For the 2021 Artbo Week, SGR Galería proposes the opening of two shows in our new exhibition venue. In the main exhibition room, Hector Madera and Paulo Licona will be producing an installation show made collaboratively and showcasing both individual and collective works. This exhibition, built from conversations between the artist and the curator (Maria Adelaida Samper), pivots around the ghoulish joyfulness of Latin-American streets. The personal history of both artists is intertwined through small coincidences that allow for the invention of a micro-mythology of sorts, which has been the fertile ground from which the exhibition takes form. Moreover we will be showing in our project room works by Santiago Pinyol, Juan Pablo Echeverri and Javier Morales Casas. This exhibit is part of the exhibition program we have been carrying out throughout 2021. In it we reunite groups of three of our represented artists, in small shows that are, in a way, the place of conjunction previous virtual exhibition exercises made by each through the gallery’s social networks. This triads are an outlook of the multiple practices that shape the aesthetic universe that we have built along with the artists we represent.
SGR Galeria is an art space that has dedicated itself to foment and diffuse contemporary artistic proposals originating in Latin America. We wish to present to our audience an approach to contemporary art that dissociates itself from over-intellectualized discourses, aimed specifically to a specialized audience. Through an exhibition program that is installation and site-specific oriented, the gallery thrusts its artists into realizing large scale spatial interventions that play and reconfigure the architectural composition of the gallery’s space. Thanks to this strategy, SGR has been able to challenge preconceived ideas about the traditional forms of exhibition considered appropriate in commercial contemporary art venues, while defying its artists to expand the limits of their personal practices. Finally, this method emphasizes the importance that lies in the relationship between visual arts and architecture: How art inhabits and transforms the spaces we live in.
Paulo Licona 1977 Lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia. Master in Fine Arts from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (2002) and Master in Plastic and Visual Arts from the National University of Colombia (2008). He has participated in various national and international group and solo exhibitions, such as "Devolviendo lo Obligado", SGR Gallery, Bogota (CO) “Reimmigration Office ‘Volver a Casa’” at La Bodega y Mas, curated by Good to Know.FYI collective during Miami’s 2018 art week, "Venganza Positiva" in SGR Gallery, Bogota (CO) PASADO TIEMPO FUTURO, Medellin Modern Art Museum, Medellin (CO) "PH-PL Vol.2" Centro Cultural Colombo Americano, Cali (2014), "Hermoso Horror" (bis) project office, Cali (2016), and his participation in the 44th National Artist’s Salon in Pereira (2016). His works are part of the Bogota Modern Art Museum Collection, Bachue Project Collection, Museo de Antioquia Collection and the Otazu Foundation Collectiion, Navarra Spain, as well as private collections in Colombia, Brazil, the United States, and Europe. Paulo Licona's work holds a special interest in educational processes, punishment, misbehavior, and in this same sense confronts the viewer through a humorous tone that borders on irony and mockery. His artistic practice has been mainly installation and sculptural; also involving media such as photography, painting, video and graphic arts. His work has also led him to develop actions that are assimilated to relational arts.
Héctor Madera, 1977 Lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. Héctor Madera holds an MFA from Brooklyn College (2011). His most recent exhibitions include, Once Upon a Time there was a Happy Story at Karen Huber Gallery, Mexico City, (MEX), "I Was Lost, but Being Lost never felt so Good" at SGR Galería (Colombia, 2018); and "When You Live in Paradise, You Don't Want to Leave So Soon" at Galería Karen Huber (CDMX, 2018); His work has been exhibited at El Museo del Barrio, (New York); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de San Juan (Puerto Rico); Museo La Ene (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Saatchi Gallery, (London, UK) and the Museum of Fine Arts of (Taipei, Taiwan). He was a recipient of the Dave Brown Project Grant (2013), the Puffin Ltd. Teaneck, New Jersey Foundation Grant (2005), and the Lexus Grant for Artists, San Juan, PR (2005). In addition, he was selected for the Solo Objects section of ARCO, Madrid (2013). He has been represented by SGR Galería since 2019. His work arises from personal experiences and the observation of everyday situations in which the struggle of day to day life is appreciated, seeking to identify with ordinary heroes and their ignored greatness to explore the ironic and contradictory idea of the high and low moments of life. Embarrassing situations, unfortunate circumstances and insignificant achievements are the inspiration for his artistic practice. Working with different media such as large-scale collage, cut paper, soft sculptures, t-shirts, magazines and posters, she evokes emotional states of sadness and joy. He uses colorful geometric patterns and abstract doodles to reflect feelings of melancholy and humor, confusion and clarity.
Javier Morales Casas, 1993 Lives and works in Ibagué, Colombia. Javier Morales casas holds a Visual Arts Degree from Javeriana Pontificial University (2017). His most recent exhibitions are: “Regional Image 9. Guardian Territories.” Miguel Urrutia Art Museum - MAMU. Bogota (CO) 2021. “Open Mount: Aspect ratio.” Santa Fe Gallery. Bogota (CO), “From the Living to the Object,” 2015-2021. Regional Image 9. Banco de la República, Ibagué (CO), “Fetishes, 500 years Later,” SGR Gallery, Bogotá (CO), “Immortal Painting,” El Museo Gallery, Bogotá (CO). His works are part of private collections in Colombia and the United States. Morales is a painter and ceramist; his processes are linked to a strong sensation of observing life in the countryside from distance. He is afraid of emptiness; which he states because he believes that expression is generated as a counterweight to what is not there. His paintings are made on discarded wood that he finds in the garbage, while walking, or floating in the sea. He is interested in the austere and the precarious; his motifs and the search for the pictorial style come from a syncretism between Colombian primitivism and Haitian voodoo painting, the figuration of Ancient Egypt and Persian miniatures.
Santiago Pinyol,1982 Lives and Works in Rotterdam, Holland and Bogota, Colombia. Pinyol holds a degree in Fine Arts (2008) and a Master in Art, Creation and Investigation form Madrid’s Complutense University. (2011). Amongst his most recent shows are “What has Not Been Lost,” Enrique Guerrero Gallery, Mexico City (MEX 2019), “Before Everything Dissapears,” SGR Galería, Bogotá (CO 2018). “Screaming at the Screen,” Guerrero Projects, Houston (USA 2017). “Awkward Introductions Radio” Showroom MaMA, Rotterdam (NLD 2019). “Lots of Flying Objects with Beta-Local”, Queens Museum, New York (USA). Pinyol’s work revises art’s problematics as an industry of knowledge production. His recent work questions the way in which art is distancing from materiality while embracing the discursive, as a product of the reproducibility of masterpieces in books and texts, through criticism and teaching of art history. In his Works, this questioning is translated into a neat and astounding visual language, usual in his practice. Objects framed and produced in series that simultaneously play the role of plastic product and visual subversion. He is part of Laagencia and co director of CARNE Gallery in Bogota.
Paulo Licona 1977 Lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia. Master in Fine Arts from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (2002) and Master in Plastic and Visual Arts from the National University of Colombia (2008). He has participated in various national and international group and solo exhibitions, such as "Devolviendo lo Obligado", SGR Gallery, Bogota (CO) “Reimmigration Office ‘Volver a Casa’” at La Bodega y Mas, curated by Good to Know.FYI collective during Miami’s 2018 art week, "Venganza Positiva" in SGR Gallery, Bogota (CO) PASADO TIEMPO FUTURO, Medellin Modern Art Museum, Medellin (CO) "PH-PL Vol.2" Centro Cultural Colombo Americano, Cali (2014), "Hermoso Horror" (bis) project office, Cali (2016), and his participation in the 44th National Artist’s Salon in Pereira (2016). His works are part of the Bogota Modern Art Museum Collection, Bachue Project Collection, Museo de Antioquia Collection and the Otazu Foundation Collectiion, Navarra Spain, as well as private collections in Colombia, Brazil, the United States, and Europe. Paulo Licona's work holds a special interest in educational processes, punishment, misbehavior, and in this same sense confronts the viewer through a humorous tone that borders on irony and mockery. His artistic practice has been mainly installation and sculptural; also involving media such as photography, painting, video and graphic arts. His work has also led him to develop actions that are assimilated to relational arts.
Héctor Madera, 1977 Lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. Héctor Madera holds an MFA from Brooklyn College (2011). His most recent exhibitions include, Once Upon a Time there was a Happy Story at Karen Huber Gallery, Mexico City, (MEX), "I Was Lost, but Being Lost never felt so Good" at SGR Galería (Colombia, 2018); and "When You Live in Paradise, You Don't Want to Leave So Soon" at Galería Karen Huber (CDMX, 2018); His work has been exhibited at El Museo del Barrio, (New York); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de San Juan (Puerto Rico); Museo La Ene (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Saatchi Gallery, (London, UK) and the Museum of Fine Arts of (Taipei, Taiwan). He was a recipient of the Dave Brown Project Grant (2013), the Puffin Ltd. Teaneck, New Jersey Foundation Grant (2005), and the Lexus Grant for Artists, San Juan, PR (2005). In addition, he was selected for the Solo Objects section of ARCO, Madrid (2013). He has been represented by SGR Galería since 2019. His work arises from personal experiences and the observation of everyday situations in which the struggle of day to day life is appreciated, seeking to identify with ordinary heroes and their ignored greatness to explore the ironic and contradictory idea of the high and low moments of life. Embarrassing situations, unfortunate circumstances and insignificant achievements are the inspiration for his artistic practice. Working with different media such as large-scale collage, cut paper, soft sculptures, t-shirts, magazines and posters, she evokes emotional states of sadness and joy. He uses colorful geometric patterns and abstract doodles to reflect feelings of melancholy and humor, confusion and clarity.
Javier Morales Casas, 1993 Lives and works in Ibagué, Colombia. Javier Morales casas holds a Visual Arts Degree from Javeriana Pontificial University (2017). His most recent exhibitions are: “Regional Image 9. Guardian Territories.” Miguel Urrutia Art Museum - MAMU. Bogota (CO) 2021. “Open Mount: Aspect ratio.” Santa Fe Gallery. Bogota (CO), “From the Living to the Object,” 2015-2021. Regional Image 9. Banco de la República, Ibagué (CO), “Fetishes, 500 years Later,” SGR Gallery, Bogotá (CO), “Immortal Painting,” El Museo Gallery, Bogotá (CO). His works are part of private collections in Colombia and the United States. Morales is a painter and ceramist; his processes are linked to a strong sensation of observing life in the countryside from distance. He is afraid of emptiness; which he states because he believes that expression is generated as a counterweight to what is not there. His paintings are made on discarded wood that he finds in the garbage, while walking, or floating in the sea. He is interested in the austere and the precarious; his motifs and the search for the pictorial style come from a syncretism between Colombian primitivism and Haitian voodoo painting, the figuration of Ancient Egypt and Persian miniatures.
Santiago Pinyol,1982 Lives and Works in Rotterdam, Holland and Bogota, Colombia. Pinyol holds a degree in Fine Arts (2008) and a Master in Art, Creation and Investigation form Madrid’s Complutense University. (2011). Amongst his most recent shows are “What has Not Been Lost,” Enrique Guerrero Gallery, Mexico City (MEX 2019), “Before Everything Dissapears,” SGR Galería, Bogotá (CO 2018). “Screaming at the Screen,” Guerrero Projects, Houston (USA 2017). “Awkward Introductions Radio” Showroom MaMA, Rotterdam (NLD 2019). “Lots of Flying Objects with Beta-Local”, Queens Museum, New York (USA). Pinyol’s work revises art’s problematics as an industry of knowledge production. His recent work questions the way in which art is distancing from materiality while embracing the discursive, as a product of the reproducibility of masterpieces in books and texts, through criticism and teaching of art history. In his Works, this questioning is translated into a neat and astounding visual language, usual in his practice. Objects framed and produced in series that simultaneously play the role of plastic product and visual subversion. He is part of Laagencia and co director of CARNE Gallery in Bogota.
Paulo Licona 1977 Lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia. Master in Fine Arts from Jorge Tadeo Lozano University (2002) and Master in Plastic and Visual Arts from the National University of Colombia (2008). He has participated in various national and international group and solo exhibitions, such as "Devolviendo lo Obligado", SGR Gallery, Bogota (CO) “Reimmigration Office ‘Volver a Casa’” at La Bodega y Mas, curated by Good to Know.FYI collective during Miami’s 2018 art week, "Venganza Positiva" in SGR Gallery, Bogota (CO) PASADO TIEMPO FUTURO, Medellin Modern Art Museum, Medellin (CO) "PH-PL Vol.2" Centro Cultural Colombo Americano, Cali (2014), "Hermoso Horror" (bis) project office, Cali (2016), and his participation in the 44th National Artist’s Salon in Pereira (2016). His works are part of the Bogota Modern Art Museum Collection, Bachue Project Collection, Museo de Antioquia Collection and the Otazu Foundation Collectiion, Navarra Spain, as well as private collections in Colombia, Brazil, the United States, and Europe. Paulo Licona's work holds a special interest in educational processes, punishment, misbehavior, and in this same sense confronts the viewer through a humorous tone that borders on irony and mockery. His artistic practice has been mainly installation and sculptural; also involving media such as photography, painting, video and graphic arts. His work has also led him to develop actions that are assimilated to relational arts.
Héctor Madera, 1977 Lives and works in Mexico City, Mexico. Héctor Madera holds an MFA from Brooklyn College (2011). His most recent exhibitions include, Once Upon a Time there was a Happy Story at Karen Huber Gallery, Mexico City, (MEX), "I Was Lost, but Being Lost never felt so Good" at SGR Galería (Colombia, 2018); and "When You Live in Paradise, You Don't Want to Leave So Soon" at Galería Karen Huber (CDMX, 2018); His work has been exhibited at El Museo del Barrio, (New York); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de San Juan (Puerto Rico); Museo La Ene (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Saatchi Gallery, (London, UK) and the Museum of Fine Arts of (Taipei, Taiwan). He was a recipient of the Dave Brown Project Grant (2013), the Puffin Ltd. Teaneck, New Jersey Foundation Grant (2005), and the Lexus Grant for Artists, San Juan, PR (2005). In addition, he was selected for the Solo Objects section of ARCO, Madrid (2013). He has been represented by SGR Galería since 2019. His work arises from personal experiences and the observation of everyday situations in which the struggle of day to day life is appreciated, seeking to identify with ordinary heroes and their ignored greatness to explore the ironic and contradictory idea of the high and low moments of life. Embarrassing situations, unfortunate circumstances and insignificant achievements are the inspiration for his artistic practice. Working with different media such as large-scale collage, cut paper, soft sculptures, t-shirts, magazines and posters, she evokes emotional states of sadness and joy. He uses colorful geometric patterns and abstract doodles to reflect feelings of melancholy and humor, confusion and clarity.
Javier Morales Casas, 1993 Lives and works in Ibagué, Colombia. Javier Morales casas holds a Visual Arts Degree from Javeriana Pontificial University (2017). His most recent exhibitions are: “Regional Image 9. Guardian Territories.” Miguel Urrutia Art Museum - MAMU. Bogota (CO) 2021. “Open Mount: Aspect ratio.” Santa Fe Gallery. Bogota (CO), “From the Living to the Object,” 2015-2021. Regional Image 9. Banco de la República, Ibagué (CO), “Fetishes, 500 years Later,” SGR Gallery, Bogotá (CO), “Immortal Painting,” El Museo Gallery, Bogotá (CO). His works are part of private collections in Colombia and the United States. Morales is a painter and ceramist; his processes are linked to a strong sensation of observing life in the countryside from distance. He is afraid of emptiness; which he states because he believes that expression is generated as a counterweight to what is not there. His paintings are made on discarded wood that he finds in the garbage, while walking, or floating in the sea. He is interested in the austere and the precarious; his motifs and the search for the pictorial style come from a syncretism between Colombian primitivism and Haitian voodoo painting, the figuration of Ancient Egypt and Persian miniatures.
Santiago Pinyol,1982 Lives and Works in Rotterdam, Holland and Bogota, Colombia. Pinyol holds a degree in Fine Arts (2008) and a Master in Art, Creation and Investigation form Madrid’s Complutense University. (2011). Amongst his most recent shows are “What has Not Been Lost,” Enrique Guerrero Gallery, Mexico City (MEX 2019), “Before Everything Dissapears,” SGR Galería, Bogotá (CO 2018). “Screaming at the Screen,” Guerrero Projects, Houston (USA 2017). “Awkward Introductions Radio” Showroom MaMA, Rotterdam (NLD 2019). “Lots of Flying Objects with Beta-Local”, Queens Museum, New York (USA). Pinyol’s work revises art’s problematics as an industry of knowledge production. His recent work questions the way in which art is distancing from materiality while embracing the discursive, as a product of the reproducibility of masterpieces in books and texts, through criticism and teaching of art history. In his Works, this questioning is translated into a neat and astounding visual language, usual in his practice. Objects framed and produced in series that simultaneously play the role of plastic product and visual subversion. He is part of Laagencia and co director of CARNE Gallery in Bogota.