Enrique Castrejon :  Los Angeles, CA

Artist Statement

My practice encompasses measured drawings, collages, and installations that investigate, question, and reinterpret the visual language of contemporary culture. Working with appropriated imagery from pop-culture, social and political events, public health issues, architecture, war, senseless acts of violence, disease and death. I investigate the subject in the image to understand its meaning inch by inch, angle by angle.  I also investigate the objectification of the male body and the construction of contemporary standards of male beauty by investigating queer imagery and media direct towards gay men. I explore how images shape our understanding of identity, power, beauty, and truth. 

My process begins by selecting and appropriating images, which I then cut apart, dissect, and deconstruct into fragments geometric forms. These pieces are reconstructed into puzzle-like mosaics that preserve the essence of the original image while fundamentally altering how it is perceived. Each geometric fragment is carefully measured. I record its dimensions and calculate its internal angles using a protractor, calculator, and quantitative structure embedded within the composition.

The measurements extend outward from each fragment as radiating lines, transforming the image into a network of visible data. These measured lengths and calculated angles create a chaotic yet ordered field that reveals the hidden architecture of the image. By exposing its underlying structure, I investigated how fragmented forms shape visual perception, alter meaning, and influence the way we interpret what see. 

My work challenges viewers to question the reliability of images in an age saturated with advertisements, news media, pop culture, and social media. It asks where the boundaries lie between fact and fabrication, documentation and manipulation. For images depicting tragedy, violence, or humanitarian crises, measurement becomes a form of translation – and attempt to describe, through objective systems of geometry and mathematics, experiences that often resist language.

Rather than prescribing a single interpretation, I use this analytical process to create space for reflection and dialogue about social and political issues. The measured image becomes both evidence and inquiry, inviting viewers to contemplate the complexities embedded within contemporary visual culture without imposing a fixed agenda.

These measured compositions also serve as blueprints for large-scale installations. By scaling the calculated image into life-size, I transform two -dimensional investigations into immersive spatial experiences that invite viewers to physically engage with the structures, tensions, and narratives contained within the work.