Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1981, Cristian Elizalde — widely known as Le Chiri — began his artistic journey by leaving his mark. From tagging the walls of his childhood home to sketching in school notebooks, his creative drive quickly expanded into the urban landscape. As a teenager, his skateboard carried him into the heart of the punk and hardcore scene, a movement that shaped both his identity and his visual language.
A transformative journey through South America deepened this path. Immersed in the Amazon rainforest, Elizalde’s encounters with psychedelics revealed new ways of seeing, igniting a vision that continues to define his work. After studying Fine Arts, he moved through Valparaíso, New York, and Europe, gathering influences that enriched his style before returning to Santiago to build both a family and a community.
His paintings merge the raw energy of skate culture and punk aesthetics with the refinement of academic techniques. The result is a vibrant, irreverent, and deeply personal style that reflects his own words: “I paint everything my eyes have seen and haven’t seen.”
Today, Elizalde is not only an artist but also a cultural catalyst, having founded La Galery in Santiago, a space created by artists for artists. This spirit of honoring heritage, community, and rebellion through creativity is precisely what makes his work resonate within Zongoville. His journey embodies the values we celebrate in our gallery: art as both expression and story, rooted in experience yet open to the world.
Below are selected works from his collection, embodying the rhythm, pride, and memory that shape his art.
