I source scientific visualization to explore and create artworks directly informed by geometries and architectures from the spaceflight programs operated by the U.S., Russia, Japan and the E.U. The visual data mined results in site-specific murals, works on paper, oil paintings, sound art pieces and multi- media installations. Images and information from Mars remote sensing, aerospace architecture, earth observation, and materials sciences are amongst many of the constantly flowing and evolving real-time sources used in the studio and post-studio processes. Post-studio research has been conducted in Arecibo Telescope, Puerto Rico, NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA., JSC (NASA), Houston, TX; KSC (NASA), Cape Canaveral, FL; Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (Roscosmos), Korolyov, Moscow Oblast, Russia and the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Baikonur, Kazakhstan. My research and concerns enable me to understand, analyze and speculate on our relationship with nature, with each other and with ourselves.

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Mis obras esta basadas en visualizacion científica para explorar y crear obras de arte informadas por geometrías y arquitecturas a partir de los programas de vuelos espaciales operados por los Estados Unidos, Rusia, Japón y la Comunidad Europea. La data visual extraida resulta en murales site-specific, obras en papel, pinturas al oleo, piezas de arte de sonido e instalaciones multimedia. Imágenes e información de detección remota desde Marte, arquitectura aerospacial, observaciones de la tierra, y ciencias materiales son entre las muchas fuentes que fluyen y evolucionan constantemente a tiempo real en el estudio y en los procesos post estudio. Investigación post estudio han sido llevada a cabo en Arecibo Telescope, Puerto Rico; NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California; JSC (NASA), Houston, Texas; KSC (NASA), Cape Canaveral, Florida; Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (Roscosmos), Korolyov, Moscú Oblast, Rusia; y el Baikonur Cosmodrome, Baikonur, Kazajstán. Mi investigación y preocupaciones me permiten comprender, analizar y especular acerca de nuestra relación  con la naturaleza, el uno al otro y con nosotros mismos.

Selected Biographical Information

Education / Training

• 1991-1996: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA.

Prizes / Fellowships

• 2014: Artist Pension Trust, Artist Pension Trust, New York, United States.
• 2013: Member of Arts & Letters Council, The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA.
• 2012: Public Art for Public Schools commission, Percent for Art & NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, New York, United States.
• 2008: Abbey Mural Painting Memorial Fellowship, The National Academy Museum and School, New York, United States.
• 2007: Workspace Residency, Dieu Donné Papermill, New York, United States.
• 1998: Artist in the Marketplace Program, Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Bronx, NY, United States.
• 1997: Young Artist Award, Bank of America/Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, United States.

Solo Exhibitions

• 2015: “Interkosmos”, EDS Galeria, Mexico D.F., Mexico.
• 2014: “Cosmos Codex”, MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, San Jose, CA. Organized in dialogue with  NASA Ames Research Center, San Jose, CA, United States.
• 2013: “Vector Composition No. 1”, Miller Theater at Columbia University. Organized by the Miriam & Ira D.Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York, United States.
• 2013: “Vector Group Paintings (soundtrack collaboration with Stephen Barber)”, GE Galeria, VOLTA NY, New York, United States.
• 2012: “Astrospheres”, Galeria Okyo, Caracas, Venezuela.
• 2010: “Cosmodrome Vectors”, Think.21 Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.
• 2008: “Virus Americanus Maximus”, GE Galeria, Garza Garcia, Mexico.
• 2007: “Next Green Sphere”, g-module, Paris, France.
• 2006: “A New Kind of Science”, Karpio+Facchini Gallery, Miami, United States.
• 2005: “Space Station: Tenochtitlan”, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico D.F. , Mexico.
• 2004: “Event Horizon”, g-module, Paris, France.
• 2003: “American Virus”, Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, United States.
• 2003: “Proper Motion (Pictures)”, The Hudson River Museum of Westchester, Yonkers, NY, United States.
• 2002: “Stardust, new wall drawings”, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, United States.
• 2002: “Space Stations and Blueprints”, g-module, Paris, France.
• 2002: “Vargas-Suarez Universal: Space Stations”, Lobby Gallery, Brooklyn Public Library. organized by d.u.m.b.o. arts center, Brooklyn, United States.

Group Exhibitions

• 2015: “God Save the Queen: Sobre Pintura en la Coleccion MUSAC “, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon  (MUSAC), Leon, Spain.
• 2015: “TOPOGRAFICA “, American University of Central Asia (AUCA), Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic.
• 2015: “A False Horizon: Art from Latin America”, PEANA Projects, New York, United States.
• 2015: “In The Cloud”, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, United States.
• 2014: “The Vastness id Bearable”, Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States.
• 2014: “Rojo Vivo: la pasión por coleccionar “, Fundacion Canaria para el Desarollo de la Pintura, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2014: “By Invitation Only 3 curated by Renée Riccardo”, Kinz + Tillou Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY, United Sates.
• 2014: “Separation Anxiety”, Wallplay, New York, United States.
• 2014: “Convergencias Distantes/Distant Convergence “, EDS Galeria, Mexico D.F, Mexico.
• 2013: “Housewarming: Notions of Home from the Center of the Universe”, BRIC Arts Media House, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
• 2013: “30th Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts “, Moderna galerija Ljubljana (Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana) , Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• 2013: “‘ON PAINTING’  [Prácticas pictóricas actuales… más allá de la Pintura o más acá]”, CENTRO ATLÁNTICO DE ARTE MODERNO, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2013: “Epures “, Le Sept.Cinq, Paris, France.
• 2012:“I N   P L A I N   V I E W   A group exhibition”, Gallery Geranmayeh, Westport, CT, USA.
• 2012: “Colliding Complexities-Extreme Feats of the New Aesthetic”, Storefront Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
• 2012: “Vistas: A Sense of Place by Contemporary Latin American Artists”, University of Maryland University College  (UMUC), Adelphi, MD, USA.
• 2012: “(Un)folding Patterns”, Dorsky Curatorial Programs, Long Island City, NY, USA.
• 2012: “TRIENAL POLI/GRÁFICA DE SAN JUAN: EL PANAL/THE HIVE”,  Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA.
• 2011: “Campo de Asociaciones”, Centro Cultural Simón Bolivar, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
• 2011: “A line of souls and a few words from the holy”, Fortress to Solitude Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
• 2011: “Spirit of the Epoch: A Decade of Painting from the Ofelia Martin & Javier Nuñez Art Collection”, Museo Internacional  de Arte Contemporáneo (MIAC-Lanzarote), Arrecife, Canary Islands, Spain.
• 2011: “Signs, Systems & the City in El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection”, El Museo del Barrio, New York, USA.
• 2010: “Unraveling Abstraction”, Gallery Geranmayeh, Westport, CT, USA.
• 2009: “Brooklyn Utopias? “, Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
• 2009: “Big Show: Love “, Jacob Karpio Galeria, San Jose, Costa Rica.
• 2009: “Baroque Reason”, Keith Talent Gallery, London, UK.
• 2008: “Workspace Program 2007-08”, Dieu Donne Papermill, Inc., New York, USA.
• 2008: “Wild”, Jacob Karpio Galeria, San Jose, Costa Rica.
• 2008: “Claiming Space: Mexican Americans in U.S. Cities”, Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)., El Paso, Texas, USA.
• 2008: “S.O.S. 4.8 Sustainable Art Actions”, Centro de Congresos Victor Villegas, Murcia, Spain.
• 2008: “Walls and Gateways”, Existentie vzw, ACEC, Ghent, Belgium.
• 2008: “ggg.g-salon”, g-module, Paris, France.
• 2007: “Della Pittura Digitalis – Painting and the digital momentum”, Caprice Horn Galerie GmbH, Berlin, Germany.
• 2007: “Double-edged Abstraction”, g-module, Paris, France.
• 2007: “2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art: Special Projects: We Are Your Future”, Winzavod Contemporary Art  Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation.
• 2007: “Mixed Signals “, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc., New York, USA.

Publications

• Ice Cream – 10 curators, 100 contemporary artists, 10 source artists (London: Phaidon), 316, 317, 318, 319.
• Rumos Itaú Cultural – Artes Visuais 2005-2006 (São Paulo: Itaú Cultural), 190.
• Gabinete de Desenhos – Obras do Acervo do MAM-SP (São Paulo: Museu de Arte de Arte Moderna de São Paulo), 50, 51.
• José Augusto Ribeiro, “Nicolás Robbio”, ArtNexus, Sept-Nov 2005, 157-158.
• Adriano Pedrosa, “Nicolás Robbio”, Artforum, Summer 2007, XLV, Nº10, 507-508.
• Celso Martins, “Arte por um fio”, E – a revista do Expresso (Portugal), Aug 29, 2015, 76.
• Dr. Kate Bonansinga, Curating at the Edge: Artists Respond to the US/Mexico Border (Austin: University of Texas Press), 92, 94, 99, 104, 105, 106.
•  Selene Wendt, Paco Barragan, When a Painting Moves… Something Must be Rotten (Milano: Edizioni Charta, Stenersen Museum), 49, 50, 51, 52.
• Paco Barragan, Sustainabilities (Milano: Edizioni Charta), 12,15,16,19.
•  Stellweg, diSONARE (Mexico D.F.: Batallas de la Era Comun S.A.P.I de C.V.), 14-26.
• Susan Jennings, THIS: A Collection of Artist’s Writings (New York: Right Brain Words), 75-80.
• Paco Barragan, “Dialogues for a New Millenium: Interview with Vargas–Suarez Universal“, Artpulse, No. 17 Vol. 5, 2013, 68-71.
• Susana Benko, “Los Lazos Comunicantes de Vargas–Suarez Universal“, Papel Literario, El Nacional, June 23, 2012.
• Blanca Gonzalez Rosas, “Arte: PS 1 Studio Visit”, Proceso, July 4, 2010, 70.
• Julieta Gonzalez, “Virus Americanus”, Revista ARCO, 2003, 54.
• Dr. Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, “Vargas–Suarez Universal“, Bomb, No. 90 Winter 2005, pp. 32-39.
• Benjamin Gennochio, “ART REVIEW; A View of Outer Space? No, It’s Just of Jersey City“, The New York Times, December 28, 2003.
• Pablo Helguera, “Solo Show  Vargas Suárez–Universal “, ArtNexus,  #48 Apr. Jun 2003.
• Adriana Herrera, “VARGAS–SUÁREZ UNIVERSAL: UNA NUEVA CLASE DE ARTE”, Nuevo Herald, El (Miami, FL), May 14, 2006  Section: SECTION: Artes y Letras, Galeria  Edition: Final, 8D.
• Michael Wilson, “First take: Michael Wilson on Vargas–Suarez Universal“, Artforum, January 2003 XLI, No. 5, 127.

Collections

• American University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic.
• Artist Pension Trust, New York, USA.
• Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, USA.
• The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
• Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas de Gran Canarias, Spain.
• Comunidad Autonoma de la Region de Murcia (CARM), Murcia, Spain.
• DA2 (Domus Artium 2002), Salamanca, Spain.
• Dieu Donne Papermill, Inc., New York, USA.
• El Museo del Barrio, New York, USA.
• Fundación Canaria para el Desarrollo de la Pintura, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• LibertyHealth Foundation, Jersey City Medical Center, Jersey City, USA.
• Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, USA.
• Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX, USA.
• The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York, USA.
• Palazzo delle Papesse Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy.
• Queens Museum of Art, Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, Queens, NY, USA.
• Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, Providence, RI, USA.
• Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.
• UBS Art Collection, New York, USA.
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA.
• Winzavod Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation.