Acrylic and mixed media on MDF
81 x 91 cm

No Tengo Hambre (I am not hungry) is the title of a whole series of works by José Covo produced in 2008-09, following a period of substance abuse. In these works, Covo stages states of human vulnerability and fragility, addressing poverty, hunger, and the precarious conditions of life in Colombia, entangled with the horrifying results of drug production and trafficking. In No Tengo Hambre, the heavy marks of color on MDF produce a quick-tempered phrase, almost a slogan, laid against a background of painted lines. The words appear like lucid revelations, indicating the precarious physiological state and suppression of appetite induced by the consumption of cocaine. Here, Covo puts into play the tensions between the mental and physical pain of the subject, reflecting on ways of surviving addiction and corporeal decline. Out of this tension arises a vital impulse rather than a lament, an appeal to resist and overturn the oppressive dynamics in which the subject is caught. 

Born in Cartagena, Colombia, in 1987. Lives in Bogotá, Colombia and Berlin, Germany.