Mario Vélez

“On a splendid field that supplies the color, forms and lines glide, creating an implacable logic that produces a different rationality, far from the Cartesian rationalism that was the starting point. The process that has been unleashed is gleaned from the different pieces that make up the paintings; however, strictly speaking, we are only looking at one oeuvre. Thus, an exhibition of this series in its totality turns out to be indicative and telling of the exceptionality of Mario Vélez’s work process. The plane is irrigated by permutations, articulations, withdrawals and a large number of elements that create pictorial inscriptions, like a kind of graphic symbol that undergoes a controlled explosion throughout an expanse of forms.

After we have examined the entire series and ruminated upon it all for some time, the field of color that has traditionally been called background is what stands out in our memory. That means that there is no surface on which lines, planes and forms are inserted; instead, that surface is also a figure. Walter de María expressed it very well: “The terrain is not the scene of the work, it is part of it.” Like a never-ending horizontal band, the oeuvre allows us to look at its persistent journey; but at the same time, those flat, sharp, irregular forms also look back at us. Ultimately, Vélez’s works leave us with a silent aura, some traces, some imprints, in which incoherence, far from being a defect, is an accurate affirmation of the randomness of life.”

– Luis Fernando Valencia

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2012 Mario Vélez – Pinturas y dibujos. Knoerle & Baettig Contemporary fine art. Winterthur, Suiza.
2011 Geografías corporales. Museo de Arte de Tolima MAT. Ibagué, Colombia.
2011 Kunst Messe Zurich, PXL Art Gallery. Zurich, Suiza.
2011 Mario Vélez – Pinturas. ARV Art Gallery. Hamptons, NY. EE. UU.
2011 Internal Migrations. Bridge Gallery. Nueva York, EE. UU.
2011 Internal Migrations. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2010 Migraciones interiores. Sala de Arte Suramericana. Medellín, Colombia.
2010 Migraciones interiores. Galería Arteconsult. Ciudad de Panamá. Panamá.
2010 We are not made of sugar. Bridge Gallery. Nueva York, EE. UU.
2010 Evidencias. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2009 No somos de azúcar. Alonso Garcés Galería. Bogotá. Colombia.
2009 Mario Vélez, Monochromatic Drawings. Promo-Arte Gallery. Tokio, Japón.
2009 Guerras Pequeñas. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2008 Mario Vélez, Paintings, William Merrill Gallery. Laguna Beach, CA., EE. UU.
2008 Mario Vélez, Drawings, Bridge Gallery. Nueva York, EE. UU.
2008 Mario Vélez, Dibujos. Alonso Garcés Galería. Bogotá, Colombia.
2008 Espacios Vulnerables. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2007 Horizontal – Vertical. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2007 Los caminos dorados. Museo de Arte Moderno. Medellín, Colombia.
2007 Presentación del libro Los caminos dorados. Museo de Arte Moderno. Medellín, Colombia.
2007 The Golden Paths. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2006 Possessions. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2006 Posesiones. Alianza Francesa. Medellín, Colombia.
2005 Things That Kill. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2005 Mario Vélez, Pinturas. Festival Internacional de la Cultura, Palacio

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 Hombre, naturaleza y fauna. Galería Arteconsult. Ciudad de Panamá. Panamá.
2011 Highlights for 2012. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami. EE. UU.
2011 Summer Exhibition. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami. EE. UU.
2011 Miami International Art Fair. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2010 Oltre Oceano: Botero, Marín, Vélez, Fonzo. Barbara Paci Gallery. Pietra Santa, Italia.
2010 Latin American Masters. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2010 Works on paper. Bridge Gallery. Nueva York, EE. UU.
2010 Colectiva Latinoamericana. Galería Arteconsult. Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá.
2010 Miami International Art Fair. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2010 10th Latin American Contemporary Art today. Promo-Arte Gallery. Tokio, Japón.
2009 Mario Vélez and Yoko Iwanaga. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2009 Abstractos latinoamericanos. Galería Arteconsult. Ciudad de Panamá.
2008 Highlights. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2008 Alianza Francesa 10 años. Galería Oliver Debre. Medellín, Colombia.
2008 ARTBO. Feria Internacional de Arte de Bogotá, Alonso Garcés Galería. Bogotá, Colombia.
2008 Arte Abstracto en Colombia. Sala de Arte Suramericana. Medellín, Colombia.
2008 Pinturas. Galería Armory de Arte Contemporáneo. Perugia, Italia.
2008 Extended Boundary. Galería del centro cultural del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo. Washington D. C. EE. UU.
2008 Palm Beach 3. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2007 Dibujo colombiano del siglo XX. Galería la Cometa. Bogotá, Colombia.
2007 Highlights. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2007 Palm Beach 3. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.
2007 MoLAA award exhibition 2007. Museum of Latin American Art. Los Ángeles, EE. UU.
2007 Infinite Lines. Promo-Arte Gallery. Tokio, Japón.
2006 Herbst-Winter Kollektion. Ariadne Gallery. Viena, Austria.
2006 Kunstler der Galerie. Ariadne Gallery. Viena, Austria.
2006 Large Formats. Etra Fine Art Gallery. Miami, EE. UU.