Artists: Esvin Alarcón Lam, Ricardo Alcaide, Darío Escobar, Gianfranco Foschino, Juan Fernando Herrán, Harold Mendez, Gabriel de la Mora, Ronny Quevedo, and Ana Maria Tavares.
Líneas de la Mano
May 12 – July 3, 2015
Sicardi Gallery
Houston, TX, USA
Featuring artists from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela, Líneas de la mano (lines of the hand, lifelines) takes as its premise the idea that geometries connect the quotidian moments of our daily lives. Indeed, a line connects two points, A and B, start and finish, end and beginning; lines are defined by this function of connection, even as they continue to move past the points they connect
The artists in the exhibition use the languages and conceptual frameworks of modernism and abstraction to suggest poetic connections: between people, between historical referents, between political experiences, and between places. The line as connector becomes a way of skillfully addressing fraught histories, and of weaving a set of relationships. Líneas de la mano also considers the tactility of each object. The works exhibited demonstrate a strong relationship to materials and their histories, from the scrap metal of Guatemalan buses, to the thick, sooty texture of an archival photograph transferred to aluminum, to the fabric retrieved from vintage radio speakers.
The exhibition title playfully alludes to palmistry; the connection is meant to highlight the actions of the hand, implicit in the creation of the work. Astrologer, numerologist, clairvoyant, and palm-reader Cheiro (William John Warner, 1866-1936) writes, “the hand… denotes the change going on in the brain, even years before the action of the individual becomes the result of such a change.” Read in a different context, it is a compelling statement about the artistic process.
June 5, 2015 Pedro Tyler: Extensa https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/pedro-tyler-extensa-2/Artist: Pedro Tyler
Extensa
March 24 – May 2, 2015
Sicardi Gallery
Houston, TX, USA
Pedro Tyler transforms metal rulers into installations that connect the sculptural object with the history of philosophy. The exhibition opens with a reception on Tuesday, March 24, from 6-8 pm with the artist.
Tyler looks to the intersections of philosophy and religion, sculpture and knowledge. “Extensa has to do with the idea of immensity,” he writes. With his installation Principio y Fin (Beginning and End), Tyler bends sections of metal measuring tapes, turning them into the symbol for infinity. Connecting each piece, the linked chain emerges from the wall and splits into several strands, which connect to the ceiling.
The installation and sculptures in Extensa continue the artist’s ongoing investigation of systems of measurement as metaphors for the immensity of the universe. The artist writes, “Making sculpture is providing matter with form, organizing the space in which we move. How then to make an inanimate body transmit thought and emotion? According to Descartes, body and thought are quite distinct. He maintains that there are only two things: the extended thing (bodies, measurable space) and the thinking thing (the immaterial, thoughts, ideas and intuition). And inside the thinking is perfection and infinity, that is, God. But if each body is infinite within itself, are we not saying, like Spinoza, that God is in everything?”
Image: Pedro Tyler, “Beginning and End”, 2014, Variable dimensions.
March 25, 2015 Gabriel de la Mora: Lucíferos https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/gabriel-de-la-mora-luciferos/Artist: Gabriel de la Mora
Lucíferos
October 30 – December 21, 2014
Sicardi Gallery
Houston, TX, USA
In Gabriel de la Mora’s most recent body of work, he uses fire-making as a vehicle for reconsidering geometric abstraction. Striking thousands of matches against the red phosphorus-covered paper on the sides of matchboxes, de la Mora collects the used strikers and arranges them in compositions that create repeating patterns, rectangular grids, and minimalist constructions. The resulting imagery evokes two distinct historical moments. On the one hand, the enigmatic geometries are suggestive of Minimalist paintings from the 1950s and 1960s. And, on the other, the used object, marked by the act of striking matches, insistently presents another story: that of the industrialization of fire through the invention of matches (originally called Lucifers). By pairing these two narratives, de la Mora presents a new series of questions about abstraction and vision, invention and industrialization.
Gabriel de la Mora (b. 1968, Mexico) studied architecture before completing his M.F.A. at Pratt Institute, New York. His solo exhibition Lo que no vemos lo que nos mira, curated by Willy Kautz, is currently on view at Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico. He has had solo exhibitions at NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Mexico; Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, California, USA; and the Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., among other museums. This is his third solo exhibition at Sicardi Gallery.
Gabriel de la Mora’s work is included in important public and private collections, including Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA, USA; Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, CA, USA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Houston, TX, USA; El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY, USA; Colección Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, Miami, FL, USA; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico; Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico; Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., USA; among many others.
November 20, 2014 Marta Chilindrón & Graciela Hasper: Dialogues https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/marta-chilindron-graciela-hasper-dialogues/Artists: Marta Chilindrón and Graciela Hasper.
Dialogues
July 10, 2014
Sicardi Gallery
Houston, TX, USA
In Dialogues, both artists explore geometry and transparency within their respective practices. Chilindron’s brightly-colored acrylic sculptures range from 12-inch cubes to almost 6-foot high movable trapezoids and spirals. Hinged together, these works can be reconfigured into variations on each shape, creating an interactive conversation with the viewer. Hasper’s untitled acrylic paintings on canvas also take geometry as their starting point. Overlapping and repeated shapes in a palette of bold colors are layered to allow for surprising juxtapositions and vibrant relationships between forms. Hasper’s paintings, like Chilindron’s sculptures, are not fixed in space; they can be installed vertically or horizontally, or changed over the course of the exhibition.
Dialogues places these exquisite constructions and paintings in counterpoint with one another, pointing out their conceptual and aesthetic points of intersection.
July 18, 2014 Thomas Glassford: Afterglow https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/thomas-glassford-afterglow/Artist: Thomas Glassford
Afterglow
March 13 – April 19, 2014
Sicardi Gallery
Houston, TX, USA
The exhibition consists of Glassford’s large-scale sculptural installation of the same name and a series of recent works on paper. Afterglow (2010) is built from the artist’s signature industrial materials: golden aluminum rods support transparent tubes filled with fluorescent liquid. An abundance of green Plexiglas “leaves” spring from the tubing, creating an environment that alludes to tropicalia while hinting at a futuristic, man-made landscape.
Originally commissioned by Mexico City’s Museo Experimental El Eco, Afterglow was shown at The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design in 2013 for its debut in the United States. The piece suggests a synthesis of nature and geometry: Glassford engages with the human need to structure the organic. Afterglow‘s shape is informed by the architecture of jungle gyms, forms that simulate nature while using exact proportions. The scaffold-like installation, covered with invasive tropical growth, invites viewers to walk through it and move around it, an experience which evokes childhood exploration.
Born in Laredo, Texas, Thomas Glassford studied art at The University of Texas at Austin, where he received his BFA. He moved to Mexico City in 1990. His work is in several important public and private collections, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Jumex Collection, Mexico; The Diane and Bruce Halle Collection, Arizona; Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes, MUCA, Mexico; CIFO Foundation, Miami; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; and many others.
March 11, 2014 Marco Maggi: fanfold https://abstractioninaction.com/happenings/marco-maggi-fanfold/Marco Maggi: fanfold
November 7 – December 19, 2013
Sicardi Gallery
Houston, Texas, USA
“I work to make time visible, and time shows that ideas were always precarious.”
For his fourth solo exhibition at Sicardi Gallery, Marco Maggi will present new work made from paper, convex mirrors, and Plexiglas. In each meticulously constructed piece, he tackles the relationships between meaning and information, between making and understanding. The exhibition bears the repeated leitmotif of folded paper, marked by delicate cuts—drawings made with pencil, X-Acto knife, and time. Underneath the cuts, the folded paper constitutes an enigmatic structure that is mysterious and resists interpretations. FANFOLD demonstrates Maggi’s sensitive approach to the problematics of knowledge—his stacks of paper and intricate cutouts suggest ways that overwhelming amounts of information deflect understanding.
Born in Uruguay, Maggi attended the State University of New York, New Paltz (SUNY), and graduated with an MFA in Printmaking in 1998. Since then, his work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including Functional Disinformation: Drawings in Portuguese, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo (2012); Optimismo Radical, Fundación NC-Arte, Bogotá (2011); New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930-2006, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (2008); Poetics of the Handmade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007); Gyroscope, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC (2006); Drawing From the Modern, 1975-2005, MoMA, New York (2005); Fifth Gwangju Biennial, Korea (2004); inCUBAdora, VIII Havana Biennial (2003); and Global Myopia, 25th São Paulo Biennial, São Paul (2002).
Maggi’s work is collected by public and private institutions, including the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York; Daros Latinamerica Foundation, Zurich; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; MoMA, New York; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He lives and works in New York.
Click here to view Marco Maggi on Abstraction in Action.
Translated from Spanish
A look to the past has allowed me to confirm that, intuitively, instability has been a common thread in my research; though it would seem not to be present in all the works I have produced, it always appears in different ways. There are pieces in which I work with a structural instability in it, which is caused by the various possibilities offered by the connections and the links, allowing to change the work into potential forms that are prepared for a possible transformation. In other works instability is more subtle, made through the visibility of the material, for example, through the light that can make a work invisible in front of the spectator. In the last decade, with video, I have been able to introduce sound as a breaking element. Video has also given me the possibility to work with temporary nature. I believe instability refers to movement, break, or something that is ready for a possible transformation. When I work, I do so from “being with” and not from “going to.” I believe this has eliminated projection to the future and has turned the work more timeless, losing with this some historicity, and causing that the work would not be another place in a line. This “being with” is what opens the door to the world, to nature, and allows me, suddenly, to imagine a Mondrian in motion when I see a macaw or I listen to the rain.
Una mirada hacia atrás me ha permitido constatar que, intuitivamente, la inestabilidad ha sido un hilo conductor de mi investigación; a pesar de que pareciera no estar presente en la totalidad de las piezas que he hecho, siempre aparece de distintas maneras: hay obras en las que trabajo con una inestabilidad estructural propiamente dicha, la cual está dada por las distintas posibilidades que ofrecen las conexiones, los vínculos, y que logran convertir las obras en formas potenciales que se presentan dispuestas a una posible transformación; en otras obras la inestabilidad es elaborada más sutilmente, a través de la visibilidad del material; por ejemplo, gracias a la luz que puede hasta hacer desaparecer una pieza ante el observador; y en la última década, con el video, he podido introducir el sonido como elemento de quiebre. El video me ha dado, además, la posibilidad de trabajar la temporalidad. Creo que la inestabilidad habla del movimiento, del quiebre o de algo que está listo para una posible transformación. Cuando trabajo lo hago desde un “estar con”, y no de “ir hacia”, siento que eso ha restado la orientación a futuro y ha vuelto el trabajo más atemporal; perdiendo con esto algo de historicidad, haciendo que el trabajo no sea únicamente un lugar más en una línea. Ese “estar con” es el que abre la puerta al mundo, a la naturaleza; y me permite, de pronto, imaginarme un Mondrian en movimiento cuando veo una guacamaya o escucho la lluvia.
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- 2001-2004: Graduate Institute of Art Studies Armando Reveron.
- 1993-2000: Freelance graphic design, Italy.
- 1990-1993: A Study of C Fronzoni. Milan, Italy. Specialty Inscape and Graphic Design.
- 1985-1989: Naumann Institute. Caracas, Venezuela. Degree in graphic design.
- 1982-1984: Catholic University Andrés Bello (UCAB). Physics & Mathematics.
Prizes / Fellowships
- 2009: Premio X Bienal de Cuenca, “Poéticas del agua”, Cuenca, Ecuador.
- 2009: Premio de la Crítica, Mejor artista extranjera, IV Foro Atlántico.
- 2009: Pontevedra, Spain.
- 1999: Premio único, VI Bienal de Artes Visuales Christian Dior. Centro Cultural Corp Group, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1998: Premio Arturo Michelena, LVI Salón Arturo Michelena, Valencia, Venezuela.
- 1996: Premio único, VIII edición Premio Eugenio Mendoza, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1992: Premio en la Competencia Internacional de Afiches: “Man, Nature, Society”, Moscow, Russia.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2012: “Grises: un proyecto de Magdalena Fernández”, NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia.
- 2012: “2iPM009”, MOLA Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA, USA.
- 2011: “Geometría Movil”, Henrique Faría Fine Art, NY, USA.
- 2011: “2iPM009”, Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University FIU. Miami, FL, USA.
- 2011: “Objetos Movimientes. Tierras-Estructuras-Atmósferas”, Faría+Fábregas Galería, Periférico Caracas/Arte Contemporáneo and Centro Cultural Chacao. Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2010: “2iPM009”, Complete Concrete, haus konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland.
- 2010: “Site specific 1i010”, Residencia de la Emabajada de Francia, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2006: “Superficies”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2006: “Superficies”, CIFO: Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation. Miami, USA.
- 2000: “Líneas”, Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisboa, Portugal.
- 2000: “2i000”, Galleria Disegno Artecontemporanea, Mantua, Italy.
- 2000: “4i000”, Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1998: “Aires”, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1997: “2i997”, Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.
- 1996: “1i996”, Centro Verifica 8+1, Venecia-Mestre, Italy.
- 1993: “Estructuras”, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 1991: “Esperando la Palabra”, Municipio de Castiglione delle Stiviere, Mantua, Italy.
Group Exhibitions
- 2013: “Emilio Fernandez Zingg”, El Paisaje del Color, Hacienda La Trinidad Parque Cultural, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2013: “Mouvement et Lumière”, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Frank Popper, Marcigny, France.
- 2013: “Memorias de la Obsolecencia. Selección de Videos de la Colección Ella Fontanals Cisneros”, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wilfredo Lamb. La Habana, Cuba.
- 2012: “Diálogos Contemporáneos desde La Colección”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2012: “Contaminados”, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2012: “Histórica: Memoria y territorio: Colección Mercantil”, Espacio Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2012: “Venezuela en Arts”, Bienal de Marcigny, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Frank Popper, Marcigny, France.
- 2012: “GEGO obra abierta: testimonios y vigencia”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2012: “Medios y Ambientes”, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2011: “Moment”, Doris Mc Carthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, Canada.
- 2010: “Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo ULA”, Mérida, Venezuela.
- 2010: “2pmTG010”, Ortalis ruficauda, La Nuit Blanche 2010, NMarino Galería, Paris, France.
- 2010: “Negativa Moderna”, Henrique Faría Fine Art, Nueva York, USA.
- 2010: “Neoplastic Room”, Open Composition, Muzeum Sztuki w Lodzi, Lodz, Poland.
- 2009: “Poéticas del agua”, X Bienal de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador.
- 2009: “Mundos en Proceso”, 53º Bienal de Venecia, Pabellón de Venezuela, Venecia, Italy.
- 2009: “Steellife”, Trienal de Milán. Studio Chiesa, Fundación Marcegaglia, Milano, Italy.
- 2009: “Acciones Disolventes”, Centro Cultural Chacao. Caracas; Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto. Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela.
- 2009: “Space Unlimited”, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., USA.
Collections
- Fundación de Museos Nacionales – Galería de Arte Nacional.
- Museo Alejando Otero, Caracas, Venezuela.
- Colección Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela.
- Colección Cisneros, Caracas, Venezuela.
- Alcaldía de Natanya, Israel.
- Museo Soto.
- Colección CIFO.
- Museo de Arte de Miami.
- Colección Allegro.
- Colección D.O.P.
- Muzeum Sztuki w Lodzi. Lodz. Poland.
- Museun of Fine Arts. Huston USA.
- Fundación Coppel.
- The Museum of Contemporary Art. Los Angeles CA. USA.
- Colección Alejandro González.
Extract from “A Touch of Anguish (or two peas in a pod and a self-serving gourd). A Conversation Bewteen Manuel Hernández, Cuauhtémoc Medina & Thomas Glassford,” In: Cádaver Exquisitio: Thomas Glassford, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 2006 (…) The work relates to questioning beauty, lowering itself to the banal and simplistic, which really is the issue of taste because beauty is simply a word based on fashion and the dictates of fashion. In case of art, it’s connected to collecting. For example, I collect containers made from bull’s scrota. As a collector of objects, I try to deal with banality and take it a step backwards from the personal –from corporeal provocation. When, for example, I see and Aster, obviously speaking in respect to sterility in this extreme, for me it’s related to the gourd. (…) I’m into the surface texture and wear of everyday street life, the influence it has on society, how it becomes a passing image in time, the aspect of its defacing one’s contemporary positioning or historic presence. If one waits long enough, what seems defacing becomes classic. (…) Art is a code or a way of encoding these kinds of anguishing thoughts. There isn’t a day when we can stop thinking about art since there isn’t a day when we can stop thinking about the wrinkle that keeps growing –the one we hadn’t noticed before- or about the spot we’re in or the breakdown we’re feeling, about the anguish of realizing we’re forty-something years old.”
Traducido del inglés
Fragmento de “A Touch of Anguish (or two peas in a pod and a self-serving gourd). A Conversation Bewteen Manuel Hernández, Cuauhtémoc Medina & Thomas Glassford,” en: Cádaver Exquisitio: Thomas Glassford, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 2006 (…) La obra se relaciona con la cuestión de la belleza, rebajándose a lo banal y simplista, que es en realidad un problema de gusto porque la belleza es simplemente una palabra basada en la moda y lo que ésta dicta. En el caso del arte está ligada al coleccionismo. Por ejemplo, yo colecciono contenedores hechos de genitales de toro. Como coleccionista de objetos, intento considerar la banalidad y dar un paso atrás desde lo personal, desde la provocación corpórea. Cuando veo por ejemplo Aster, obviamente hablando sobre la esterilidad en este extremo, para mí está relacionada con el guaje. (…) Me interesan las texturas de las superficies y el deterioro de la vida urbana cotidiana, la influencia que tiene en la sociedad, cómo se convierte en una imagen que pasa en el tiempo, el aspecto de vandalizar nuestra postura contemporánea o presencia histórica. Si uno espera lo suficiente, lo que parece vandalizado se vuelve clásico (…) El arte es un código o una manera de codificar estas ansiedades. No hay día en el que dejemos de pensar sobre el arte porque no hay un día en el que dejemos de pensar en la arruga que sigue creciendo, la que no habíamos notado antes, o en el lugar en el que estamos o en la crisis que sentimos sobre la angustia de darnos cuenta que tenemos cuarenta y tantos años”.
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- 1987: BFA, The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2013: “SOLO Program: A Vision of Paradise”, ArtRio 2013, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 2011: “Pteridomania”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2010: “Xipe Totec”, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2010: “Afterglow”, Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2008: “Implosion is Compulsory”, Quint Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, USA.
- 2008: “Between Earth and Sky”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2006: “Cadáver Exquisito”, Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes, MUCA, UNAM, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2004: “Thomas Glassford”, Finesilver Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
- 2004: “Pleasure Garden”, OMR, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2004: “Desdoblamientos”, Galeria Principal de La Escuela de Artes. UAEMéx, Toluca.
- 2004: “Thomas Glassford”, Arcaute Arte Contemporaneo, Nuevo León, Mexico.
Group Exhibitions
- 2013: “México Inside Out: Themes in Art Since 1990”, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
- 2012: “Art Los Angeles Contemporary”, Quint Contemporary Art, USA.
- 2011: “¿Neomexicanismos? Ficciones identitarias en el Mexico de los ochento”, Museo de arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2011: “Cimbra, formas especulativas y armados metafisícos”, Museo de arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2011: “Cimbra, formas especulativas y armados metafisícos”, Museo de arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2010: “Cosmopolitan Routes: Houston Collects Latin American Art”, MFAH, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2010: “The Traveling Show y El Gabinete Blanco”, Fundación/Colección Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2010: “Todo a Nada”, Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo MUAC, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2010: “Efecto Drácula/Comunidades en Transfromación”, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2009: “Hecho en casa: Una aproximación a las practicas objetuales en el arte mexicano contemporáneo”, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2009: “Quint: Three Decades of Contemporary Art”, California Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido, California, USA.
- 2009: “Color Into Light: Selections from the MFAH Collection”, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA.
Publications
- 2008: Salum, Rose Mary. “A Conversation with Thomas Glassford,” Literal: Latin American Voices, 40-43.
- 2008: Coffey, Mary K. Thomas Glassford: Between Earth and Sky, Sicardi Gallery exhibition catalog, Houston, TX, January 19-March 15.
- 2006: Perea, Barbara. “Thomas Glassford: Caváder Exquisito,” ARTLIES Magazine, Issue 51, Summer.
- 2004: Johnson, Ken. “Thomas Glassford and Claudia Fernández: Construcción,” Art in Review, The New York Times, January 9.
- 2003: Latchin, Leila. Photographer, Andy Bettles. “Border Crossing,” *Wallpaper, April, 123-127
- 2002: Pincus, Robert. “Reverberations & Echoes,” San Diego Union-Tribune/Night & Day, April 18, 42.
- 2002: Jusidman, Yishai. “Thomas Glassford,” Artforum, February, 136-137
- 2001: Adams, Beverly and Roberts, Brady. Phoenix Triennial, Phoenix Art Museum exhibition catalog, Phoenix, AZ, 38-40.
- 1999: Oles, James. “Thomas Glassford,” Poliester, 40-45.
- 1999: Buentello-Olivo, Mélida. “Thomas Glassford,” Chromaform, University of Texas San Antonio Art Gallery exhibition catalog, San Antonio, TX, 28.
Collections
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.
- Televisa Collection, Mexico.
- Gelman Collection, Mexico.
- La Colección Jumex, Mexico.
- The Bruce and Diane Halle Collection.
- Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes, MUCA, Mexico.
- Collezione “La Gaia”, Italy.
- Montblanc International Collection.
- CIFO Foundation.
- Jerry I. Speyer Collection.
- Neeley Collection.
- Vergel Foundation.
- Associacao Beneficente Alzira Denise Hertzog da Silva, Brazil.
- Colección Valdemarín, Madrid, Spain.
- Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo, Bajadoz, Spain.
- Art Center / Istanbul, Borusan Center for Culture and Arts, Turkey.
- Richard E. Peeler Art Center, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana.
- Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa.
Links
- Sicardi Gallery – Thomas Glassford
- Literal Magazine – A Conversation with Thomas Glassford
- Art This Week – Thomas Glassford
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- 1997: Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “Prilidiano Pueyrredón” (Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte), Profesorado Nacional de Pintura, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Prizes / Fellowships
- 2008: Residency: Lugar a dudas, Cali, Colombia.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2013: “On Drawing”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, USA.
- 2009: “Firmamento”, Turbo Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2008: “La conquista del espacio, segunda parte, Star Worse”,with Andrés Toro, Le bar Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2007: Exposición sin título, Galeria Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2007: “Fiesta”, instalación en vitrina, CCEBA, with Bárbara Kaplan, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2006: “For Esport”, instalación de sitio especifico en la vidriera del CCEBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, with Andrés Toro y Fernando Brizuela.
- 2005: “Grafito sobre papel”, Alianza Francesa, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2005: “Star Worse”, Sonoridad Amarilla, with Andrés Toro, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2005: “Dibujos”, El Borde Arte Contemporáneo, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2001: “Fiat Lux”, exposición de objetos, Espacio Giesso Reich, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Group Exhibitions
- 2013: Open Studio #7 “Poéticas en tránsito”, BSM art Building, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2012: “Ultimas tendencias II”, Museo de arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2012: “Vantage point”, The Mission, Chicago, USA.
- 2011: “Transition”, The Mission, Chicago, USA.
- 2011: “Campo de asociaciones”, Centro Cultural Simón Bolivar, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
- 2011: “x200mas”, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2011: Pinta Art Fair, Cecilia de Torres Gallery, New York, USA.
- 2010: “Del piso al techo”, Chez Gautier Galería.
- 2008: Carolina ruiz, Florencia Guillen y Mariano Dal Verme. Exposición en las habitaciones de la residencia Lugar a dudas, Cali, Colombia.
- 2008: “Las entrañas del arte”, Espacio Imago, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2006: “Dibujo próximo”, Centro Cultural Rojas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2006: Premio OSDE, (disciplina: dibujo).
- 2005: Bienal de Bahía Blanca, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2005: “Z-lab, (una selección una exposición en proceso)”, Zabaleta Lab, Curator: Victoria Noorthoorn.
Publications
- Poéticas contemporaneas, Apuntes y aproximaciones, Itinerario de las artes visuales en Argentina de los 90 al 2010, Fondo Nacional de las Artes.
Collections
- Malba, Colección Costantini, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Colección Herlitzka, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Colección Bruzzone, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Colección Tedesco, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Adler collection, Houston, TX, USA.
- J. M Gille Collection, Brusels, Belgium.
Links
The notion of gesture is the primary impulse behind my work. My videos, photographs, installations, sculptures and drawings are the result of subtle gestures that intend to reveal what goes unseen or unexamined, be it architectural similarities between a settlement in the Amazon forest and a small town in Michigan or the intensive labor required to clean a pristine modernist government building in Brasília. Architecture, as a manifestation of identity, ideology and economic power is of great interest to me, as it is to investigate the invisible supporting structures of modernity, urban life and capitalism. In dialogue with these concerns are my interest in indexical processes and the cultural and historical connotations of a given material. My investment in indexicality stems from its intrinsic relationship to our bodies and therefore proximity to the real. Not unlike what happens with history and its material evidences. My works on paper exist in a place between bi and tridimensionality, as they usually hold object-like qualities. Double-sided prints, ink and paper disintegrated into dust, crushed folds and creases are some examples on how I treat surfaces as material. This approach triggers a tension between representation and trace while combining body movements to the articulation of ideas.
Traducido del inglés
La noción del gesto es el primer impulse detrás de mi obra. Mis videos, fotografías, instalaciones, esculturas y dibujos son el resultado de sutiles gestos que intentan revelar lo que pasa desapercibido o sin estudiarse, ya sea similitudes arquitectónicas entre una aldea en la selva Amazónica con un pueblito de Michigan; o la intensa labor requerida para limpiar un edificio gubernamental prístino en Brasilia. La arquitectura como manifestación de la identidad, ideología y poder económico es de gran interés para mí, como lo es investigar las estructuras de soporte de la modernidad que son invisibles, la vida y el capitalismo. En diálogo con estas preocupaciones está mi interés en los procesos de indicio y las connotaciones culturales e históricas de un material. Mi dedicación al indicio parte de su relación intrínseca con nuestros cuerpos y por tanto a la proximidad con lo real, no muy alejado de lo que pasa con la historia y sus evidencias materiales. Mi obra en papel existe en un lugar entre la bi y tridimensionalidad, ya que por lo regular poseen cualidades de objeto. Grabados de dos caras, tinta y pape desintegrados en polvo y dobleces machucados, son ejemplos de cómo manejo las superficies como material. Este acercamiento provoca una tensión entre la representación y el trazo mientras combino movimientos corporales a la articulación de las ideas.
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- 2013: Artpace, International Artist-in-Residence, San Antonio, USA. (guest curator: Hanru Hou)
- 2010-2012: Core Program, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA.
- 2011: SOMA summer, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2010: Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain. (mentor: Mona Hatoum)
- 2009: Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME, USA.
- 2009: M.F.A., California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, USA.
- 2000: B.F.A., Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil.
Prizes / Fellowships
- 2013: ARC Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation.
- 2012: VI Concurso de Videoarte, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco.
- 2012: Artistic Innovation Grant, Center for Cultural Innovation.
- 2010-2012: Core Program Fellowship, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
- 2009: Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Donald and Doris Fisher Fellowship / CalArts Matching Fellowship.
- 2009: CAA Los Angeles MFA Award, College Art Association.
- 2009: Deanʼs Grant, California Institute of the Arts.
- 2008: Interdisciplinary Grant, California Institute of the Arts.
- 2007-2009: Graduate Scholarship, California Institute of the Arts.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2013: “Brasília, Cars, Pools & Other Modernities”, Artpace, San Antonio, TX, USA.
- 2013: “Study for a Landscape”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA.
- 2012: “On Brasília”, Centre 3, Hamilton, Canada.
- 2011: “Gasto”, Luisa Strina Gallery, São Paulo, Brazil.
- 2009: “Real”, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA (MFA Thesis).
Group Exhibitions
- 2013: “Panoramas do Sul – 18º Sesc_Videobrasil”, SESC Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil.
- 2013: “Concreta Sonho”, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria.
- 2013: “La Elipsis Arquitectónica”, Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2013: “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes”, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, MI, USA.
- 2012: “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes”, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- 2012: “Dallas Biennale”, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX, USA.
- 2012 “Core Exhibition”, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
- 2011: “Building Arts”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA.
- 2011: “YLA 16: Thought Cloud”, Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX, USA.
- 2011: “Nowhere Near Here”, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX, USA.
- 2011: “Core Exhibition”, Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Publications
- 2013: “La Elipsis Arquitectónica,” Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco (exhibition publication).
- 2012: “When Attitudes Became Form Become Attitudes,” CCA Wattis Institute (exhibition catalogue).
- 2012: “Core Program,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston (exhibition catalogue).
- 2011: “Core Program,” Museum of Fine Arts Houston (exhibition catalogue).
- 2010: “Brasília by Foot,” Shifter 16: Pluripotential (April): 44-51.
- 2009: “Why Theory,” California Institute of the Arts M.F.A. 2009 (exhibition publication).
Collections
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA.
- Kadist Art Foundation, France / USA.
Links
- Blaffer Art Museum
- Current Magazine
- Arquine
- Arttextum, Tejido de agentes culturales inspirados en Latinoamérica
Translated from Spanish
-The different ways in which a cultural emanation is developed by different peoples or communities (for example, the constructive utopias of Brazil, Europe, Venezuela, or Argentina).
-The process through which a more specific answer is emptied out from the ideological content that generated it, and is used for different or even contrary purposes (the influence of Bauhaus in serial industrial production).
-The transformation experienced by style when it is transplanted to another physical and social reality (Vitruvius’ model of religious architecture in Spanish colonies in the American continent).
These sentences are some examples of what has always fascinated me sensually and intellectually: the impure condition of culture and the visual expressions of that complexity.
In a young country such as mine, this is an elemental everyday condition. Buenos Aires’ architecture is a proof of that.
I intend to register all of this in my work. If I have to summarize in two words the themes that inspire my work, these would be disease and contamination.
-Las diversas formas en que una emanación cultural es desarrollada por diferentes personas o comunidades (por ejemplo, las utopías constructivas en Brasil, Europa, Venezuela o Argentina).
-El proceso por el cual una respuesta formal específica, se vacía de los contenidos ideológicos que le dieron origen y se utiliza para fines diversos y aun opuestos (la influencia de la Bauhaus en la producción industrial en serie).
-La transformación experimentada por el estilo cuando se trasplanta a otra realidad física y social (el modelo de Vitruvio en la arquitectura religiosa en las colonias españolas de América).
Estos enunciados son algunos ejemplos de lo que siempre me ha fascinado, a la vez sensual e intelectualmente: la condición impura de la cultura y las expresiones visuales de esa complejidad.
En un país joven como el mío esto es una condición cotidiana y constitutiva. Buenos Aires y su arquitectura son prueba de ello.
Tengo la intención de registrar todo esto en mi trabajo. Si tengo que sintetizar en dos palabras los temas que inspiran mi trabajo serían enfermedad y contaminación.
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón, 3 years in 1980s, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Prizes / Fellowships
- 2002: Fundacion Civitella Ranieri, Fellowship, Umbertide, Italy.
- 2000: Fundación Costantini, Honorific Award, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1998: “Young Artist of the Year” by the Argentine Art Critics Association, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1997: Novartis Awards, First Prize, INET Awards, Honorific Award, Costantini, Honorific Award, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1996: Nominated “Best Solo Exhibition” by the Argentine Art Critics Association, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1995: Nominated “Young Artist of the Year” by the Argentine Art Critics Association, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1995: National Endowment for the Arts, “Grant for Creation in the Visual Arts”, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1995: Gunther, Honorific Award, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1992: Nomination for the Konex ’92 awards (Installation), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1991: Ministry of Cultural Affairs from Spain, Fellowship, Spain.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2013: “Structure”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2012: Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2010: Museo Pedro de Osma, Lima, Peru.
- 2009: Baró Cruz Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- 2008: Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2007: Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2005: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Palacio Velazquez, Madrid, Spain.
- 2003: Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2001: Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2001: Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1997: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1997: Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, New York, USA.
Group Exhibitions
- 2011: “Southern Identity”, Smithsonian Institutions, The Smithsonian International Gallery, S. Dillon Ripley Center, Washington, D.C., USA.
- 2010: “Beuys y más alla”, Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2010: “Painting With a Hammer to Nail the Crotch of Civilization”, Manila Contemporary, Makati City, Philippines.
- 2010: Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2009: “Slow Paintings”, Museum Morsbroich, Leverksusen, Germany.
- 2009: “Geomtrías dislocadas”, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela.
- 2009: “Talismán se busca Parte II”, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2009: “Argentina hoy”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 2009: “All Boys”, Museo Provincial Rosa Galisteo, Santa Fe, Argentina.
- 2009: “White Noise”, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana.
- 2008: School Gallery, Paris, France.
- 2007: “La espiral de Moebius”, Centro Cultural Parque de España, Rosario, Argentina.
- 2006: 9ª Bienal de La Habana, Havana, Cuba.
- 2005: “Arte abstracto (hoy) = Frafilidad + Resiliencia”, Centro Cultural de España, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2005: “Contrabandistas de imágenes”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago, Chile.
- 2004: 26ª Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- 2003: Project Artgentina, Miami, Florida, USA.
- 2002: “Ultimas Tendencias en la coleccion del Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires“, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2002: “The city of temptations”, Ediciones Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- 2002: “Ballesteros Siquier”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Posadas, Misiones, Argentina.
- 2002: “Los amigos de Cippolini”, Belleza y Felicidad, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Publications
- 2010: Battistozzi, Ana María y Alberto Giudice. Un recorrido por el arte contemporáneo argentino, Buenos Aires, Papers Editores.
- 2009: Sarlo, Beatriz. La ciudad vista, Buenos Aires, Siglo XXI.
- 2007: Civale, Cristina. Industria argentina: Arte contemporáneo en construcción, Buenos Aires, Civale + Maravillarte.
- 2006: Arestizábal, Irma, Olivier Debroise, Ticio Escobar et al. 100 Artistas Latinoamericanos, Madrid, Exit.
- 2005: López Anaya, Jorge. Arte argentine: Cuatro siglos de historia, Buenos Aires, Emecé.
- 2000: Golonbek, Claudio. Guía para invertis en el Mercado de arte argentine, Buenos Aires, Patricia Rizzo Editora.
- 1999: Benedit, Luis F., Jorge Gumier Maier y Marcelo E. Pacheco. Artistas argentines de los 90, Buenos Aires, Fondo Nacional de las Artes.
- 1997: López Anaya, Jorge. Historia del arte argentino, Buenos Aires, Emecé.
- 1997: Escher, Joris y Martijn Kielstra. Platform 1: 70 Young Modern Artists from Asia and Latin America, Amsterdam, Canvas World Art Foundation.
- 1992: Glusberg, Jorge. Del constructivismo a la geometría sensible, Buenos Aires, Centro de Arte y Comunicación.
Collections
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
- Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA.
- Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Rosario, Argentina.
- Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Additional Links
Translated from Spanish
I always knew that when I would leave architecture, someday I would return to it, not as an architect, but as an artist. I do not consider myself a painter, sculptor, draftsman, or photographer. I find reducing art to one technique to be unfair. I am an artist who works with ideas, possibilities and concepts, where each work requires a particular technique. Since I was a child I have struggled to distinguish fantasy from reality; now I constantly try to transform figuration in abstraction and vice versa. I have always liked to surprise myself and surprise everyone else. When this is incorporated into the fact that the work leaves you thinking, the work becomes complete. I am interested in finding the balance between the formal and the conceptual; between the left and the right. I am left-handed and dyslexic, therefore I write backwards in a natural way since I was 4 years old, using the right hemisphere of the brain; where emotional expression, sign language, musical sensibility and artistic sensibility are located. I work, think and speak with numbers, information, counting, figures, in a repetitive, obsessive way, organized within chaos. I constantly seek originality through repetition; I like something to be universal and particular. I am at the same time minimalist and baroque. I have 6.5 cm between my two pupils. The first impression with any work of art will always be visual, as conceptual as this may be. Thus I am interested in experimenting with different ways of “seeing” that are not only through the eyes. To achieve this I often use psychics and blind people, since I am certain of the parallel that exists between a clairvoyant and an artist. I am drawn by paranormal phenomena, criminology, music and meditation, among many other things. I am interested in accumulating objects from 1860 to 1960, approximately, focused on photography and architectural elements, among others. I look for and find “things” that ceased to fulfill the function they were made for and before they are turned into waste, I negotiate them, exchange them or buy them to turn them into something else. My studio is a sort of laboratory where experimentation is fundamental to the process and development in series. All the processes are documented and are part of an archive. When I make a mistake, it is not fixed or patched up; the work is simply discarded and I begin another one from scratch. I like to question and create through a process of destruction. Also to create something to then undo it, then something that apparently does not take me anywhere ends up being the work itself, through the trace, the mark or the document that remains. Work produces work, work produces more work, and work also produces ideas and ideas generate more ideas and also more work. The workshop functions infinitely and circularly, with a team of people that go from the ordinary to the extraordinary. I buy, collect and accumulate a great diversity of archives that ultimately will be a work in themselves, or the raw material of different series to be developed. I write ideas, projects, phrases, words and quantities in my notebooks every day. I always work in different series or projects simultaneously, in some I have absolute control of the work, and in others everything is random. Some works are a 100% created in the studio, while others are found or transformed from garbage to something else. Time, gravity, fragility, waste, and accident are the constants in any series or any work. The energy factor of the works, the objects and the things in general is an important element, such that my definition of art is parallel to the definition of energy: Art is neither created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed.
Siempre supe que al dejar la arquitectura, algún día regresaría a ella, pero ya no más como arquitecto, sino como artista. No me considero pintor, escultor, dibujante, ni fotógrafo; reducir el arte a una técnica me parece injusto. Soy un artista que trabaja con ideas, posibilidades y conceptos, en donde cada obra pide una técnica en particular. Desde pequeño me ha costado diferenciar la fantasía de la realidad; ahora constantemente trato de transformar la figuración en abstracción y viceversa. Siempre me ha gustado sorprenderme y generar sorpresa en los demás, cuando esto se une a que la obra te deje pensando, se completa la pieza. Me interesa encontrar el balance entre lo formal y lo conceptual; entre la izquierda y la derecha. Soy zurdo y disléxico, por lo que escribo al revés desde los 4 años de forma natural, utilizando el hemisferio derecho del cerebro; en donde se localiza la expresión emocional, el lenguaje mímico, la sensibilidad musical y la sensibilidad artística. Trabajo, pienso y hablo con números, información, conteos, cifras, de una forma repetitiva, obsesiva y ordenada dentro de un caos. Busco constantemente la originalidad a través de la repetición, me gusta que algo sea universal y particular; soy minimalista y barroco al mismo tiempo. Tengo 6.5 cm entre cada una de mis dos pupilas. El primer impacto con cualquier obra de arte siempre será visual, por más conceptual que esta sea; por lo que me interesa experimentar con diversas formas de “ver”, que no sea únicamente con los ojos; para lograr esto suelo utilizar videntes e invidentes, ya que estoy seguro del paralelo que existe entre un vidente y un artista. Me llaman la atención los fenómenos paranormales, la criminología, la música y la meditación entre muchas cosas más. Me interesa acumular objetos que van de 1860 a 1960 aproximadamente, enfocados en fotografía y elementos arquitectónicos principalmente, entre muchos más. Busco y encuentro “cosas” que dejaron de cumplir su función para las que fueron hechas y antes de convertirse en un desecho, negociarlas, intercambiarlas o comprarlas para convertirlas en algo más. Mi estudio es una especie de laboratorio, en donde la experimentación es la parte fundamental en el proceso y desarrollo de serie. Todos los procesos quedan documentados y forman parte de un archivo. Cuando cometo un error, no se compone o parcha, simplemente la pieza se descarta y se comienza una nueva desde cero. Me gusta cuestionar y crear mediante de un proceso de destrucción, así como también hacer algo para después deshacerlo y lo que aparentemente no me lleva a nada, en realidad es la obra en sí, a través de la huella, la marca o el registro que queda. El trabajo genera trabajo, el trabajo genera más trabajo, el trabajo genera también ideas y las ideas generan más ideas y a la vez también más trabajo, y así infinitamente y en círculo es la forma en la que funciona el taller, con un equipo de personas que van de lo ordinario a lo extraordinario. Compro, colecciono y acumulo una gran diversidad de archivos que al final serán una obra en sí o la materia prima de diversas series por desarrollar. Todos los días escribo en mis cuadernos ideas, proyectos, frases, palabras y cantidades. Siempre trabajo en varias series o proyectos al mismo tiempo, en algunos tengo un control absoluto de la pieza, en otros todo queda al azar. Algunas obras son creadas al 100% en el estudio, mientras otras son encontradas o transformadas de un desecho a algo más. El tiempo, la gravedad, la fragilidad, el desecho, el accidente, son constantes el cualquier serie o en cualquier pieza. El factor energético de las piezas, de los objetos y las cosas en general es un elemento importante, tanto así que mi definición de arte es un paralelo a la definición de energía: El arte ni se crea ni se destruye, tan solo se transforma.
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- 2006: Work residency, École Régionale des Beaux-Arts Saint-Étienne, France.
- 2001/2003: MFA in Photography and Video (with honors), Pratt Institute, New York, USA.
- 1987/1991: BA in Architecture (with honors), Universidad Anáhuac del Norte, Mexico City, Mexico.
Prizes / Fellowships
- 2013-2015: Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte Grant (2013-2016), Mexico.
- 2006: First prize, WTC Artfest 06, II Concurso Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2005: First prize, VII Bienal de Monterrey FEMSA, Monterrey, Mexico.
- 2005: First prize, SIVAM (Sociedad Internacional de Valores del Arte Mexicano A.C.), Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2001: Fulbright García Robles Grant, Visual Arts section.
- 2001: Jacques and Natasha Gelman Grant.
- 2000: Grant, Jóvenes Creadores 2000, Colima, Mexico.
- 1997: First prize, III Bienal de Pintura de Occidente Alfonso Michel, Colima, Mexico.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2014: “Lo que no vemos lo que nos mira”, Curator Willy Kautz, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico.
- 2012: “T.O.E.F.M.U.T.I.T.O.A.I.I.”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA.
- 2012: “Exposición Panamericana”, N.C. Arte, Bogotá, Colombia.
- 2012: “Señales Aleatorias / Ruido Blanco”, MUSAS Museo de Arte de Sonora, Mexico.
- 2011: “Ruido Blanco / White Noise”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca MACO, Curator: Kerstin Erdmann, Oaxaca, Mexico.
- 2011: “Originalmentefalso”, Galería OMR, México.
- 2011: “Frágil / Fragile: project room”, MOLAA, Museum of Latin American Art, Curator: Cecilia Fajardo Hill, Long Beach, California, USA.
- 2008: “d.i.b.u.j.o.s.”, C. C. Bastero Kulturgunea, Andoain (Gipuzkoa), Spain.
- 2008: “39-G.M.C.-23.sept.07”, Conner Contemporary, Washington, D.C., USA.
- 2008: “Blind lines”, Sicardi Gallery, Houston Texas, USA.
- 2007: “Brújula de cuestiones”, Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2006: “Extensions”, Galerie La Serre, École Régionale des Beaux-Arts Saint-Étienne, France.
- 2004: “00-04”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Colima, Colima, Mexico.
- 2003: “G.M. antes y después”, exhibition organized by Ministry of Culture of the state of Colima; traveled to 10 venues in Mexico.
- 2001: “Serie Homenaje a Robert Mapplethorpe”, Galería Nina Menocal, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 1997: “The Form Without Form”, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., USA.
- 1996: “La Inconciencia de la Vista”, Museo Regional de Historia, Colima, Mexico.
Group Exhibitions
- 2013: “Ruta Mística”, Curator: Gonzalo Ortega, MARCO, Monterrey, Mexico.
- 2013: “Tropicalia Negra”, Curator: Willy Kautz, Museo Experimental El Eco, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2013: “2013 California-Pacific Triennial”, Chief Curator: Dan Cameron, Orange County Museum, California, USA.
- 2013: “Intersections”, MOLAA, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, USA.
- 2013: “Tactility”, Nils Staerk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.
- 2013: “MOCA´S PERMANENT COLLECTION: A selection of recent acquisitions”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA.
- 2013: “Materia Sensible”, Curator: Caroline Montenat, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2013: “OPINIONE LATINA”, Francesca Minini Gallery, Milan, Italy.
- 2012: “PRIVACY”, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Curator: Martina Weinhart, Germany.
- 2012: “Bajo el volcán”, Curator: Raúl Zamudio Taylor, Andrómeda Contemporáneo, San Jose, Costa Rica.
- 2012: “Tell me a story”, MOLAA, Museum of Latin American Art, curadora: Idurre Alonso, Long Beach, California, USA.
- 2012: “Sin límites”, Instituto de México en España, Madrid, Spain.
- 2012: “Una mirada múltiple: selecciones de la Colección Ella Fontanals-Cisneros”, Curator: Osbel Suárez, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Habana, Cuba.
- 2012: “Pobre Artista Rico”, Curator: Willy Kautz, Casa del Lago Juan José Arreola, Mexico City, Mexico.
- 2012: “Obsessive Worlds”, Curator: Sarah Hamilton, Alexandria Museum of Art, Louisiana, USA.
Publications
- 2011: Drive and Method, authors: Gilbert Vicario, Robert C. Morgan, María Minera, Willy Kautz, Miguel Gonzalez Virgen and Gabriel de la Mora edited by Turner.
- 2011: Alegorías Capilares, author Sergio R. Blanco edited by Trilce.
- 2013: Originallyfake, authors: Gabriel de la Mora and Francisco Reyes Palma, edited by LITORAL.
Collections
- Museum of Contemporary Art, MOCA, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
- MOLAA, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, U.S.A.
- Richard E. Peeler Art Center, De Pauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, U.S.A.
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
- El Museo del Barrio, New York., U.S.A.
- Colección Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, Miami Florida, USA
- Fundación/Colección JUMEX, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Colección Fundación Televisa, México.
- Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Museo de la Cancillería, S.R.E., Mexico City, Mexico.
- Art Museum of the Americas, Organization of American States, Washington, D.C., USA
- ARTIUM, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.
- Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
- Colección FEMSA, Monterrey, Mexico.
- MUSAS, Museo de Arte de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora, México.
- Colección SIVAM, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Museo del Palacio del Arzobispado, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Secretaría de Cultura del Estado de Colima, Mexico.
- Colección Universidad de Colima, Mexico.
- Colección Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia.
- Sayago & Pardon Collection, California, U.S.A.