CONTEMPORARY ART OF VENEZUELA VOL. 2

My work featured in Contemporary Art of Venezuela Vol. 2, a publication aimed at cataloging and documenting the work of a significant group of Venezuelan artists who initiated and developed their work within a global context between 2006 and 2018.

This effort to document and promote the work of Venezuelan artists is an initiative developed by Villanueva Editores to continue the work done with the book "Contemporary Art of Venezuela" (Caracas, 2006), which compiled the works of many protagonists of the emerging contemporary art scene from the 1990s to the early 21st century.

Contemporary Art of Venezuela Vol. 2 is a counter-current effort to produce, from a private initiative, a device that compiles and documents a recent period of Venezuelan art. In recent years, Venezuelan art has been characterized by its relocation and dispersion across different parts of the world. Hence, one of the purposes of this book is to showcase the work that artists, curators, researchers, gallery owners, collectors, and other actors in the field have developed over these years, beyond the borders of Venezuela. Despite the adverse circumstances in the country, they have managed to keep the art scene alive.

On this occasion, Contemporary Art of Venezuela Vol. 2 brings together the work of 26 artists selected by a group of curators and art researchers in Venezuela. Under the editorial direction of Sagrario Berti, Aixa Sánchez, and Francisco Raúl Villanueva, with graphic conception by Gabriela Fontanillas and Álvaro Sotillo, and design by Álvaro Sotillo, it features a prologue by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, essays by Ruth Auerbach and Fabiola Arroyo, and artist reviews by various authors. The book presents, in full-color pages, representative works of these artists' productions.

Artists: Ana Alenso, Luis Arroyo, Angela Bonadies, Miguel Braceli, Sol Calero, Iván Candeo, Deborah Castillo, Rubén D ́Hers, Juan Pablo Garza, Jaime Gili, Sheronawë Hakihiiwë, Suwon Lee, Daniel Medina (†), Yucef Merhi, Leonardo Nieves, Jorge Pedro Nuñez, Juan José Olavarría, Erika Ordosgoitti, Oscar Abraham Pabón, Lucía Pizzani, Max Provenzano, Gerardo Rojas, Armando Rosales, Rafael Serrano, Christian Vinck, Raily Stiven Yance.

Editors: Sagrario Berti, Aixa Sánchez, Francisco Raúl Villanueva.

Texts: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Ruth Auerbach, Fabiola Arroyo, Costanza De Rogatis, Silvia Benedetti, Susana Benko, Sandra Pinardi, Maciá Pintó, Aixa Sánchez, Félix Suazo, Jesús Torrivilla, Madelon van Schie.

Graphic concept: VACA Grafik – Álvaro Sotillo, Gabriela Fontanillas.

Graphic Design: Álvaro Sotillo.

‘We are aware that the purpose of this book is to catalog a small but significant group of artists who began and developed their work during a particularly conflictual period in our history, in the most adverse conditions that art has experienced in Venezuela; that it does not claim to cover the entire artistic production of this period; that every selection is a conscious wager and, yet, is not free from questioning. Therefore, we have conceived this volume with the awareness that it is one version among many other possible versions of the art that emerged in Venezuela or developed by Venezuelan artists in a global context in the period between 2006 and 2018.’

- Excerpt from the Editors’ Note

Presentation of the book in Madrid at Antonio Machado bookstore. January 12, 2023

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Arte Contemporáneo de Venezuela Vol. 2 es una publicación cuyo propósito es catalogar y documentar la obra de un grupo significativo de artistas venezolanos que iniciaron y desarrollaron su obra, en un contexto global, en el período comprendido entre 2006 y 2018.

Este esfuerzo por documentar y promover el trabajo de artistas venezolanos es una iniciativa desarrollada por Villanueva editores para darle continuidad al trabajo realizado con el libro Arte contemporáneo de Venezuela (Caracas, 2006), el cual compiló la obra de muchos de los protagonistas de la escena del arte contemporáneo emergente comprendida entre la década de los noventa y los albores del siglo XXI.

Arte Contemporáneo de Venezuela Vol. 2 es un esfuerzo a contracorriente por producir, desde una iniciativa privada, un dispositivo que compile y documente un período reciente del arte de Venezuela, caracterizado en los últimos años por su deslocalización y dispersión en diferentes coordenadas del mundo. Es por ello que uno de los propósitos de este libro es dar a conocer más allá de las fronteras venezolanas, el trabajo que a lo largo de estos años han desarrollado artistas, curadores, investigadores, galeristas, coleccionistas, entre otros actores del campo, por mantener viva una escena del arte, a pesar de las circunstancias adversas del país.

En esta ocasión, Arte Contemporáneo de Venezuela Vol. 2 reúne el trabajo de 26 artistas seleccionados por un grupo de curadores e investigadores del arte en Venezuela. Bajo la dirección editorial de Sagrario Berti Sánchez, Francisco Raúl Villanueva, concepción gráfica de Gabriela Fontallias y Álvaro Sotillo y el diseño de Álvaro Sotillo, cuenta con el prólogo de Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, los ensayos de Ruth Auerbach y Fabiola Arroyo, con reseñas sobre los artistas realizadas por diversos autores, y se despliegan, en páginas a todo color, obras representativas de las producciones de estos artistas.

Artistas: Ana Alenso, Luis Arroyo, Angela Bonadies, Miguel Braceli, Sol Calero, Iván Candeo, Deborah Castillo, Rubén D ́Hers, Juan Pablo Garza, Jaime Gili, Sheronawë Hakihiiwë, Suwon Lee, Daniel Medina (†), Yucef Merhi, Leonardo Nieves, Jorge Pedro Nuñez, Juan José Olavarría, Erika Ordosgoitti, Oscar Abraham Pabón, Lucía Pizzani, Max Provenzano, Gerardo Rojas, Armando Rosales, Rafael Serrano, Christian Vinck, Raily Stiven Yance.

Editores: Sagrario Berti, Aixa Sánchez, Francisco Raúl Villanueva.

Textos: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Ruth Auerbach, Fabiola Arroyo, Costanza De Rogatis, Silvia Benedetti, Susana Benko, Sandra Pinardi, Maciá Pintó, Aixa Sánchez, Félix Suazo, Jesús Torrivilla, Madelon van Schie.

Concepción gráfica: VACA Grafik – Álvaro Sotillo, Gabriela Fontanillas.

Diseño gráfico: Álvaro Sotillo.

Presentación del libro en Madrid en la librería Antonio Machado 12 de enero de 2023.