simon vega 2014 - Y.ES Contemporary

simon vega
san salvador, centro américa, 1972
ciudades perdidas
Ciudad Encajada (boxed city)
drawn cardboard boxes
dimensions variable
installation at the IX Havana Biennial, 2006
Shanty Mall
Found materials
100 x 140 x 80 cms., 2006
Tropical Cargo Building & Aerial View
wood, plastic, light, found materials
260 x 180 x 140 cms (sculpture) 300 x 180 cms (wall relief)
installation for the Central American Biennial
2010
TropiSpiral
wood, plastic plants
180 x 180 x 36 cms.
2012
panopticam project
Panopticams. 15 fake surveillance camera intervention at Zona MACO, México D.F. 2007
Inverted Surveillance/ Surveillance Hut
dimensions variable
15 camera intervention + hut installation at Zona MACO, México DF, 2007
Panopticam Chandelier
Wood, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic threads
120 x 120 cms Ø
2012
tropical space proyectos
Imperial Slum Ship
Wood, plastic, light, found materials
120 x 260 x 500 cms
installation at the 43rd International Artist Salon, Medellín, 2013
Imperial Slum Ship (detail from underneath), La Naviera building, 43rd International Artists Salon,
Medellín, 2013.
Monument to the Third (World) International
stools, wood, found materials
360 x 200 x 160 cms, 2010
Third World Sputnik, project sketch for the 55th Venice Biennial 2013 (based on Bostok/Korabl-Sputnik
5 landing in the USSR).
Third World Sputnik
140 cms Ø x 400 cms
installation at the 55th Venice Biennial, 2013
Third World Sputnik at Latin American Pavillion, Arsenale, Venice. Iron bar structure, cloth, light, tv,
sound, objects, found, materials.
Third World Sputnik, details, interior. Arsenale, Venice.
Tropical Mercury Capsule, project sketch, graphite on paper. 2012
Tropical Mercury Capsule
Wood, zinc roofing sheets, T.V., fan, icebox, objects, found materials
140 cms Ø x 220 cms
installation at MARTE Museum, San Salvador, 2012
simon vega
Simón Vega creates drawings, ephemeral sculptures and installations inspired in the informal,
self made architecture and vendor carts found in the streets and marginal zones of El Salvador
and Central America. These works, assembled with wood, cardboard, plastic and found
materials often parody famous Modernist and mythological buildings and cities, surveillance
systems as well as high-tech robots and satellites developed by NASA and the Soviet Space
Program during the Cold War, creating an ironic and humorous fusion between first and third
world, while commenting on the effects of that conflict in today’s Central America.
Born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1972, Simon Vega graduated in Fine Arts at the University
of Veracruz in Mexico in 2000 and received a Master´s degree in Contemporary Arts from the
Complutense University in Madrid in 2006.
He has exhibited his work extensively in Europe, the United States and Latin America, including
the 55th Venice Biennial in Italy, the IX Havana Biennial, in Cuba, the Museo del Barrio's "The
S-Files" show in New York in 2011and at the Bronx River Art Center in 2008, both in New York
City, as well as at the Hilger BROT Kunsthalle in Vienna, Austria (2010 & 2012). He currently
lives in La Libertad, El Salvador.
simon vega
El Salvador. 1972.
Lives in La Libertad, El Salvador
Education:
-Master in Theory and Practice of Contemporary Arts, Universidad Complutense,
Madrid, Spain. (2006)
-Bachelor Fine Arts; Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México. (2000)
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2012. - Panopticams; Hilger Contemporary Gallery, Vienna, Austria.
2010 - Arquitecturas Híbridas y Construcciones Mentales; DE Gallery; San Salvador, El
Salvador.
2007 -Transurbana. 100% Original; Spanish Cultural Center; San Salvador, El
Salvador.
2006
-Vigilantes Invertidos; Espacio F, Mercado Fuencarral; Madrid, Spain.
2005
-Transurbana, Tu Castigo es Verme; CES, Montreal, Canada.
2004
-Faros Babilónicos: Signes Art Gallery; Barcelona, Spain.
2003 -Ciudades Perdidas y Rutas de Escape; Spanish Cultural Center; San Salvador,
El Salvador.
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2013 - 55th Biennale di Venezia, El Atlas del Imperio, IILA Pavillion, curated by Alfons
Hug & Paz Guevara; Venice Italy
- 43rd nternational Artists Salon, Saber Desconocer, Museo de Arte de Medellín
(Edificio La Naviera), Medellín, Colombia.
- Greetings from Venice, Hilger Contemporary; Vienna, Austria
2012. -Sex DUIs and Videotapes, curated by Claire Breukel. Site 109, New York, USA
(April). BROT Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria (July).
2011 - The S-Files, curated by Elvis Fuentes, Rocío Alvarado & Trinidad Fiombella. El
Museo del Barrio + Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, USA.
- Coca-Colonized, curated by Claire Breukel; MARTE Museum, San Salvador, El
Salvador
2010 - Coca-Colonized, curated by Claire Breukel; Brot Kunsthalle; Viena, Austria.
- Central American Biennial, VII Bienal de Artes Visuales del Istmo
Centroamericano, Teatro Rubén Darío, Managua, Nicaragua.
- +/- Esperanza; curated by Adán Vallecillos. MADC Museo de Arte y Diseño de
Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
- Hábitat, curated by Emiliano Valdés; Spanish Cultural Center & public spaces,
Managua, Nicaragua.
2009 - Bartered States, curated by José Ruiz; Bronx River Art Center, New York,
U.S.A.
2007 -Vigilantes Invertidos, installation/intervention at MACO (Feria México Arte
Contemporáneo).
2006 -IX Bienal de La Habana, La Habana, Cuba
-Transpolítica, Espacio Tangente, Burgos, España
-Material Matters, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
2004 - V Central American Biennial, Museo de Arte Moderno, Panamá.
-Todo Incluido, Imágenes Urbanas Centroamericanas; curated by Virginia PerezRatton and Santiago de Olmo. Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain; Museo
Contemporáneo de Arte y Diseño; San José, Costa Rica.
-Habitart; intervenciones. San Salvador, El Salvador.
2002
-IV Central American Biennial; Palacio Nacional; Managua, Nicaragua.
Residencies:
2013: -Brot Kunsthalle, Vienna, Austria
2012: -Legal Art, Miami FL
2011: -Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, Virginia, USA
-Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY, USA
-Hybrid Art, El Zonte, El Salvador
2010: -One week with Luis Camnitzer. Centro de Formación Integral, Antigua
Guatemala, Guatemala
-Habitat Managua. Centro Cultural de España, Managua, Nicaragua
Publications (recent):
-Simón Vega Tropical Departures; book, printed in Vienna, Austria.
-Arte al Día Internacional, Vol. 143, 2013, “Simon Vega, When Worlds Meet” by Claire
Breukel, p. 40-47
-Lenguajes Contemporáneos desde Centro América, “Simón Vega, Ciudades Perdidas”,
Luisa Fuentes Gaza, Turner, 2013.
-Art Nexus, No 90, Volume 12, 2013. “The Biennalization Biennial”, Carlos Jiménez, p.
62
-“El Atlas del Imperio” Venice Biennial IILA Pavillion Catalogue, 2013
-55th Venice Biennial Catalogue, 2013
contact:
(503)74910664
[email protected]
www.simon-vega.blogspot.com
www.ciudades-perdidas.blogspot.com
www.trans-urbana.blogspot.com
Simon Vega is represented by:
Gallery Hilger Next, Vienna, Austria
De Buck Gallery, New York
Lokkus Arte Contemporáneo, Medellín