Arturo Kameya: Clavo torcido no teme martillo / A bent nail fears no hammer
GRIMM is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new paintings by Arturo Kameya, on view at the New York gallery from November 6, 2026 to January 9, 2027.
In Clavo torcido no teme martillo / A bent nail fears no hammer, Arturo Kameya continues his visual exploration of Peruvian socio-politics, located not in academic tomes but in imagery. His paintings trace the narratives and myths of everyday Peruvian life, interweaving the intensely personal with national identity and historical events. Kameya’s work is deeply informed by his experiences of growing up within suburban Lima in the 1990s, but – like memory, which is so often non-linear – these recollections are interspersed with popular motifs: images from sport and football; internet culture; folk traditions. The result is a practice that is geographically specific yet simultaneously raises broader questions surrounding inherited histories, cultural language, and the formation of identity.
The title of this exhibition draws on an alteration to a Japanese saying; as Kameya explains, "The nail that sticks out gets hammeredmeans that a person who is already damaged, dishonored, or who has nothing to lose, does not fear punishment or the consequences of their actions." In recent bodies of work, Kameya has explored mythologies of apocalyptism.
The artist's conception of time is cyclical, wherein the past haunts the present in new, but recognisable ways. His scenes speak to contemporary motifs of consumerism and media, but also take on the ghostly aura of what has come before.
The muted palette of Kameya’s work is a direct reflection of this enquiry. Found imagery and objects from the artist’s own personal archive are rendered in grainy, or ‘dusty’ tones, through the use of clay powder. This gives them the appearance of a memento or an excavated window into which imprints of time and process are imbued. Indeed, his assemblages have an almost archaeological quality, since they are compiled of disparate images, which come together to form a suggestive whole.
The tableaux of Kameya’s individual paintings do not act as fixed narratives, instead forming an architectural language – a symbolic vernacular onto which the viewer can project their own associations. Though they begin from autobiographical prompts, they take on a universal resonance. While the troubled sociopolitical history of Peru is specific, it also raises questions which are pertinent on a wider scale. Kameya reveals to us the ways in which our collective memory is shaped by the historical and cultural narratives that we absorb.
About the artist
Arturo Kameya (b. 1984 in Lima, PE) attended the Pontificia Universidad Católica of Peru in Lima (PE) and was a resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (NL) from 2019 through 2021. He is the winner of the Wolvecampprijs 2024.
Kameya's solo exhibition, Vuelva mañana, is on view at Centre d'art contemporain (CAP), Saint-Fons (FR) until 28 November 2026.
Solo exhibitions include The moon wanted to be the sun, but it was too late to change, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); Opaque Spirits, Marres, Maastricht (NL); Los Ovnis, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); En esa pulga se mezcla nuestra sangre / In that flea, our blood mixes, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Drylands, Dordrechts Museum, Dordrecht (NL); Grandma’s Cooking Recipes, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); Depósito de Sombras, Alliance Française, Lima (PE); Allá en el Caserío, Acá en el Matorral (with Claudia Martínez Garay) Ginsberg Galeria, Lima (PE); Ghosts Don’t Care if You Believe in Them, Hotel Maria Kapel, Hoorn (NL); Ghost Stories, Alliance Française, Lima (PE); Ciencia Ficción, Wu Gallery, Lima (PE); Land at the End of the Sea (with Claudia Martínez Garay), Galería del Centro Cultural Británico de San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima (PE).
Selected group exhibitions include La ceniza ya no recuerda qué causó el incendio. / The ash no longer remembers what caused the fire., in collaboration with Claudia Martínez Garay, 59th Carnegie International: If the word we, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PE (US) in 2026; Your Ears Later Will Know to Listen, Nottingham Contemporary (UK) in 2025; Toward the Celestial, curated by Alex Gartenfeld; Gean Moreno and Stephanie Seidel, ICA, Miami, FL (US); Prospect.6: The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, New Orleans, LA (US) in 2024; Memory is an Editing Station, 22nd BiennialSesc_Videobrasil, São Paulo (BR) in 2023; We, on the Rising Wave, Busan Biennale (SK) in 2022 and at Soft Water Hard Stone, the fifth New Museum Triennial, New York, NY (US) in 2021.
Kameya's work is part of numerous collections including ABN AMRO Collection, Amsterdam (NL); AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection, New York, NY (US); ING Collection (NL); Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Miami, FL (US); LAM Museum, Lisse (NL); Museo de Arte de Lima (PE) and Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki (FI).
