The work of Juan Camilo Uribe (1945-2005) consolidated in a context that oscillated between the traditionalist roots of Antioqueño society in the mid-twentieth century and the artistic dynamism characteristic of the environment that fostered the Coltejer Biennials (1968-1972) and the First Colloquium of Non-Objectual Art (1981). From 1970 onward, Uribe articulated this contrast, making Catholic iconolatry the raw material of his works, thus incorporating it into the spheres of the artistic milieu. His collages, assemblages, artifacts, installations, and screen prints reflect another important factor in his work: there was no canonical academic intention in his production, nor did he feel called by traditional media and formats. He made the everyday his field of action, and observation and satirization the sharpest quality of his work. Uribe’s works not only remind us of the social tendency toward the sacralization of culture but also offer a look at the cultural consumption of the sacred. Through serialized images of figures such as Gregorio Hernández, the Souls of Purgatory, or the Divine Child Jesus, Uribe creates a dialogue between kitsch, conceptual formulation, and pop aesthetics, which is enhanced by demystifying these figures through repetition and their hybridization with everyday objects. Such is the case of Bandeja (n.d.), belonging to the MAMM collection, which presents a concentric composition with one of the most widely distributed figures in the history of Gráficas Molinari, the holy card of the Divine Child.
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