms with contemporary political imagery.

The five sculptural works at the center of the exhibition extend Chaile’s long-standing interest in the genealogy of form — his term for the ways shapes and motifs recur across cultures and time. The clay structures resemble bread ovens and animal figures, their surfaces marked with dense black line drawings. ‘Each sculpture is covered in black line drawings,’ the artist explains. ‘Within those lines, other hidden drawings emerge — like walking through a jungle, where you’re present, yet not always visible.’

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

gabriel chaile’s procession of anthropomorphic ovens

Artist Gabriel Chaile arranges the works in motion, as though marching across the gallery floor in procession. The largest piece suggests the body of a lizard or bird, captured mid-transformation. Surrounding it, four oven-like volumes evoke both domestic use and anthropomorphic presence. Together they form what the artist describes as ‘a walk, a march, or a protest.’

Along the walls, large photographic prints document a protest Chaile witnessed in Montana during a residency in the United States. Elderly people, children, and young adults gathered quietly with ambiguous signs. ‘What struck me was the manner of protest: people standing quietly on sidewalks,’ he recalls. ‘Watching from the car, I felt a kind of alignment — not necessarily with the political opposition, but with the deeper message: a call for a more inclusive coexistence.’

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

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Earlier sculptures by Gabriel Chaile were often upright and hieratic, monumental in their stillness. The new works, by contrast, embody motion. ‘My previous sculptures were more static,’ he continues. ‘In contrast, this new group feels animated — as though they’re walking, moving. There’s an intentional sense that these once-static forms are now coming alive.’

The intricate tattoo-like drawings across their surfaces amplify this quality, making the sculptures appear restless and layered with meaning. Chaile describes these as the ‘rebellious siblings’ of his earlier work, which continue the same lineage yet shift its tone.

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

The exhibition’s title spans Spanish and Portuguese: Esto es América states, ‘This is America,’ while o qual é o limite? asks, ‘What is the limit?’ 

For Chaile, this dual language mirrors the histories of colonization that reshaped Indigenous languages across the continent. It also raises the contemporary question of what boundaries allow coexistence rather than division. He concludes: ‘This exhibition, for me, raises the question of what kind of limits allow us to live together — what boundaries support coexistence, rather than division.’

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

Esto es América, o qual é o limite? (install view), Marianne Boesky Gallery, photo © Jason Wyche

project info:

exhibition title: Esto es América, o qual é o limite?

artist: Gabriel Chaile | @soychaile

gallery: Marianne Boesky Gallery | @marianneboeskygallery

location: 507 West 24th Street, New York, NY

dates: September 4th — October 18th, 2025

photography: © Jason Wyche, Marianne Boesky Gallery

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Massive clay sculptures by artist Gabriel Chaile occupy the Arsenale at the Venice Art Biennale 2022. The exhibition takes the theme of ‘Milk of Dreams,’ to suggest a surrealist, ever-transforming world. The show explores the contemporary changes undergone by humanity on the whole, especially the uncertainty of our relationship with nature and technology. 

The ceramic works by Gabriel Chaile take shape to depict other-worldly creatures, animal figures in a state of metamorphosis. Drawing from a theory that he refers to as ‘the genealogy of form,’ the artist references objects such as pots and clay ovens that often take on anthropomorphic traits.

Jose Pasqual Chaile, 2022 | image © designboom

an homage to family by gabriel chaile

Through his works, currently on view at the 2022 Venice Art Biennale (see more here), artist Gabriel Chaile draws from indigenous themes. He has long explored impoverished communities, rituals, and artistic customs from his home in Argentina, and has taken influence from his Spanish, Afro-Arab, and Indigenous Candelaria heritage.

The collection on view at Arsenale is a group of five sculpture-ovens that portray, in a large format, members of his family. The central figure of the group is titled Rosario Liendro (2022) after his maternal grandmother, and is surrounded by the figures of his parents and paternal grandparents. Chaile notes that some of the figures are brought to life through descriptions of them handed down in oral stories, rather than his direct knowledge. 

Irene Duran, 2022 | image © designboom

celebrating communalism at the venice art biennale

On the whole, Gabriel Chaile’s series at the Venice Art Biennale expresses communalism, giving, and care, especially in the context of the family. The use of the vessel as a foundational motif serves to further this invocation, through its inherent associations with nourishment, support, collaboration, and community. 

Curators of the exhibition describe the artist’s influences: ‘Chaile often employs materials, forms, and archetypal symbols associated with pre-Columbian cultures, which he synthesizes in ways both poetic and humorous. Chaile creates spaces where historical precedent, Indigenous epistemologies, and prescient craft conventions co-mingle with contemporary life.’

Rosario Liendro, 2022 | image © designboom

exhibition view | video © designboom

Sebastiana Martínez, 2022 | image © designboom

Jose Pasqual Chaile, 2022 | image © designboom

Jose Pasqual Chaile, 2022 | image © designboom

Rosario Liendro, 2022 | image © designboom

project info:

artist: Gabriel Chaile | @soychaile

location: the Arsenale, Venice Art Biennale 2022

The post gabriel chaile invokes communalism with a family of clay ovens at venice art biennale appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.