Sandra Monterroso

[1974, Guatemala]

Sandra Monterroso is a known textile artist whose work reflects gender issues and power structures. Inspired by the techniques and aesthetics of indigenous people from her native Guatemala, her work is often presented as installations.

Sandra Monterroso occupied the Studio House until December 16. During that time, she developed the project of the series Corazón delator: recetas para sanar heridas (Telltale Heart: Recipes to Heal Wounds), inspired by a story by Edgar Alan Poe and in indigenous recipes to cure evil eye. At the end of the residency period, the pieces were exhibited.

Monterroso’s artistic education includes a Ph.D. in artistic practices, a master’s in design processes, and a bachelor’s degree in graphic design. She lives and works in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Her oeuvre reflects gender and power themes and her commentaries about the colonial residues in contemporary society. She is inspired by the techniques and aesthetics of the indigenous population of her native country. She uses in her creative process artisanal procedures, such as fabric dyeing using natural components from her culture. Her pieces offer a point of encounter between the traditional and the contemporary and often are presented as soft sculptures and installations. Her work has been included in numerous international exhibitions in museums, institutions, and galleries.

Sandra Monterroso began her artistic career in performance art in 1999. She earned a B.A. in Graphic Design in 2001 followed by an M.A. in Design from Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) in Puebla, Mexico. In 2020, Monterroso earned a PhD in Art Practice from the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien in Vienna, Austria. She has represented Guatemala in more than twelve biennials, including the 56th La Biennale di Venezia, the 12 Bienal de La Habana, and the Frestas – Trienal de Artes in São Paulo. Monterroso lives and works in Guatemala City.

In her work, Monterroso explores the dynamics of indigenous culture in the postcolonial era, gender issues, and other constructs of power across media including tapestry, painting, video, installation, and performance. Her influences include Cindy Sherman (USA), Gina Pane (France), Carolee Schneemann (USA), Ana Mendieta (Cuba), and Marina Abramović (Serbia), as she explores issues of identity and relational dynamics between genders and cultures. As Monterroso explains, “Behind the silence and the paradox of modernity and coloniality, I start taking as a symbolic reference more particularly the Mayan Q’eqchi’ language as an inheritance from my grandmother, whose linguistic structure is completely metaphorical.” 

Monterroso has shown her work in selected exhibitions around the world, including the Bienal de Artes Visuales del Istmo Centroamericano (BAVIC), Museo de Arte de El Salvador (Museo MARTE), San Salvador, El Salvador (2006); Indigenous Voices, La Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione America Latina-IILA, Venice, Italy (2015); Art-Action Feministe: Panorama de la vidéo-performance féministe contemporaine latino-américaine, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2009); Cosmópolis II, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2019); To Weave in Blue, Poema al Tejido, The Martha and Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art, University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA (2020); and Visionarios, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain (2009).

Monterroso’s work is included in the permanent collections of Centro de Arte Fundación Ortiz-Gurdián, Managua, Nicaragua; Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Colchester, England, UK; Fundación Paiz, Guatemala City, Guatemala; Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (MADC), San José, Costa Rica; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (MNCARS), Madrid, Spain; YES Contemporary, Miami, Florida, USA; and many private collections

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Decolorando las Hebras and Colorando las Hebras (video, 2011), Arts of the Ancient Americas Jewel Box Gallery, Denver Art Museum, CO, USA
Sandra Monterroso: The Healing Paradox, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA

2022
Altar para pájaros, Instituto de Visión, New York, NY, USA
Cuerpos Infinitos: Sandra Monterroso, Musiq’ / Breath of the spirit, Casa del Lago UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico
Cuerpos Infinitos: Sandra Monterroso, Heart of the Windy Place (performance), Casa del Lago UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico

2020
Threads of Memory, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, Houston, TX, USA
Dyed in the wool – the committed poetics of nonconformity, Cecilia Brunson Projects, London, UK
Artwork in Focus – Sandra Monterroso: Tu Ashé Yemanya, Cecilia Brunson Projects, London, UK

2019
Las heridas también se tiñen de azul, Centro Cultural de España, Guatemala City, Guatemala
El agua se volvió oro, el río se volvió oro, el oro se volvió azul, Museo ExTeresa, Mexico City, Mexico

2018
Hybris, NG Gallery, Panama City, Panama

2017
Inchaq’na / Hermana Mayor, French Alliance, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Distorsiones e imperfecciones, The 9.99 Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala

2014
Acciones para abolir el deseo, The 9.99 Gallery, Guatemala City, Guatemala

2013
Efectos cruzados, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, San Salvador, El Salvador

2011
Efectos cruzados, Galería Piegatto (Arte La Fábrica), Guatemala City, Guatemala

2009
Meditando el error, Galería de Artes Visuales, Universidad Rafael Landivar, Guatemala City, Guatemala

2008
Rakoc Atin. Palacio de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, Guatemala City, Guatemala

2005
Sucesos Carcomidos, Galería El Attico, Guatemala City, Guatemala

2004
Metabolismo, Centro Cultural de España, Guatemala City, Guatemala

1999
Ave Fénix, Vestíbulo BANCAFÉ, Guatemala City, Guatemala

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Essex Collection of Latin American Art, London, UK

Fundación Paiz para la Educación y la Cultura, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain 

Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MADC), San José, Costa Rica

Ortíz Gurdián Foundation, Managua, Nicaragua

YAXS Foundation, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Yes Contemporary, Miami, FL, USA

Sandra Monterroso

The Healing Paradox

Exhibition text by independent curator and art historian Alma Ruiz

January 26 – March 16, 2023

Sandra Monterroso
The Healing Paradox

The Healing Paradox marks Sandra Monterroso’s second solo show at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino. Continuing her interest in Guatemalan textiles as art-making material and as tools to address her country’s embattled history, Monterroso, an artist with Maya Q’eqchi’ roots, focuses her attention this time on more modest materials. Leftover fabrics from a local rug factory and organic cotton and linen embellished with embroidery and neon lights effectively become a compelling locus where discussions about healing wounds within a complex postcolonial heritage occur. 

Monterroso utilizes soft materials paired with manufactured objects to construct visual paradoxes. For example, several pieces are made of fabrics originally destined for landfills. Woven by indigenous hands who labor for low salaries to produce beautifully crafted rugs for luxury homes, the scraps tangentially point to a socioeconomic hierarchy between the haves and have-nots. In rescuing the discarded materials, Monterroso performs a redeeming ritual, imbuing them with new life as artworks and, paradoxically, transforming them into repositories of the inequalities, discrimination, and racism that still exist toward marginalized groups without openly highlighting their victimization. In their conclusive form, the pieces are joined to create a whole, mending leads to metaphorical healing.

Color is an important signifier connecting Maya Q’eqchi’s culture to Monterroso’s personal history. The artist is known for her extensive use of indigo and cochineal dyes, with which she colors her textiles and yarns. There is evidence that the Mayas used indigo to create Mayan blue, a pigment developed in the late pre-Classic period, 1900 BC to 200 AD. It can be found in Mesoamerican pottery, murals, and archeological artifacts. The cochineal comes from a tiny cactus-dwelling insect harvested to produce a red dye. While the indigenous people used the red pigment to dye their textiles and for its healing properties and associations with divine light and the sun, the Spanish conquistadors viewed it as a source of wealth. As European demand for cochineal increased, its production became another form of indigenous exploitation. The inclusion of these pigments in the title of many of Monterroso’s works, for example, Like the Triangles: The Celestial Water and the Indigofera Give Us Back the Light and Like the Rhombus: The Earth and the Cochineal Give us Back the Light, underscores their relevance in the rituals of her ancestors and her role in preserving such knowledge. The triangle and diamond-shaped neon lights appended to the fabric stand in for territory/land; the slightly discernible circle inside the neon is a seed, a symbol of birth, growth, and land cultivation. To say that their inclusion seems paradoxical is true; their electric-powered presence gives back the light needed in an altered state of consciousness to enter a moment of reflection on modernity or, more precisely, on the open wounds resulting from the encounters and disagreements that occurred while going through this modernity.

Monterroso’s exploration of healing within a postcolonial context is also expressed in Rombhus to Heal Wounds, a beautiful, bright-colored cotton piece embroidered with recetas* widely used for physical and spiritual healing. Here we can find prescriptions for curing the evil eye, ‘frights,’ cancer, and other ailments. One of them reads, Prescription for the evil eye (non-physical): In a cloth bag, put a few grains of achiote (annatto) and some cross-shaped chili peppers, pass [the bag] all over the [patient’s] body, tracing the shape of a cross, and throw it into the fire. Many of the prescriptions found in this and other of Monterroso’s works come from Aspects of Popular Medicine in Rural Guatemala. Published in 1978 by the now-defunct Instituto Indigenista Nacional, this study responded to the growing interest of archeologists, sociologists, linguists, and other social scientists in third-world popular medicine and its psychosomatic practices. Long treasured by her family, the book was recently gifted to the artist by her maternal aunt.

Her increased usage of sewing to assemble textiles and organic fabrics into new works has led Monterroso to reflect on the role that sewing has played in her family history. Her maternal grandmother, aunts, and mother relocated to Guatemala City to work as seamstresses. This fact was irrelevant until recently when the artist acknowledged that, perhaps subconsciously, she was continuing the family trade with works like Organic Composition in Rhombus No.1 and No. 2, sewn cotton and linen tapestries colored with natural dyes. Like other components in Monterroso’s oeuvre, sewing has been successfully added to her artistic lexicon and joyfully embraced by the artist to honor and celebrate her maternal lineage and Maya Q’eqchi’ heritage.

Alma Ruiz
Independent Curator

Contact: Dcfamilyfoundation.com

Javier Martin Appropriation of Fragments Exhibition

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday June 22, 2023. 7pm-10pm.

In appropriation of fragments, Martin uses the space to create a dialogue between the individual fragments and their collective composition that forms the whole, transforming the gallery into a theater filled with fragments, representing the information overload of our time. A society created of fragments of information driven by advertising, technology and social media, questioning the veracity of what we recognize, through the use of appropriation, cutting, alteration and reflection, accentuating their emptiness; including the viewer in the scene and transforming them into a part of the fragments that invite self-reflection.
This exhibition is composed of three different body of works, where we can find a journey that shows the interdis-ciplinarity of the artist. From the installation Alma, part of the permanent collection of the Seoul Museum, which consists of a cube covered with mirrors where the viewer is reflected through the appropriated images stamped on them and illuminated by neon, a material appropriated by Martin who considered it a form of public writing, unassociated with art, and traditionally associated with popular culture.
He invites the viewer to step into a room where he has conceptually removed the walls, replacing them with un-limited light and space. Eliminating the barriers society imposes, which fill our minds with banal and insignificant thoughts, keeping us trapped and unable to realize the potential that exists beyond.
In contraposition to the installation, the body of work “CUT” first presented by the artist in Shanghai in 2015, a thought-provoking series that challenges our preconceptions about the power of celebrity and the way we con-sume media. Creating iconic hand-cut photographs, technique inspired by The Chinese tradition of paper cutting, giving importance to the use of the negative space and the contraposition between wholeness and emptiness.
Inspired by the fragments that are remaining from the cut out works, Martin creates the installation that is dis-tributed throughout the gallery, fragments of images that represent remnants, unfinished elements that are a fundamental part of the language, these large fragments leaning on the walls, a format that presents the timeless, the non-sculptural in dialogue with the viewer, questioning the finished, the incomplete or the original in modern society, exploring how images shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world.

Bio.

Javier Martin (Spain, 1985) is a multidisciplinary artist who bases his creative exploration on the careful observation of his surroundings, detecting semiotic relationships that might otherwise pass by unnoticed to an unperceptive viewer. With this approach, the artist constructs situations that invite reflection on impending matters in today’s world.

Raised in Spain, Martin began painting in oil colors at the tender age of seven, and had his first exhibition at the age of eight; however, he never allowed himself to be influenced by formal artistic training. Instead, he relied on his experiences, which allowed him to explore the possibilities of various materials and tools that he incorporates
 in his work today. Traveling, living, and working in countries – from Europe, South Korea, Hong Kong, to the United States – honed his observation skills, allowing him to learn from people and daily situations far removed from his background. During the Summer of 2012, Martin participated in his first exhibition in Asia M50 Art District. By 2014 he officially was represented by Matthew Liu Fine Art Gallery in Shanghai.

In addition to his international exhibitions around the world, he shares his knowledge and personal experience regarding the realm of art culture through speaking engagements. In 2015 he conversed with a group of students during a Conference at Alboran College in Marbella, Spain, discussing the impact that art had on his life. 2017 opened with him presenting his performance piece ‘Lies and Light’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, followed by a discus- sion about the importance of breaking down the lights that veer us away from the path of truth. Most recently, he was a panelist in New Ways of Seeing, presented by New World Forum at Liang Yi Museum, Hong Kong.

Martin has equally experimented in painting, collage, sculpture, performance art and video art. Through his work, he proposes relation- ships among forms, surfaces, textures, and scenarios in which objects used on a daily basis relate to each other in unexpected ways. This talented artist consistently demonstrates his capacity to masterfully manipulate and relate materials and situations to construct sharp visual metaphors. In the Fall of 2015, Martin presented “War, Consumption, and Other Human Hobbies” a solo exhibition at Valli Art Gallery in Miami. Showing several pieces from his Blindness Collection as well a collection of works whose messages addressed themes of consumption and strategies of power within the global economy.

For over a decade, Martin has been developing one of his most iconic collections, Blindness. The eyes, classically associated with the reflection of human emotions, are always concealed whether behind a vibrant stroke of paint or a glowing neon light. With painting and collage, he reproduces images of seemingly perfect models, symbols of a standard of beauty and lifestyle that most people long to enjoy. Inspired by the juxtaposition between the grit of city surroundings and the glossy ads that line them, Martin deconstructs this perceived perfection to create a contrast between technology, collage, and painting.

In the Spring of 2016, Martin presented his first performance piece ‘Lies and Light’ at his solo show during Art Basel Hong Kong week. This performance also represents the latest evolution of the art-
it’s Blindness concept. In this case, the artist manifests himself as the protagonist, literally shattering society’s barriers to convey the struggle against conformity, the fight for truth and freedom. This raw and rebellious performance find Martin completely vulnerable in an intense spiritual journey to overcome his past to progress.

In 2018, Martin continued to build on the questions raised by his performance art with installations that challenge viewers to examine their own blindness. Following his public Blindness mural for the 71st Festival de Cannes and his solo exhibition “Blindness the Appropriation of Beauty” (curated by Robert C. Morgan), Martin created a number of interactive installations in which the Blindness concept is more visceral and tangible than ever before. In ‘A Room Without Walls’, Martin riffs on his ‘Alma’ series with an immersive, completely mirrored room in which viewers see themselves infinitely repeated in the face of a figure blinded by neon light. For ‘The Dark Box’, exhibited at Valli Art Gallery in Miami and New York, Martin continues to challenge gallery visitors to directly interact with the Blindness concept. Developed in a world dominated by social media, Martin uses ‘The Dark Box’ to invite viewers to become a part of his art; at the same time, the piece creates a situation in which participants can question their own blindness to new means of consumption.

Martin’s most recent works show him revisiting the concepts behind his earliest works in the Blindness collection. In these large scale and expressive collages, Martin layers paint, prints, paper ephemera, and neon in order to present the Blindness concept with new complexity. Whereas he forces participants to examine their own blindness in his installations, these mature works show Martin mining his own oeuvre to reexamine Blindness more than a decade later. These reflective pieces have been exhibited simultaneously, at Plan B at David Zwirner and in a solo exhibition titled “BLINDNESS” at Valli Art Gallery New York in March, 2019.

Javier Martin presented his first solo museum exhibition at the Seoul Museum in Spring 2019 and his first solo exhibition in Japan at Maki Gallery on the fall of 2019.

Exhibitions

Upcoming

• Appropriation of fragments – Solo exhibition (Ascaso Gallery) Miami, USA

2023

• ART BUSAN (Gallery Mark) Busan, South Korea
• 3650 Storage – 인터뷰 10th Anniversary (Seoul Museum) Seoul, South Korea
• Conceptual Poetry – Solo project curated by Arta (Art Central) Hong Kong

2022

• ART TAIPEI (333 Gallery) Taipei, Taiwan
• SKIN DEEP -Solo exhibition (Ascaso Gallery) Caracas, Venezuela
• A New Horizon – Group exhibition (Akrilyc / Gallery 46) London

• INTI-PUNKU – Group exhibition (Strouk Gallery) Paris, France
• Baanai / Javier Martin – Duo Exhibition (Maki Gallery) ISETAN The Space,Tokyo, Japan
• Cute Tunes for Serious Sapiens – Group exhibition (Ascaso Gallery) Miami, USA
• Lights Appropriation Solo exhibition (Pulpo Gallery) Murnau, Germany

2021

• Skin in the Game – Group exhibition (Gallery HZ) Hong Kong

• ICONIC ; 아이코닉 – Group exhibition (Seoul Museum) Seoul, South Korea
• We Dance You Mean – Group exhibition (Cerquone Gallery) Madrid, Spain
• INTERAZIONI -Group exhibition (A Pick Gallery) Turin, Italy

2020

• Blindness -Solo exhibition (Koo House Museum) Yangpyeong, South Korea
• Alma- A Room Without Walls Public Installation (TEAF20) Ulsan, South Korea
• Blindness -Solo exhibition (Tri-bowl Art Space) Incheon, South Korea
• Blindness -Solo exhibition (Audemars Piguet House) Madrid, Spain
• Gallery Collection vol.1 (Tezukayama Gallery) Osaka, Japan

2019

• Borderless Artist Project -Solo exhibition (Andong Arts & Culture Center) Andong, South Korea
• Infinite Light – Solo exhibition (Maki Gallery) Tokyo, Japan
• Borderless Artist -Solo exhibition (Seoul Museum) Seoul, South Korea
• Blindness -Solo exhibition (Valli Art Gallery) New York, USA

• Plan B (David Zwirner Gallery) New York, USA
• Blindness The Dark Box Interactive Installation (520 West 28th by Zaha Hadid) New York
• Blindness -Solo exhibition Curated by Valli Art Gallery (Miami Design District) Miami,USA

2018

• Intra Moenia – Cattelani Collections (Campori Castle of Soliera) Modena, Italy
• Blindness The Dark Box Interactive Installation (Valli Art Gallery), Miami, USA
• Selected Works (Valli Art Gallery) New York, USA

• Blindness x Cosybox (Cannes Film Festival) Cannes, France
• Dear my wedding dress (Seoul Museum) Seoul, South Korea
• Blindness The Appropriation of Beauty Curated by Robert C. Morgan, New York, USA

• 36th Korea Galleries Art Fair (Paik Hae Young Gallery) Seoul, South Korea
• Convergence (Galerie Art District) Paris, France

2017

• Blindness Alma- A Room Without Walls Installation (Valli Art Gallery Miami, USA

• Art Miami (Paik Hae Young Gallery) Miami, USA
• RAW- Blindness The Dark Box Interactive Installation (YAI) Miami, USA
• Forza Group exhibition (Galerie Leroyer) Montréal, Canada
• Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You (Paik Hae Young Gallery) Seoul, South Korea

• Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair (Matthew Liu Fine Arts) Shanghai, China
• Within The Light -Solo exhibition (Heart House Private Members Club) Munich

• Art Shenzhen (Matthew Liu Fine Arts) Shenzhen, China
• New Ways of Seeing, Art World Forum, Liang Yi Museum, Hong Kong – Meet the Artist (Soho House) New York, USA

• Scope Art Show (J+ Gallery) Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA
• LIES & LIGHT, Video Performance at Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA),Jacksonville, FL
• Art Palm Beach (Valli Art Gallery), West Palm Beach, FL

2016

• Context Art Miami (Valli Art Gallery) Miami, USA

• Artist in Residence (Soho House) New York, USA
• Blindness -Solo exhibition Curated by Valli Art Gallery (Toys for Boys) Miami, USA
• Context New York (Valli Art Gallery) New York, USA

• Private Event Blindness Neon Collection, JetSmarter, Malibú, CA
• LIES & LIGHT Solo exhibition (California Tower, Loft 22), Hong Kong

2015

• Basel Blindness, Art Basel Miami Week (Valli Art Gallery) Wynwood, Miami, USA
• War, Consumption and Other Human Hobbies Solo exhibition (Valli Art Gallery) Miami, USA
• Summer Show (Matthew Liu Fine Arts) Shanghai, China

• Art Busan (Asian Art Works) Busan, South Korea
• Art Edition Art Fair, (Hangaram Art Museum of Seoul) Seoul, South Korea

2014

• 3A/Galleries, Art Basel Week, Miami, USA
• Select Fair (Lavio Fine Art) Miami, USA
• Blindness NEON (Kee Members Club) Hong Kong, China

• Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair (Matthew Liu Fine Arts) Shanghai, China
• Group exhibition (Pantocrátor Gallery) EBPC FreeTrade Zone, Shanghai, China

• Cambiando Vidas (Luz Botero Fine Art) Panamá
• Art Gwangju, (Lavio Fine Art) Gwangju, South Korea

• Art Busan, (Lavio Fine Art) Busan, South Korea
• “Eyes on me, please!” Solo exhibition (Houses of Art Gallery – HOA) Marbella, Spain
• Art Lima (Pantocrátor Gallery) Lima, Perú

2013

• Enlaces (Luz Botero Fine Art) Ocean Reef Island, Panamá
• Select Fair, Art Basel Week, Miami Beach, USA
• Live Painting (Art Shopping Festival for Charity) Andorra
• Swab Art Fair, (Pantocrátor Gallery) Barcelona, Spain

• Art Meets Fashion, City Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, New York, USA
• M50 Contemporary Art District (Pantocrátor Gallery) Shanghai, China
• Lavio Fine Art Vip Preview, Kee Club, Shanghai, China
• CNCPT13 Gallery, Amsterdam

2012

• Eyes wide shut, Solo exhibition (Arte City) Miami Beach, USA
• Amsterdam Showcase, (Pantocrátor Gallery) Amsterdam, Holland

• Art is the message Solo exhibition (Myra Galleries) Wynwood Miami, USA
• Berliner Liste Art Fair, (Pantocrátor Gallery) Berlin, Germany

• Frankenstein (ECCO) Contemporary Art Center, Cádiz, Spain
• Swab Art Fair (Pantocrátor Gallery) Barcelona, Spain

• Group exhibition M50, (Pantocrátor Gallery) Shanghai, China
• Group exhibition (Houses of Art Gallery, HOA) Marbella, Spain

2011

• Lo Que Existe Sin Ser Visto (Poligono Gallery) Marbella, Spain

• Group exhibition (IVAM, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) Valencia, Spain
• “Thinking about Color” (Kasser Rassu Gallery) Marbella, Spain
• Blindness (Baltus West Erie) Chicago, USA
• Imm Cologne (Baltus) Cologne, Germany

2010

• Blindness on paper (Baltus Beverly Blvd) Los Angeles, USA
• Permanent Exhibition (Collection Prive) Cannes, France

2009

• Art Fusion, Sotogrande Cádiz, Spain

• Blindness (Resort La Torre Golf, Copa Davis) Murcia, Spain
• Showroom Grupo Grancasa, Madrid, Spain

2008

• Maison & Objet (Baltus) Paris, France

2007

• Collective Quum Artist Digital Printing (Pedro Peña Art Gallery) Marbella, Spain
• Collective Quum Artist (Pedro Peña Art Gallery) Marbella, Spain

2006

• Estampa Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
• Arte Lisboa Art Fair, Lisbon, Portugal

1994

• Henry Studio Collective (Centro de los hijos the Ceuta) Spain
• Group exhibition (Revellín Museum) Ceuta, Spain

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Awards

• 2011 Young Award arts and environmental sustainability, Marbella Spain
• 1994 The Painting modality of the Painting and drawing contest for children “Caja Madrid” Ceuta, Spain
• 1994 Mention of Honor for the exhibition of Henry’s studio students (Museo del Revellín) Ceuta, Spain

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Speaking Engagements

• 2019 Artist Talk (The CORE members club) New York, USA
• 2017 Artist Talk (Soho House) New York, USA
• 2015 Conference at Alborán College, Marbella, Spain

The House of Arts

WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF ARTS, OUR HOUSE IS YOUR HOUSE!

Welcome to The House of Arts an inspirational contemporary platform connecting all forms of cultural manifestations in art and fashion, merging artisans, designers, visionaries, and entrepreneurs to create a give-back movement to local communities and going global by implementing cultural exchange between local and foreign artists. Here at The House of Arts, we work on developing a marketplace with showroom space as well as creating the right connections to showcase and sell original and vanguard pieces! Over the years, Art and Fashion have enjoyed a rich relationship, sometimes bold, and often understated, yet always stretching the boundaries of geography to bring global influences to our wardrobes. Today in our fast-paced digital world, there is a need to create cult status in an increasing demand for the new. Designers have always worked with artists, long before the commercial pressure to create lucrative, must-have product lines. Fashion and Arts have, and always will, go hand-in-hand. Thinking about that, and pursuing collaboration between both markets we welcome you into our house, your house, The House of Arts!

WHAT IS THE HOUSE OF ARTS?

THE HOUSE OF ARTS has become an important multimedia contemporary art platform, featuring annually some 80 plus celebrated artists, promoting and highlighting paintings, sculptures, art installations, photography, cultural projects, and other forms of art incorporated in a modern, contemporary context.

ESTABLISHED in 2010 we represent a cluster of projects dedicated to cultivating relations using art as a tool of cultural exchange and community identity. Our journey is a deep commitment to building bridges, promoting and creating educational projects, workshops, art talks, social change and inclusion through cultural experiences.
We believe in transcending all barriers using art as a universal language and common denominator.
With art shows and partnerships within the U.S and abroad, we now reach different parts of the world such as Asia, Europe, South and Latin America, as well as the Caribbean, engaging local and international artists with diverse curators and a strong team under the direction of Jade Matarazzo since 2010.

THE HOUSE OF ARTS is a natural and efficient platform for artists interested in gaining visibility, networking and meeting qualified trade buyers, gallery owners and managers, art dealers, architects, interior designers, and corporate art buyers.

THE HOUSE OF ARTS also offers a wide range of sponsorship opportunities to meet any size of companies’ marketing goals. As part of your sponsorship, you will receive a presence within the event where you can distribute literature, collect database information and sample or promote your product.

BENEFITS

Be present in one of the largest consumer markets.

Exclusive access to The House of Arts, networking, and the Digital Business Platform.

Establish yourself internationally as a Designer/Brand/Artist.

Have access to complete structural services like photography, public relations, curators, media partners, gallerists, social media, physical and online sales, editorial, events, trunk shows, and exhibitions.

MEMBERSHIP

All of our Members will have the services listed on our benefits. 

Minimum 6 months

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Individual Exhibitions

Runway Shows

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*For more information, calendar availability and quotations, please send an email to: [email protected]

We are very honored to have you here at The House of Arts!

MEET OUR ARTISTS

• Adriana VignoliAdriana Vignoli lives in Brasília-DF and works with sculpture, drawing, and photography. She conceptualizes sculptures that have a life of their own, and change slowly and continuously, transforming themselves into other, unpredictable forms. Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Brasília, and is currently pursuing a doctorate at the Institute of Arts, also from UnB. Vignoli participated in national and international artistic residencies, the most recent being at Pivô Pesquisa (2022), São Paulo. Awarded the Funarte Marc Ferrez award (2021), and received the TCU National Exhibition Award in Brasília (2020). Shared an international group exhibition at Fundación Klemm, Buenos Aires (2019), and Nassauischer Kunstverein in Wiesbaden and at Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (2014), while living in Berlin. Nominated for the PIPA Prize (2016). Received the FUNARTE National Award for Contemporary Art (2015). Her works are in national and international public collections. In Brazil, she is represented by Casa Albuquerque (Brasília, DF), Matias Brotas (Vitória, ES) and Celma Albuquerque (Belo Horizonte, MG) galleries.
• Alex KorolkovasAlex Korolkovas was born in 1969, in São Caetano do Sul (São Paulo – Brazil) and studied Advertising at the Methodist University of São Paulo. Korolkovas studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, and worked as an assistant to photographers such as the renowned photographer Earl Miller. He was among the Top 10 fashion creatives in a contest held by Casa de Criadores (2004) and nominated for the Abril Prize of Journalism in the “photo essay” category for his work for VIP Magazine (2006). Alex moved again to the US in 2016, where he won the Visual Press Awards in Florida – in The Fine Art Photography category. Also in 2016, he held the Valentina exhibition in Miami that earned him another Visual Press Awards early in 2017, this time for Best Solo Exhibit. In fashion, Alex photographed for the best Brazilian designers – Jorge Bischoff, Reinaldo Lourenço, Glória Coelho, Pedro Lourenço, Cavalera to name a few. He currently collaborates with Brazilian, German, and American magazines, and lives in NY with his wife Mariana.
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• Alex RoccaInspired by architecture, landscaping and artistic and cultural movements, Alex Rocca handcrafts unique and original tapestries. The entire creative process, from inspiration, design and conceptual evolution, is the result of his life experience and training in cinema, scenography and interior design. 2012-2013, postgraduate in Scenography, coordinated by Ismael Scheffler, UTFPR. Curitiba – PR. 2015-2016, postgraduate in Interior Design, European Center. Curitiba – PR. 2006-2009, graduation in Cinema, FAP-PR. Curitiba – PR. Individual exhibitions include SP-ARTE “Pele Collection” at Pavilhão da Bienal, São Paulo (2022), and SP-ARTE “Vazios Collection” online in São Paulo (2021).
• Andre MendesBorn in Curitiba, 1979. Graduated in Graphic Design from the Pontificia Catholic University of Paraná and specialized in artistic drawing at the Institut Superior de Disseny y Escola de la Imatge – IDEP, Barcelona. Mendes has been a part of over 11 solo exhibitions and 18 group exhibitions all over Brazil, Europe, and Asia since 2009. He has also participated in three artist residency programs: Tropikos, Hof Art Space, Bangkok, Thailand (2015), Kakiseni International Art Residency, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (2012), Jarbas Lopes, Maricá, Brazil (2008). Several of his pieces are displayed in museums, galleries, and institutional collections, such as GRPCOM Gazeta do Povo News, Curitiba, Brazil; Paraná Institute of Oncology, Curitiba, Brazil; Ricardo Fernandes Gallery, Paris, France; Santa Cruz Hospital, Curitiba, Brazil; Secretary of Culture of Ponta Grossa, Brazil; and Zilda Fraletti Gallery, Curitiba, Brazil.
• Bia DoriaPlastic artist Bia Doria lives and works in São Paulo. She has already won several important prizes, participates in several exhibitions, and her works are in some of the most relevant galleries, museums, and places in the world. Bia works with waste from management forest, native trees rescued from fires, deforestation, bottom of rivers, and dams. From the North to the South of Brazil, she runs through, passes through, recovers, polishes, recreates, and takes care of nature. She is an important representative of sustainable contemporary art. She learned to observe nature and visualize works of art in trees, branches, roots of dead trees and other natural elements that were discarded. Her enhancement allowed her creations to expand and her convictions ecological issues echoed with greater amplitude, making the artist an important representative of sustainable contemporary art. She has published three books: Bia Doria Esculturas (2021), Raízes do Brasil, Editora Pit Cult (2014), and Bia Doria (2011).
• Carlos Cruz-DiezFrench-Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (Caracas, 1923 – Paris, 2019) lived and worked in Paris since 1960. A major protagonist in the field of Kinetic and Optical Art, a movement that encourages “an awareness of the instability of reality.” His body of work established him as one of the key 20th century thinkers in the realm of color. Carlos Cruz-Diez’s visual art explores the perception of color as an autonomous reality evolving in space and time, unaided by form or support, in a perpetual present. His artworks are housed in prestigious permanent collections at institutions such as: Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Tate Modern, London; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.
• ChrispapitaChristian Escobar, “Chrispapita” in the art world, is a self-taught artist from Guatemala, is passionate about various contemporary artistic movements. As a child, he showed great interest in drawing; from pencil drawings to acrylic on canvas, he developed his own technique and style. Hyperrealism and realism is what he ́s best known for, inspired by the human figure and applying features of urban cultures and their relationship with nature and science. His artistic and life philosophy is the baroque ideal of Memento Mori, which means “Remember that you will die”, which motivates him to create works where the main theme is celebrating life, living in the present, learning from our past and future. He uses chiaroscuro as a tool to generate a correct dramatization in his themes, playing with the duality between light and darkness.
• Chrystiane CorreaBorn in Niterói – Rio de Janeiro, lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. Bachelors in Social Communications – Universidade Gama Filho; EAV, Parque Lage – João Magalhães Núcleo de Estudos – João Wesley e Chang; Creative Process – Charles Watson, Atelier Novo Mundo, RJ; Davi Cury – Protect me from what i want / Proteja-me do que desejo – Daniela. Individual Exhibitions – 2011 – “O original, é o natural”, CCPCM (Centro Cultural Paschoal Carlos Magno) – Niterói/RJ; 2003 – Gravatá, Galeria de Artes Visuais Lana Botelho – Rio de Janeiro/RJ. Select Collective Exhibitions – 2016 – Confluences in Brazilian Contemporary Art, Art&Design Gallery – Miami/EUA; 2015 – JM Castellano Cervilla – Granada/Espanha; 2015 – Bienal Internacional de Arte; Contemporânea – Paris/França; 2014 – Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporânea – Paris/França.
• Claudio TozziClaudio Tozzi is a Brazilian artist born in 1944 in São Paulo, Brazil, who has worked since the 1960s to challenge the political and social culture of Brazil and the world. Through his art he has highlighted the censorship of military dictatorships, the woes of mass media, and the strength of individuals. He participated in the NeoFiguration movement, primarily about issues experienced by Brazilians. Brazil lived under an oppressive dictatorship for years and the NeoFiguration movement worked to question the physical and social conditions of the era. Tozzi’s work has since been shared worldwide as he has gained popularity outside Brazil due to widely understood themes. He is one of the most well known and influential artists in Brazil.
• Dabus & ThibesFernanda was born in Santa Maria, Brazil but has lived in the US since 200. Art came into her life first with dance and music, and many years later in psychology and psychoanalysis. Art has helped her explore her emotions and relationships in different colors and energies. The art of exploring new spaces has long been part of who she is. Her admiration for the arts has been there, ever present, until she finally found the courage to translate her life experiences onto canvas. Cecilia was born in Parana, Brazil. Since Cecilia’s earliest memories, she felt challenged to grasp the essence of art and its various possibilities. After living for a time in Europe, Thibes went back to Brazil and participated in two advanced training programs within the Anthroposophical Artistic field. her atelier has been an active space for work as an Art Therapist, Art Teacher, and Painter. It is also a place where the artist has a permanent collection of her artwork.
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• Daniel RaselloBorn in Buenos Aires. Graduated with a BA in advertising from FAECC in 1987. Already interested in art, took a course at the atelier by Luis Felipe Noé in Buenos Aires and art history. Moved to São Paulo in 1990, and a few years later participated in the biennial of Santos. In 2019, he left marketing to dedicate himself to art. Concerned with nature, he makes each tree the center of focus and uses an eye-catching technique: black ballpoint pens on Canson paper 300g. Exhibitions include the Rizoma Conecta arte, in São Paulo (2021), and his first solo show at Salão de Artes do Clube Paulistano (2022), curated by Sergio Scaff and Bel Lacaz. The exhibition “Perpetuate” consisted of trees, Brazilian animals, and natives that are at risk of extinction. Participated in the Salão de Artes Plásticas from Arceburgo, MG, winning the IHCA trophy, a major award. In Salão de Artes Plásticas Waldemar Belisário, Ilhabela, won bronze in the drawing category. Special guest at the exhibition “Dialogues on Paper” at Paulo Setubal Museum, Tatuí.
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• Dee LazzeriniThe artist’s work is focused on the creation of layers, fields and membranes, all inspired by microscopic experiments within the biological field. Moreover one could relate to the artwork from an “artificial bodies” perspective, all in different levels and scales. Almost like a new spontaneous generation of living organisms. Education – 2023-Graduation in Visual Arts – Ampli University of São Paulo; 2013 – PhD in Biomaterials Engineering – Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil)/ University of Strasbourg (France) – College of Metallurgical Engineering – 2009 – Masters of Science in Biomaterials Engineering – Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) – College of Metallurgical Engineering; 2000 – Bachelor of Dental Surgery – University of Itauna (Brazil)
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• Delson UchoaDelson Uchôa (Maceió, Brazil, 1956) is one of the main contemporary artists representative of the so-called “Generation 80”. With an extensive trajectory of exhibitions – such as the Venice, São Paulo, Havana, and Cairo biennials – he has works in collections such as Inhotim (Brumadinho, Brazil), Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (Brazil), Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (Brazil), Vogt Collection (Berlin, Germany) and York Stack Collection (Berlin, Germany).
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• Edu SilvaGraduated in multimedia production at Senac (2010), he attends open courses, study groups and artistic accompaniments, dedicating himself to visual arts and graphic projects in his studio. Edu is interested in territorial tensions in social segregation and in identity issues that re-discuss miscegenation, with painting as the main production. From the experience of “being between” he produces works made up of unequally divided chromatic fields, where one color establishes itself as dominant while other colors occupy smaller spaces on the edges of the canvas. Some exhibitions: Solo : [In]Chromatic Fluxes – Centro Adamastor; Self-portrait – Vértice Gallery; Mestizaje – Casagallery; Ruptures – MAB. Collectives : XXI and XX International Biennial of Cerveira; 25th Salon of Plastic Arts of Praia Grande, 49th and 51st SAC of Piracicaba; Expanded Painting – Virgílio and PIN•CÉU Gallery – Funarte. 2nd place in the 10th edition of the Salão dos Artistas sem Galeria and 1st place in the XXXVII Salão de Artes de Rio Claro.
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• Elaine ArrudaElaine Arruda, 1985, Belém (PA) – Visual artist and teacher. PhD in Arts from ECA-USP, she completed part of her PhD at Université Paris 8. Since 2019, she has been a member of the faculty of the Federal University of Pará. She is currently represented by Galeria Barco (SP) and The House of Arts (Miami). In her trajectory, she participated in national and international exhibitions, among them: Brésil trois points, at Bateau Lavoir, in Paris. Biennale Internationale de la Gravure, in Sarcelles, France. Estampe Amazonienne, at the Engramme Artistic Center in Québec. In Brazil, the invitation to the show Cheio de Vazio, which took place at Instituto Tomie Ohtake, in São Paulo, curated by Paulo Miyada, stands out. In addition to exhibitions at CCSP, Goethe-Institut de Porto Alegre and Salão Arte Pará.
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• Elisa ArrudaElisa Arruda is a visual artist born in Belém do Pará. Holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture and Urbanism from FAU-USP (2017), lives and works between Belém and São Paulo. She focuses on the condition of women, memory, bonds,motherhood, housing, and daily life. She uses metal engraving, and counterpoints printed images to the volume obtained by cutting and paper folding. Painting, furniture installations, manipulated and sculptural objects are part of her productions. Nominated for the 2021 PIPA Award. Recently awarded by the 32nd Edital of CCSP (2022), Branco de Melo Award from the Fundação Cultural Tancredo Neves – FCPTN (2022), 1st national engraving prize Marcello Grassman – Graphic Arts (2021) through Edital do Espaco Cultural of Banco da Amazon (2021); participated in the 48th Sacilotto Salon (2020), Itajaí Salon (2018), and received the Casa das Artes do Pará Research and Experimentation Scholarship (2017). Participated in several group and individual exhibitions.
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• EnivoENIVO has been working with art since he was 12 years old, when he had his first experience with graffiti, in 1998. Since then, he has marked the streets of the city with his materializations of ideas, expression of feelings and questions, through images. The artist has already illustrated advertising campaigns for brands and decorated homes and businesses. Graduated in Fine Arts from Faculdade Paulista de Artes, he is also an art educator and founding partner of A7MA Galeria. ENIVO also acts as a curator and organizer of exhibitions.
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• Eva Le CampionFor Eva Le Campion, the production process of a work is nothing more than painting life. “What I see, what I feel, what revolts me, what I cannot change, I paint life. Drawing is the only skill I have left to express the world around me”, says Le Campion. She suffered two influences in her career: her uncle, and the father of her children, Delson Uchoa. Through him, she started working with acrylic. Graduated in Letters from the Federal University of Alagoas (Ufal), Eva, in addition to acting in the field of arts, has always been supportive and fought for various social causes. In 2016, the artist received the 2015/2016 Camões Luso Brasileiro Award for her career spanning more than 30 years in the art world, for her social work and for the Moira exhibition, held at Pinacoteca Universitária, in December 2015.
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• Eva SobanShe is a reference in Brazil when it comes to webs. She has been awarded by the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, and participated in several exhibitions in Museums and Galleries in Brazil and abroad. Participated in the three Textile Art Biennials at MAM-SP; Contemporary Textile Art Biennials promoted by the WTA in Mexico, Montevideo and Madrid, as a guest artist. Latest exhibitions: “De Fio A Fio” MAB – FAAP – SP 2022 curated and participated; “The Genesis According to Eve” – MAS de SP- 2022; “By a Thread” MAJ – SC 2017; “Black Forest” MAB – SP 2016
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• Fabio Baroli[Uberaba, MG, 1981. Lives and works in São Paulo]. Bachelor in Visual Arts from the University of Brasilia – UnB, 2010 and Master’s student in Visual Poetics at the University of São Paulo – USP. Participated in several exhibitions in Brazil and abroad. Main single exhibitions: “Where the wind turns”, 2022 – Galerie Voss (Germany); “HOTSPOTS – Memória, imaginação e resistência”, 2021 – Zipper Galeria (Brazil); “Selva-Mata”, 2020 – Reiners Contemporary Art (Spain); “Goliath”, 2017 – Museumsquartier (Austria); “Deitei pra repousar e ele mexeu comigo” , 2016 – CCBB (Brazil); “Muito pelo ao contrario”. Received the Funarte Prize for Contemporary Art in 2012, the A. Marcanton Awardio Vilaça in 2013 and a nomination for the PIPA Prize in 2012. Has works in the collections of Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro – MAM, Museu de Arte do Rio – MAR, Museu Nacional de Brasília, Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Mato Grosso do Sul – MARCO, Kunst Im Tunnel – KIT (Germany) and Stiftung Kleine Kunstdialog West/Ost (Germany), among others.
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• Felipe CamaFelipe Cama (Porto Alegre, 1970, lives in São Paulo) examines the production, distribution and consumption of images in the contemporary world. He appropriates various types of media from digital images on the Internet to advertising photographs, pictures found in virtual travel albums and reproductions in art history books to compose works in media such as painting, photography, collage and video. His work is included in important institutional collections, such as the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Centro Cultural São Paulo, Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto, Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Centro Cultural Carpe Diem Arte e Pesquisa (Lisbon) and Musashino Art University (Tokyo). He has held over 15 solo exhibitions across Brazil, the most recent being “Corrupted” – São Paulo Cultural Center, São Paulo, Brazil (2020), “You Have Reached Your Destination” – Galeria Zipper – São Paulo, Brazil (2017), “Sul x North” at the Ribeirão Preto Museum of Art, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil (2016) and at Galeria Leme, São Paulo, Brazil (2015). His work is part of over 9 collections in Brazil, Portugal, and Japan.
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• Fernanda FigueiredoLimeira, São Paulo, 1978. Lives in Berlin. Fernanda Figueiredo studied Architecture and Urbanism at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie and Visual Arts at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado in São Paulo. She took part in open calls as SARP in Ribeirão Preto and the Salão de Abril in Fortaleza; exhibited at institutions such as MAM — Rio de Janeiro and MAM — Bahia; Kunsthaus Kannen in Münster; Galerie im Körnerpark and Kunstquartier Bethanien in Berlin; and in commercial galleries as A Gentil Carioca in Rio de Janeiro. She has received several awards, including Rede Nacional FUNARTE de Artes Visuais, Goldrausch Künstlerinnenprojekt Stipendium from the Berliner Senate, and from Jakob und Emma Windler Stiftung for an artist residency in Switzerland in 2021. In 2023, the artist will participate in the 4th Industrial Art Biennial in Croatia. Her works are represented in private collections, at São Pedro Museum in Itu and in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro.
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• Gersony SilvaGersony begun her studies in art, when she attended a Communication Design Course at Colégio Carlos de Campos, and immediately identified herself with universe of paintings. Graduated from Visual Arts at Belas Artes University São Paulo, Pedagogy at PUC University, SãoPaulo, and Psychology at São Marcos University, Gersony is also specialized in Art History at MASP, Museum of São Paulo, and Art Education at ECA USP, University of São Paulo, ArtTherapy at Sedes Sapientiae and Art Rehabilitation at AACD, Associação de Assistência à criança Deficiente. Gersony has an extensive academic specialization curriculum, as well as vast experience in Art Education in ateliers, schools, and Art Museums. She has over 25 years of experience as an art, Contemporary Art, and Art History teacher for both children and adults. As an Art therapist, Gersony researched and published a scientific article on the importance of art in the rehabilitation of special children at AACD.
• Gilberto SalvadorPainter, draftsman, engraver, architect, teacher. Gilberto Orcioli Salvador graduated in architecture in 1969 from the College of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo – FAU/USP, where he later worked as a professor. Simultaneously, he devoted himself to painting and drawing. He held his first exhibition in 1965 at the Teatro de Arena Art Gallery in São Paulo. He was awarded a gold medal at the Salão de Arte Contemporânea, Campinas, in 1967, and, in the 1969 and 1970 editions, with the acquisition prize. Participated in several editions of the São Paulo International Biennial, and two exhibitions at Masp stand out among his solo shows, in 1985 and 1995. In 1999, the sculpture Vôo de Xangô was installed at the Jardim São Paulo Station of the Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo. His work is characterized by the opposition between gestural and rigid lines, organic and inorganic forms, movement and static. Living forms, men, flowers and animals mix with geometric figures.
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• Heloisa Hariadne“My style in painting is intersected by the investigation of the memories in my body, in which I question the temptations and intentions in a portrait of the intimate – a memory of records of looks, people and constructions of small shapes, which are filled in image. I like to think of my paintings as a possibility of working an emotional aspect of portraits, using the construction of small shapes to transform them into people who fill themselves in the image. I like to think of my paintings as a possibility to work with one’s emotions in the portrait, creating an image of the body while questioning itself and its spaces. I think about the inversion of bodies and how their characteristics tread a poem that deals with an invisible path, as a search for traces that are not linked only to race, but also on deeper subjects. A desire to go through the vague, and at the same time habitable, a place where all bodies end up questioning themselves – identity – how much of your body is yours? Where has it become an idealization?” – Heloisa Hariadne
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• ames KudoGraduated in graphic design from the Faculdade de Belas Artes, São Paulo (1989), and lived in New York (1992-1994), where he studied abstract painting at the Art Student League school. He also worked as a pattern designer at Diamond & Baratta in New York. “Topophilia” is the starting point of his work, emphasizing the memory of a part of his hometown that was flooded for the construction of a hydroelectric plant. Collages and images taken from encyclopedias construct their various realities and experiences. He has works at MAC-Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo, Pinacoteca do Estado de SP, Itaú Cultural, Miura Museum Matsuyama and others. Of his individual exhibitions, the following stand out: “Oxímoros” (Zipper Gallery), “Telúrica” (Laura Marsiaj Gallery and MARP – Museum of Art of Ribeirão Preto). And the group exhibitions, “Expeditionen in ästhetik und nachhaltigkeit” (Memorial da América Latina – São Paulo),“100 painters of tomorrow” (Beers Contemporary – London – UK and “Vértices” (National Post Office Museum in Brasilia).
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• Jay BoggoStylist and visual artist born in Joinville, Jay started his career as a self-taught artist. With more than 20 years of experience at the forefront of a textile industry and a connoisseur of raw materials, he founded J.BOGGO + and today works at the head of the brand, in addition to taking over the creative direction. All of his experience and personal transformation led him to give lectures at schools and universities, research and creation centers. He is an artist by profession through his works in paintings as well as the head of the clothing and lifestyle brand J.BOGGO +. In addition to being a designer for the brand, he paints pictures and is recognized at fairs and exhibitions in Brazil and abroad.
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• Jeane TerraJeane Terra researches the subjectivity of memory, the nuances of the transience of cities, and the debris of a time, such as urban erasure, the unbridled growth of cities and environmental issues. The artist’s work develops in painting, sculpture, photography, and video art. In her works, Jeane uses rubble and the “paint skin”, a technique she developed from mixing acrylic paint and binder, which, made in thin layers, takes on the appearance of skin. The artist uses paint “skins” to produce her paintings, some using the cross-stitch technique, or cut and pasted directly onto the canvas. A kind of body – painting. Just as, by using rubble from houses and buildings as an object of work and covering them with velvet skins, it generates new meanings to the body-house matter. The artist has participated in individual and group exhibitions in Brazil and abroad.
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• Joao Angelini“A resident of Planaltina, a historical/colonial city in Goiás and on the outskirts of Brasília, I have dedicated myself to investigating various gestures based on the transit between the rural colonial of Goiás and the urban modernity of Brasília. From mastic trees, bones, red earth to concrete, glass and white marble. Since 2005 I have been regularly exhibiting and receiving awards for my individual production. 1st Edition Global Crypto Art Exhibition – 59th Venice Biennale (2022), 2nd Décio Noviello Visual Arts Prize (2021), Sesc ComVida Prize (2020), Arte Como Respiro – Itaú Cultural (2020), Edital Novas Efervescências – EC Porto Seguro SP (2019), CNI Finalist – Marcantonio Vilaça (2017), awarded in the Directions of Itaú Cultural (2014, 2009 and 2006), Bolsa Funarte de Produção (2011), and Anima Mundi (2009) punctuate part of the trajectory of my work.” – Joao Angelini
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• Joao CastilhoJoão Castilho (Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1978) is a visual artist who works with photography, video and sculpture. He is inspired by literature, popular culture, landscapes of the Brazilian cerrado, everyday scenes and current affairs. The artist’s work is present in institutional collections such as the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris; Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo; Pirelli/MASP Photography Collection, São Paulo; and National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro. He won awards from the Conrado Wessel Art Foundation (2014); and the Bolsa de Fotografia, from Instituto Moreira Salles, (2013). He was one of the artists selected for the 19th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil and the Mercosul Biennial, in 2015. Main solo exhibitions: Zoo, Bratislava, Slovakia (2016), and Chaos-world, FUNARTE, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2013). Main collective exhibitions: “L’Autre Visage” Embassy of Brazil in Belgium, Brussels (2017); 10th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre (2015); XX International Biennial of Curitiba, Brazil (2014); I Biennial of Photography, MASP, Brazil (2014).
• Kazuo WakabayashiBorn in Kobe, Japan, in 1931, Kazuo Wakabayashi was already a trained artist when he immigrated to São Paulo in 1961. Wakabayashi quickly gained popularity in Brazil, Japan, and the United States. Four years after his arrival in Brazil, he participated in a group exhibition of Japanese-Brazilian artists at the Organization of American States, where he also held his first US solo show in 1969. In the 1940s and 1950s, while still in Japan, Wakabayashi experimented with figure studies, landscapes, and portraits of the female body. His later work can be divided into two periods. The first can be categorized as “informalist”, while also adhering to geometric principles; marked by thick, textured surfaces and abstract, monochromatic forms. In his second and latest period, beginning in the 1980s, he returned overtly to Japanese tradition, translating characteristics of traditional woodcuts, and specifically Ukiyo-e prints into three-dimensional, large-scale paintings and prints.
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• Laerte RamosLaerte Ramos (Brazil/São Paulo, SP, 1978) stands out in the Brazilian contemporary art scene, especially for his production in engraving and ceramic installations. He works with different materials such as woodcuts, serigraphy, painting, sculpture, tapestry, objects, using techniques and materials that challenge him as an artist-researcher. Graduated in visual arts from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado-FAAP in Bachelor (2001) and Licentiate (2002). His works go beyond unitary pieces and cross different languages to modify their understanding and the space in which they are inserted. Since the second half of the 1990s, Laerte Ramos has participated in important group shows and, in the last 26 years, he has held several solo shows, in Brazil and abroad. He has a record of 51 solo exhibitions, 7 participations in artistic residencies, and 32 awards as an artist.As a curator, Laerte has 10 exhibitions and 2 awards, highlighting the Marcantônio Vilaça Award in 2020 with the exhibition “Compreensão do Ar” or (E = M2).
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• Luiz EscanuelaLuiz Escañuela graduated in visual communications, has a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from Centro Universitário de São Paulo, where he attended two years of visual arts. He has been drawing and painting since childhood, and started his professional career at the age of 22, working mainly with painting. He has already had two solo exhibitions, the most recent, entitled “Don’t Forget What is Epic” (2022) and “DISRUPTO” (2021). He participated in several collective exhibitions, international fairs, and gave a workshop in Germany. In 2020 he was elected by Forbes magazine as one of the influential personalities in the arts under 30 years old. He developed a particular method within hyper-realism. In more recent works, exemplified by “Don’t Forget What Is Epic”, he fuses detailed painting with new gestural experiments. The large-scale work reference research of cinema, the Brazilian baroque, creation myths, and the iconoclasm of philosophy, proposing hyper-links between the images and provoking poetic speculation in the spectator.
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• Marcelus FreschetHe is an Artist that explores forms and colors to bring harmony and elegance to his geometric works. – Lucia de Carvalho Curator of Expoarte Gallery, Brasilia, Brazil. Born in Santos, 1962, in 1984 he graduated in Architecture and Design / University FAU, Santos. Studied with Ruy Othake, Gilberto Salvador, Cristiano Mascaro and Odiléia Toscano. 1986, Studied ARTESCULTURA with Domenico Calabrone and Elvio Becheroni. 1987, Represented Brazil in Faenza Pottery Bienal -Italy 1987, Individual Exhibition Ceramica Oggi in Cultural Center Brazil – Italy , Milan. 1989, Starts his Glass Creations in Veneza , Italy. 1980 – 2001, Creates Functional Objects for TOK-STOK Stores, Cristais PRADO and O POTE , São Paulo. 2017-2018-2019 – Participates in Paralela Design Fair with his Glass Work and VisualArt Works. 2021 – Participates in the Contemporary Art Salon, Guarulhos. 2022 – Coletive Exibition in Bienal of São Paulo / BOOMDESIGN SP Lounge Bienal.
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• Marilia ScarabelloA visual artist, she lives and works between Jundiaí and São Paulo. Master in Visual Arts from Unicamp, specialized in Theatrical Scenography by Espaço Cenográfico and graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, she started her artistic production in mid-2013. Her work transits between multiple languages, including frequent procedures of appropriation, with research directed to questions involving the idea of territory and its physical and metaphorical representation.
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• Matias MesquitaMatias Mesquita has been a visual artist since 2009. Graduated in Industrial Design / Visual Communication from PUC-Rio. He attended the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage (2009-2010), and was co-founder of Elefante Centro Cultural, a major space for contemporary art in Brasília. Among his main exhibitions is “Concrete, Liquid and Gaseous Worlds”, at Casa Albuquerque (Brasília); and the group exhibitions “Conversations: Resistance and Convergence”, at the Casa das Onze Janelas Cultural Center (Belém/Pará) and “TRIANGULAR: Art of this Century”, at the Casa da Cultura da América Latina (Brasília). His production is in the collection of great Brazilian collectors, as well as important museums in Brazil: the National Museum of Fine Arts (Rio de Janeiro); O MAR – Museu de Arte do Rio (Rio de Janeiro); the National Museum of the Republic (Brasília). He is the recipient of ITAÚ CULTURAL – Arte Como Respiro (2020); PIPA Online Award nomination (2016); and IBRAM Feira Art-Rio 2011 Award (2011), among others.
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• Miguel GontijoMiguel Gontijo is from Santo Antonio do Monte, Minas Gerais, and currently lives in Belo Horizonte. He is a graduate in history and philosophy, and post-graduate in Art and Contemporaneity. He received several awards throughout most of the national territory and had several individual exhibitions, with works in public entities in Brazil and abroad. In 2004 he published the book ProfanasScripta, which the following year was released in Portugal with the plastic exhibition of the same title. With his contemporary look, he subverts the order of things. His paintings exchange themes, motifs and techniques with other arts, another time. Sometimes it shows the past, sometimes it is the present that imposes itself.
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• MundanoA Brazilian artist born in São Paulo, Mundano is 36 years old and in the last 15 years he has been actively using his art as a tool for social transformation. Defender of environmental causes and universal human rights, he founded the NGO Pimp My Carroça 10 years ago, with which he developed the Cataki application, aimed at connecting waste generators and collectors of recyclable material. The result of his artivism opened doors for him to take his actions with waste pickers around the world, traveling through more than 20 countries performing murals, exhibitions, graffiti, lectures, partnerships and integrating global programs such as TED Fellows.
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• O CranioA blue Indian is the trademark of artist Cranio from Sao Paulo, representing the indigenous people from Brazil. His mediums are acrylic on canvas and spray paint on walls, but he also enjoys creating variations by mixing the two. Cranio, which translates to ‘skull’ in Portuguese, is the pseudonym of Fabio de Oliveira Parnaiba who was born in 1982 and grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1998 he began spray painting the walls of his hometown. With inspirations deriving from life, cartoons and legendary artist Salvador Dali; his illustrious ‘moniker’ of sorts, is a native indigenous person of Brazil, painted in blue. Developed out of a representation for the indigenous peoples who have populated his native country, Cranio cites that the Indians find themselves in funny and curious situations, prompting thoughts of more contemporary issues such as consumerism, corruption and the environment.
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• R2 StudioFriends Roberta Romanelli and Rodolpho Rivolta had the same taste for Pop and Contemporary Art, even before they met. In 2018, the two met when Rodolpho ordered a custom Toy Art from Playmobil from Roberts. And from there, a great friendship and enormous synergy made them think of creating something together. In 2020 they set up R2 Studio, an unpretentious, cool art studio full of childhood references from the 80s. At R2, you can find ToyArt, emblematic phrases, mirrors, neon, but the duo’s DNA is focused in Upcycling, a worldwide movement of creative reuse, where pieces and objects from the past are completely transformed by their unconventional interventions. That is why at R² many works are impossible to be replicated or transformed into a series. Based in SP, R2 has already spread its works to clients all over the world and Brazil, and has already exhibited their work “Put your Ego in a Box” in Miami and NY, and “Set me Free” which will now be exhibited in Venice.
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• Ricardo “Rag” AguiarRAG lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. Graduate in Mathematics and Social Communication, and postgraduate in Design and Social Innovation. He uses painting, photography, and digital art techniques, bringing to the center of his work the various languages of labeling systems, narratives and beliefs that the productive modes of contemporary life impose on us in our day-to-day lives, mainly from the interference of humans on the planet. Solo Exhibitions: 2013 The White Rectangle at the Joinville Art Museum, Nutopia at the Goiânia Art Museum, 2011 Intervention for SESC Rio at the PUC Theater, Rio de Janeiro, 2010 The Atom and the Void at Zipper Gallery, São Paulo. His works are in public collections at the Museum of Art of Goiânia, Museum of Art of Joinville, Collection of the Secretariat of Culture of Santo André and Collection of the Secretariat of Culture of Praia Grande.
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• Renato MeziatRenato Pereira de Silva Meziat began his artistic career as a musician, training at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Upon returning to his native Rio de Janeiro, he dedicated himself full-time to painting and by 1976 began gaining recognition. In 1978, his work was exhibited at the salon Nacional de Artes Plásticas and was chosen for a second showing the following year. The first of several solo exhibitions followed in 1980 at Galeria Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro.
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• Rosa FerrariRosa Ferrari lives and works in Nova Lima – MG. Her degree in Architecture and Urbanism puts her in contact with the visual arts and the enchantment for the natural riches of Minas Gerais brings baggage to her creative process. In experiments and research with raw materials and pigments found in nature, the artist creates sculptures, objects, photographs, installations and constructs conceptual art. Currently, she has been researching biomes and their riches, covering mainly the diversity of the Brazilian flora, and the various possibilities of human connection with nature. All based on the “sensory organization” that is specific to each society.
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• Thiago ToesToes’ production transits between different manifestations, including painting, sculpture and site specific, guiding the viewer to a sensorial space that makes us reflect on our presence and passage through the universe. As he builds his work, origins and births interest him a lot, making him grow as an artist in that time and space. The artist has already exhibited his work in several important spaces, such as the Memorial da América, SESC Belenzinho, Funarte, Casa do Olhar Luiz Sacilotto, and Paço das Artes; in addition to spaces abroad, such as the Kunstmuseum Kulturverein – Wittingen Art Museum in Germany, IK – Projects gallery in Lima, and participation in the Vulica Brasil festival, with a mural in the National Bank of Minsk building, in Belarus. He has also participated in the artistic residency at the 13th International Art Week in Lüben – Germany, and at Kaysaá – Artistic Residency on the north coast of São Paulo. He was awarded an honorable mention by the Salão de Artes de Vinhedo, and by the magazine DasArtes with the GARIMPO award.
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• Yuli GesztiYuli Geszti was born in 1953 and grew up during the 1970s and was influenced by the artistic atmosphere of the time. Conceptualism is often perceived as a response to Minimalism, and the leading art movement of the 1970s, challenging the boundaries of art with its revolutionary features. She lives and works in Rio de Janeiro in her atelier at Cosme Velho. She has dedicated herself exclusively to painting in acrylic paint on canvas since 1994. Yuli discusses the issues of the illusion of volume, figure and background, light and shadow in painting. Her works attract the viewer’s eye, leading them to the interior and exterior of planes and reliefs preserved in bands of contrasting colors. About the concepts of her work, she says, “my work is motivated by a challenge: to create the illusion of three-dimensional volumes on the flat surface of the canvas using only brushes and ink. These volumes are configurations of unusual objects arising from a planar support.”

Join us on THURSDAY June 22 for an Opening Reception at Echo Contemporary

Echo Contemporary Art on Thursday, June 22nd from 7pm to 10pm for the Opening Reception of the “Second Annual Guardian Studio Artists Exhibition”. Guardian Studios at Echo Street West is home to over 40 of Atlanta’s creatives and visual artists. Over 25 visual artists will present their paintings, sculptures, furniture, fashion designs and ceramic work. During the opening reception, the Studio Artists will have their 31 studios open to the public. Come and enjoy a cocktail while you tour the gallery and open studios.

Participating Artists

Alex Mari

Amanda Davisson

Angela Bortone

Aysha Pennerman

Charity Hamidullah

Dave Gastineau

Dionna Collins

Eve Brown

Felicia Castro

Gabi Madrid

Gavin Bernard

George Galbreath

Haylee Anne

Jena Dost

Jennifer Diaz

Jessica Caldas

Jessica Helfrecht

Kacee Friedman

Karen Graffeo

Kenya Freeman

Kieta Rose

MecSaiel Solehman

Mickey Griffin

Neka King

Petie Parker

Reed Knauth

Sally Eppstein

Sarah Al-Khayyal

Shannon Barns

Timothy Short

Tracy Murrell

Tree

Opening Reception- Thursday June 22, 2023 7pm -10pm

Exhibition Dates- June 22 – July 29

Echo Contemporary Art is located within the Guardian Studios building on the Echo Street West campus. 785 Echo Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318.

Questions: [email protected] / 404.680.8728

Lost at Sea Gustavo Oviedo’s new exhibit

Visu Contemporary to present Lost at Sea Gustavo Oviedo’s new exhibit featuring abstract works inspired by sea life and the evolution of form June 24-Aug 04, 2023 — opening reception Saturday, June 24th – 6-9pmMIAMI BEACH, JUNE 7, 2023 — Visu Contemporary is thrilled to announce the highly  anticipated exhibition Lost at Sea featuring new works in the ongoing “biomorphic” series by abstract artist Gustavo Oviedo. The exhibit will be on display at the gallery from June 24th to August 4th, 2023, with an opening reception on June 24th from 6-8pm.
Through his bold and dynamic compositions, Oviedo’s artworks invite viewers to immerse  themselves in the rhythmic patterns and harmonious color palettes, creating an engaging visual experience that resonates with the viewer’s own subconscious notions of ephemeral patterns in nature.
For 15 years Gustavo Oviedo’s has explored abstraction while comprehensively researching and  visiting structures in the seas surrounding Miami and The Keys. Lost at Sea will showcase works inspired by Oviedo’s interest in the evolution of form—both through subtle changes in marine life as well as humankind’s rapid impacts on the sea.
The opening reception Lost at Sea will take place on June 24th from 6-9pm at Visu Contemporary. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Gustavo Oviedo in person, discuss his artistic process, and gain a deeper understanding of the inspiration behind his captivating works. This event promises to be an unforgettable celebration of creativity and the power of transformation.

“We are honored to present Gustavo Oviedo’s Lost at Sea at Visu Contemporary,” said Gallery Co-Owner, Blake Pearson. “Oviedo’s ability to capture the essence of change and evolution through abstract forms is truly remarkable.”

Visu Contemporary is an artist first gallery where emphasis is placed on quality and presentation. VISU Contemporary’s mission is to contribute to the art history canon by presenting provocative and inclusive exhibitions, projects, installations, collaborations and performances with the goal of making each exhibition a must-see, while inspiring curiosity and intrigue from every visitor.

For more information about Lost at Sea and other upcoming exhibits at Visu Contemporary, please visit www.visugallery.com

GUSTAVO OVIEDO: LOST AT SEA
June 24-August 4, 2023 – Opening Reception – Saturday, June 24th, 2023 – 6-9pm

VISU CONTEMPORARY 
2160 Park Avenue, Miami Beach
Operating Hours
June 24-Aug 4, 2023
Wednesday through Saturday, 12pm-5pm, by appointment only
Schedule an appointment: [email protected]