TONY VAZQUEZ-FIGUEROA
Born in Caracas, Venezuela 1970
Resides in Miami, Florida
EDUCATION
Slade School of Painting at UCL, London
New York Studio School/ New York Academy of Art, NY
Academia de Arte San Alejandro, Cuba
BFA Film, Emerson College, Boston
Venezuela is a land dependent on its oil fields. It is one of the largest exporters of oil and has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. Oil has determined its history, its economy, its social and political existence for hundreds of years, long before 20th-century oil rigs began to mark the landscape. Tony Vazquez-Figueroa has explored the substance of crude oil and its many manifestations with the intention of using his artistic skills and vision to try and understand what happened to one of the richest countries that forced him and thousands of others to forsake their homeland and flee their homeland. Using crude oil as a key material in the creation of works that include drawings, photography, oil-ink blots, three-dimensional objects and prints made from his specially created oil ink, he has produced a personal archive of the products that form his country’s and his own collective memory and patrimony… an inventory of his own contrived archive, both real and imagined, available and no longer existent and all dependent on oil and made of oil or its products.
Excerpt from Crude Archive, essay written by
Carol Damian, Ph.D.
Curator
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Black Gold Museum
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
Perez Art Museum
Miami, FL
Museum of Latin American Art
Long Beach, California
Klugler Kaplan Collection
Miami, FL
Villanueva Collection
Venezuela
Capriles Collection
Venezuela
Maldonado Collection
Miami, FL
Foundation Rozas – Botran Collection
Cuidad de Guatemala, Guatemala
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
Petropias, Curated by Tami Katz-Freiman
LnS Gallery, Miami, FL
2019
Drawing from the Underdeveloped / Line One
LnS Gallery, Miami, FL
2018
Black Surface The Undoing Process
LnS Gallery, Miami, FL
2017
Crude Inventory
Galería Rozas-Botran Zona 14, Guatemala, Guatemala
2016
Within the Gaze
Artmedia Gallery- Miami, FL
2011
Closepop
D’griss Art Gallery – Panama, Panama
2008
Cata^logos
Galería Artepuy – Caracas, Venezuela
2005
Ad/iconic
Galería MAD – Caracas, Venezuela
2004
Venezuela Turmoil
South Florida Art Center – Art Basel Week – Miami, FL
Notations
Espacio D’stefano – Caracas, Venezuela
2003
Retro/Prospective
Centro Cultural Capuy – Caracas, Venezuela
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
THE ARTFUL BOOK
LnS Gallery, Miami, FL
Referencias y diálogos
Beatriz Gil Galería, Caracas, Venezuela
2017
Oolite
LnS Gallery, Miami, FL
The Collective Debut
LnS Gallery, Miami, FL
Crudo/Archivo
Espacio Cultural Fundación Rozas-Botrán, Guatemala, Guatemala
Routes of Influence
Perez Art Museum Miami, Miami, FL
2016
Inventory/Takes
The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, NY, NY
Arte en Mayo
Museo de Arte Moderno de Guatemala, Guatemala
Works on Paper National Exhibition
Long Island Beach Foundation, Long Beach, NJ
2015
Rozas-Brotran Fundation Exhibition
AG Gallery/ Northern Trust Bank, Miami, Fl
Works on Paper National Exhibition
Long Island Beach Foundation, Long Beach, NJ
Color of Latin
Gyeongnam Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
2014
63rd. Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition
Boca Museum, Boca Raton, FL
Venezuela/Ukraine: Unexpected Conversation
Black Square Gallery, Miami, FL
Urbanism
Coral Gables Museum, Miami, FL
Paper Work Project
Black Square Gallery, Miami, FL
2013
Summer Reading
Black Square Gallery, Miami, FL
Dessine Moi
Galerie 208 – Paris, France
2012
Acquired
The Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL
Tridimensionnel
Galerie 208, Paris, France
2011
Utilitaria
Galería Mad, Caracas, Venezuela
Sauvages
JG pPatform Gallery – Miami, FL
2010
65
Salón Michelena, Valencia, Venezuela
Identidades
Galería MAD – Caracas, Venezuela
CONTINUED SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Collect Collage
Galería Estudio Arte 8 – Caracas, Venezuela
Brasil Reimaginado
Brasilian Consulate, Caracas, Venezuela
Retomando el Rojo
Galería MAD/Studio 64, Caracas, Venezuela
Eclectic
Galería G7, Caracas, Venezuela
2009
V Bienal de Maracaibo
Maracaibo, Venezuela
Pixeles
Gabriela Benaim Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela
Bridge to the Americas
Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California
2007
Individualidades
Galería Artepuy/ Beatriz Gil Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela
2004
Ground Art
Art Basel Week, Miami, FL
2001
Merit Show
New York Studio School, New York, New York
1998
Salón Servando Cabrera
Havana, Cuba
SELECTED AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
2017
Honorable Mention, Works on Paper
Long Beach Island Foundation for the Arts and Sciences, New Jersey
2015
Latin American Award
Rozas-Botran Foundation, Miami, FL
2014
63rd Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition (1st Prize)
Boca Museum, FL
Panelist
Miami Photo Salon, Miami, FL
2001
1st Prize
Good Will Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela
1998
Partial Scholarship
New York Studio School, NY, NY
SELECTED ART FAIRS
2022
Zona Maco, Mexico City, Mexico
Booth C100
2020
Zona Maco, Mexico City, Mexico
Booth NP2
2011 – 2012
Pinta, London
2015 – 2017
Pinta, Miami
2013 – 2014
Scope, Miami
2013
Scope, New York
2013 – 2014
Art Wynwood, Miami
2013
FIAAM, Soul, Korea
2012 – 2013
Art Miami/Context, Miami
2011
Arte Americas Art Fair, Miami
2007 – 2013
FIA Feria Iberoamericana de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
2008 – 2009
FIAM, Maracaibo