Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1976, artist Nelson Rivas is better known by his street name, Cekis (Zekis).

Graffiti became a natural outlet while coming of age in a dictatorship-era Chile. It was a way to form his voice in a place where he previously felt voiceless.

Cekis began painting on the streets in the early 1990s. A young person in a nation emerging from a seventeen-year authoritarian military regime, Cekis considers himself part of the first generation of South American graffiti artists. “There was nothing left before us, really. My generation lived their childhood under dictatorship and the censorship that came with it.”

As part of the emerging artistic renaissance that followed, graffiti became a way to form his own distinctly Chilean interpretation of the new external influences his country was experiencing in the 80's. Painting in public spaces would continue to direct the trajectory of his career, and in 2004, he left for Brooklyn, NYC.

While in NYC, his studio work began to take on a life of its own and a theme surrounding fences emerged through his work. With some relevance to his newfound immigrant status, the subject also largely paid homage to his identity as a graffiti writer; an identity where trespassing or climbing over fences and painting at night was all just part for the course.

The work itself, juxtaposes sharp and rough fence-like elements with bright and colorful themes, illustrating a diversity of struggle and the idea of co existing with it, often interpreted as a metaphor for various forms of oppression, division, and longing for freedom. Still, he describes the fence notion as open for interpretation, often carrying different weights for each viewer, and ultimately inspiring him to expand on the theme, regularly exploring more shapes and composition possibilities.