Pablo Llana
Pablo Llana's artistic practice is built upon a critical and deeply documented view of the excesses of the capitalist system. His work stems from field research into consumer and waste culture, addressing contemporary phenomena such as obesity, globalization, and neo-colonization. With sharp and subtle irony, Llana transforms ultra-processed food wrappers into raw material for visual compositions that highlight the contradiction between commercial appeal and social degradation. Through a meticulous process of collection and recycling, the artist transforms food product packaging into images that act as mirrors of our consumption dynamics. His work, with a direct yet multi-layered language, unfolds in various formats ranging from installation to collage and sculpture. Originally from Tijuana, a living border between Mexico and the United States, Llana has made his geopolitical context a central motivation for his production. His work has been exhibited in cities such as Mexico City, Oaxaca, Monterrey, as well as in the United States, Italy, and Germany. Currently, his work is part of the permanent collection of the Tijuana Cultural Center (CECUT).
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Contemporary Still Life
Pablo Llana constructs visually seductive still lifes with fast-food waste: shiny wrappers encapsulated in resin that simulate food bathed in almost advertising-like light. However, the dark background that surrounds them alludes to a persistent ignorance: the lack of awareness about the real effects of ultra-processed consumption. His work is a direct critique of the desire mechanisms of visual capitalism. By using the system's own remains, Llana transforms waste into language and denunciation, revealing that beneath the promise of pleasure lies a culture of excess and emptiness.
National Diet
"National Diet" is a series of wall sculptures that takes fast-food wrappers as its starting point to construct visual landscapes that portray, with critical irony, the food identity of contemporary societies. Through the recycling of these wastes, Pablo Llana creates large-format compositions where the color palette is determined by the graphic codes of major global chains (McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, etc.). Each piece functions as an archaeology of the present: a map of what we consume, discard, and end up normalizing. In these works, the texture of recycled materials coexists with visual patterns reminiscent of flags, shields, or cartographies, reinforcing the idea that consumer culture has replaced—or contaminated—traditional forms of collective identity.
Soft Power
"Soft Power" is a series focused on the massive use of stickers, labels, and adhesives from sugary drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Fanta, etc.) as a symbol of the cultural penetration of major brands into the daily fabric of millions of people. Llana collects these materials through a systematic process of gathering and archiving, and uses them to create compositions that explore how corporate power infiltrates affective and collective imaginaries. The series plays with pop aesthetics, but from a political critique. The title alludes to the geopolitical concept of "soft power," that is, the ability of brands—and by extension, the countries of origin—to influence without resorting to force, shaping tastes, habits, and values. The works can take the form of mosaics, portraits, mandalas, or even redesigned heraldic shields with these labels as a critique of the new symbolic order.
