It is the portrait of a country, and of its society. It describes all the types of lies that can be found in the interactions of its citizens. To affirm that this country is exposed to a climate of falsehood and self-deception, at different scales and in different strata or areas of the social fabric. It is a matter of the past, present and perhaps the future of Chile. That is why I must first of all mention the nitrate crisis. Just beginning the independent life of the country (1870), a war; According to the history books in Chile, they say that “they” (Peruvians and Bolivians) started it, but they have not. The Chileans started it.

The Peruvians had the titles of the nitrate, especially the guano of the north, they were the owners. In reality, those who were behind everything were the British. The "warlords". And they were the ones who benefited from the deaths of both sides. They skillfully took over the business. And the Chileans relented. How? How did the nitrate works that were “spoils” of war ”passed into British hands? By a law… a curious law that “returned” the nitrate works to their rightful owners, (who were no longer the Peruvians but the British), who had bought the titles at laughable prices.

Something as incredible as when Pizarro's (no more than 20 to 40 soldiers) arrived and collapsed an empire of thousands of thousands ... without even knowing how to speak the language .... How can you be so clever and so stupid at the same time?

Now, a handful of English, also speaking in another language, made fools of an entire government ... or did they not? or did some see direct benefits in these operations?

Where is the patriotism? .... where is the nation? ..... where is the power? ... and the love for the future of your people and your descendants? .... where is seriousness and credibility? ... where is the church? .... where is education? ..... what education? ... is everything a lie? ... what are we being told ? What? That a war was won so that later they would steal our wealth… resources….

And later, what happened to the copper? What did Frei Sr. do? Let the Anaconda Cuper Co. take the blood of the north, with the palmitas of the Chilean right. It allowed copper to leave the country; almost free. In exchange for? From a miserable investment in the country, which was also made with a fraction and part of the profits of the foreign mining company. They took everything. Couldn't we do that? ... couldn't the government exploit it itself? ... Couldn't? ..... no; there were no "resources."

The usual lie: "we sell our resources, because we don't have the resources to exploit them." The moron paradox again…. Couldn't you ask for a loan, a financing to make the initial investment, to pay it off later little by little with the sale of the mineral to the "buyers from the north", who were DESEPERATED? ... happened? ...... or did some, again saw direct benefits in these operations?

And now it is not better. They continue to cede mining exploitation to foreign companies. But they keep it in silence, they keep it quiet, they hide it in the Andes. They continue to allow forests to be razed …… ..and now they allow the bottom of the fjords to be filled with salmon shit…. Who? .. Who? ...... and the distribution of wealth? ... where is it? .. WHO IS INTERESTED?

And then you go to Chile and tell all this, and people respond: "... it's not so much ...", "... don't exaggerate ..." ... ha, ha, ha ... don't put you like that, either ... "; The Chilean does not hear. Neither hear now, nor heard before. They do not want to see or hear, and they continue to trust their leaders who are supposed to be unquestionable, because we have been assured that they "know" what they are doing ... ..and you tell the average Chilean that his country and his government are nothing else. than a sad cartoon ... and they answer: "... ... ha, ha ... it's not so much".

The same farce mounted to disintegrate and above all, to disguise the neglect and contempt suffered by the indigenous people of Peru, BY THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT (now recently after the earthquake of 2007) …… but applied in a systematic way, for years. The indigenous people in ignorance, without knowing their rights, affirming:…. we are going to move forward, little by little, little by little…. ”; It sounds that ridiculous.

And in Chile it is the same. The same but something more moderate. Being there is then like a bubble… .you only see what you want. You only hear what you want ... they all believe that they are in a country and that they are educated to develop as a "people" ... and they are made to believe that they are a "people" ... and that their leaders think about the benefit of their children… ..and someone comes to tell them that it is not like that, and not even like that, they believe it,… they are in the bubble and it is the bubble of lies.

Charlatanism and demagoguery. An entire town, an entire society that lives in a sinister bubble. A country sham. And a real fiasco fueled by their own rulers. It was from this spirit that I drew the LIE NATION.

Where the "noses" are used as the banner of lies. As in the children's story: "Pinocchio". The nose is the member that involuntarily detects and points to the lie. And at the same time, it exposes the liar.

And hence the drawing shows many noses. Noses spread out. They invade the matter of the hypothetical Nation. They grow and grow. Noses are the symbol of lies. Some bigger than others. Some more serious than others. The size relative to the magnitude of its corresponding lie.


Truths may exist by themselves, but lies cannot. They are together. They are always together with others. They are, as it were: private. Hence, each nose is associated with other secondary symbols that determine its nature. Noses are linked to other symbols. So the way to locate them is: "the lie of ……." This is how it is interpreted.

The landscape or context is a "ruin." Romanesque-inspired morphology, which I personally like a lot. The Romanesque is a medieval architectural style in which the figure of the porticoes notably predominates over any other detail. The porches become the main protagonist.

In the drawing there are two such porticoes. The architectural composition, truth be told, is exactly SYMMETRICAL. This favors the idea of ​​Nation. Nations use symmetries to symbolize "balances." Obviously the rest of the events that occur in the drawing are in manifest rebellion, disorder and imbalance. Ignoring and skipping the rhythms of said symmetrical ruins.

As I said, there are two porches. Same that I use as "stores". As if they were “fairground stalls”… .. One of them is dominated by “languages” (left) and the other by “masks” (right).

The "tongues" symbolize the word and language, eloquence and rhetoric. However, the multiple is related to the lower and the unitary to the higher, so, in this case, they have a negative character, being a large number of languages. So here they are not speeches, but rather, they are "stories."

In this case it refers to manipulation, deception, the story. To the use of language for intrigue and deceit. In short, the preferred weapon of lies.

The "masks" symbolize a concealment. A willingness to show a false face. Masking is also something related to denial and, analogously, to lying. In many respects it can be understood as a denial of an identity, but in this case it is the denial of a truth, that is to say: an inversion of the lie, expressed as the denial of the truth.

Many masks are seen throughout the drawing with the same prominence as the languages. Tongues are also seen outside the portico, for example on the serpent's nose under the elephant. But that language is different, it is a viper's tongue. This special type of language refers not only to the falsehood itself, but also to the poison, the rugged and twisted. The negative power of enchantment, known more for witchcraft.

The access control barrier that appears at the top. It is the true existence of a “world” apart from the others. It symbolizes the will of the nation to hospitality and the certainty that not everyone can really be free to enter. The position of the half-lifted barrier is a sign of an anodyne, indecisive, and capricious fickle barrier.

There is a movie tape, a film. I have used this film in other drawings. It is a symbol that represents for me: "the movies." Movies are told by everyone, everyone invented, and here in Lie Nation, everything seems to be a "movie." Or when someone says: "What movie are you telling me?" Well, that is it, the use of the idea of ​​a film as a presentation of something fictitious, unreal, but taught as if it were real.

There are - in addition to the barrier - other symbols of prohibited. These are traffic signs mainly used on highways, basically symbolizing NO. The negation. Here it is a mix between own and internal denials of the inhabitants themselves, and socially imposed collective denials.

The cannons are, on the one hand, the defense of the nation. And that defense is also long as noses. So there is a fusion of very beautiful reciprocal concepts in this case: Lies are like cannon shots to ensure a defense, and the defense of the nation is done with artillery of lies.

There are numbers. These series of numbers (I do not allow myself to give more clues), are part of a coded and encrypted message. And I do not say more.