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My practice usually happens from images, and because of them, it is possible to unfold objects, space, or time. Each project implies different supports and materials; undergoing a continuous variation of methods and strategy selection, I try to find ways to develop the potential of each question. In this sense, the works have jumped from simple developments with paper to large-scale interactive installations, photographic collections, abstract murals, or hyper-realistic paintings that comment on their nature as fiction.
However, this body of artworks is not an eclectic exercise; in general terms, three concepts unite all endeavors; Iconography, architecture, and temporality are categories that touch, comment, or interrelate in their capacity to self-refer and approach, finding a way to formally explore the semiotic realm of signs that seem to be politically relevant.
Therefore, the work leans towards a critical relationship with local visual spheres; my country’s visual production and symbolic apparatus have proved to be a very fertile field of research from which a broader commentary on the dysfunctional nature of the image in the contemporary context is possible.
My initial training in painting implies a close relationship with processes associated with crafts; over time, this way of proceeding has incorporated a production system that recognizes the power of the manipulated material and the manufacture of signifiers. Hence The plastic solutions depend on the conceptual circuit that makes them possible in the first place, circularly justifying them in networks of ideas and forms that develop the work as a whole, insisting on questions and problems residing in the imaginary shared between the work and audience.
Juan David Laserna Montoya / Bogotá, 1980 / Lives and Works in Bogotá
Master in Visual Arts (2010) Fine Arts undergraduate (2004) from the National University of Colombia, Assistant to the director and chief of the education department of the National University Arts Museum (2002 – 2003). From 2004 he has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions in institutions, museums, and galleries, mostly in Colombia, Member of the Maski Collective (2005) (www.maski.laveneno.org with Bogota based artists Camilo Ordoñez and Jairo Suarez. Both individually and collectively has been awarded the National creation grant of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia (2005, 2007. 2015), the Patrimony District Institute Grant (2008), Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation, and Bank of the Republic Art Museum Grant- El Parqueadero Laboratory (2010) In 2008 He received the Scholarship for Outstanding graduate students from the National University of Colombia and held the position of an assistant faculty member from 2008 to 2010, in that same year he received the grant for projects development and exhibition by The District Culture Institute and Santa Fe Gallery in Bogotá, winner of the IX Luis Caballero artist award granted by that same institution. Currently teaches at El Bosque University In Bogotá.
His works are included in the following institutions: Museum of Antioquia, Public Collection, Medellin Colombia / Pereira Art Museum, Public collection, Pereira Colombia / MAMU, Museum of the Bank of the Republic, Public Institution Bogota Colombia / MAMB, Barranquilla Museum of Modern Art, Private Museum, Barranquilla Colombia / Museum of Bogota, Public Museum, Bogota Colombia / Leticia and Stanislas Poniatowski collection, Paris France.
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS SINCE 2009 Title/Venue/City/Date
THE DRAW, Plural Nodo Cultural, Bogotá, May, 2020 / SET, Contemporary Art Museum, Pereira, November 2019 / CLOISTERS, LICEUMS AND GIMNASIUMS, Santa Fe Gallery, Bogotá, June 2019 / SET, MAMB Museum of Modern Art, Barranquilla, March 2019 / FORUMS, Plecto Gallery, Medellin, March 2018 / SET, IX LUIS CABALLERO AWARD, District Archive, Bogotá, October 2017 / THE TOURISTIC CONDITION, Institute of Fine Art, Cali, October 2017 /INTERPLACED COMPLEX UNITY (Maski Collective) BIS, Cali April 2016 / PRIMARY SOURCES, Rincon Projects, Bogota, November 2015 / HUNTERS AND GATHERERS, MIAMI Contemporary Art Practices, Bogota, June 2015 / ARMONIC SIMPLE MOVEMENT, (Maski Collective) Odeon foundation, Bogota, April 2015 / ADVERTISEMENT EXTRACTION, Lugar a Dudas Foundation, Cali, July 2014 / DESIRED LAND (Maski Collective) French Alliance, Bucaramanga, November 2013 / DESIRED LAND (Maski Collective) LA Gallery, Bogota 2013 / REDACTIONS, LA TIENDA, Medellin, January 2013 / BIBLIA PAUPERUM, La Central Gallery, Bogota, June 2012 / UNSUSTAINABLE CINEMA, FICTION, MUSEOGRAPHY,TRANSIT AND DISSAPERANCE, (Maski Collective) Medellin Chamber of Commerce Gallery, Medellin, September 2011 / 6, Julio Mario Santodomingo Public Library, Bogota, July 2011 / FORUMS, Santa Fe Gallery, District Planetarium, Bogota, January 2011 / UNSUSTAINABLE CINEMA, FICTION, MUSEOGRAPHY,TRANSIT AND DISSAPERANCE (Maski Collective) Bogota Museum, Bogota, June 2009 / GRAFITORUM ELECTRITAT, LA VITRINA, Lugar a Dudas Foundation, Cali October 2009.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITONS SINCE 2009 Title/Venue/City/Date
YESTERDAYS NEWSPAPERS, MAMU, Museum of the bank of the Republic, Bogotá, September 2021 / THE CITY, THE UTOPIA / Gilberto Álzate foundation, Bogotá, August 2021 / LUCIFERINAS, Casa Hoffman gallery, April 2020 / TRANSLATIONS, Plural Nodo Cultural, february 2020 / THE TIGER IS NOT THE WAY IT IS DEPICTED, (Maski Collective) MAMU, Museum of the bank of the Republic, Bogotá, October 2019 / FUTURE PAST TIME, (Maski Collective) MAMM Museum of Modern Art, Medellín, March 2019 / WITHOUT WORD, (Maski Collective) NC – Art, Bogotá, February 2018 / THE DEVIL´S NOSE, Odeon Foundation, Bogotá, November 2017 / GUIDED VISIT, Campo Art Space, Bogotá December 2016 / LOCALIZATION, PLACES, LOCALS DISLOCATIONS, Bogota Art Fair, October 2016 / INMACULATE NATURE, BROKEN LANDSCAPES, EPM Library, Medellin October 2016 / AÚN – still, NATIONAL ARTISTS SALON, Rialto Building, Pereira, September 2016 / FAILURES OF ORIGIN, Museum of Art of Juarez City, Juarez City MX, July 2016 / EPHIMERAL MUSEUM OF OBLIVION, National University of Colombia, Bogotá, August 2015 / BOGOTÁ HORROR AND BEAUTY, MAMBO Museum of Modern Art, Bogota, September, 2015 / HORROR PLENI, TOO FULL TOO EMPTY, EAC, Montevideo URU, March 2015 / REMEMBERING THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION, A LOOK TOWARDS EVERY DAY ZAPATIT LIFE, EPM Library, Medellín, November, 2014 / COLECCTION, NEW AQUISITIONS 2011 – 2014, Museum of Antioquia, Medellín, August 2014 / IMPERFECT IDLER OR WHEN THINGS DISAPPEAR, I International Cartagena Biennale Museum of Modern Art, Cartagena, February 2014 / THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF CERTAINTY OR THE CERTAINTY OF ILLUSION (Maski Collective) ARTBO FAIR, Bogotá, October 2013 / PERISCOPE, MAMU, Museum of art of the Bank of the Republic, Bogotá, August 2013 / NO WAY OF LIFE IS INEVITABLE (Maski Collective) Flora ARS+NATURA, Bogotá, August 2013 / ANTIOQUIAS, DIVERSITY AND IDENTITY IMAGINARIES, Museum of Antioquia, Medellín, June 2013 / INTERSECTIONS ARTST IN RESIDENCE, MAMBO Museum of Modern Art, Bogota, October 2012 / MARTHA”CHE” TRABA: AN EXHIBITION ABOUT LATIN AMERICAN IDOLS, ENE Museum, Buenos Aires ARG, June 2012 / THE FUTURE OF THE PAST: VARIATIONS ABOUT AN OBSOLETE MODERNITY (Maski Collective) Clock´s Tower Cutural Center, Cúcuta, November 2011 – MAP, Pereira Art Museum, December 2012 / WE TOOK, Site Specific, Odeón Foundation, Bogotá, October 2011 /PLACE ENCOUNTER, Naval Museum, Cartagena, February 2011 / MULTIPLE ORIGINALS, Gilberto Álzate Avendaño Foundation, Bogotá, November 2011/ IV ASAB BIENNALE, LOW-MID AND HIGH TECHNOLOGIES, ASAB Scholl Gallery, Bogotá, October 2009 / ART AND NATURE, Botanical Gardens, Bogotá, March 2009 / QUOTATIONS, Antioquia Museum, Medellín, September 2009.
GRANTS, AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
-IX Luis Caballero National Arts Award, DISTRICT INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS – IDARTES, 2017
– AUN, 47 National Artist Salon Residency, PEREIRA – COLOMBIA / MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF COLOMBIA, 2016
–National Creation Grant for mid-career artist, MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF COLOMBIA, 2015
-Grant for Artists Circulation, MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF COLOMBIA, 2015
–Juarez City Residency, JUAREZ – MEXICO / UACJ, UNIVERSITY AND LA AGENCIA, 2013
-Project Award El Parqueadero Open Call for grants, GILBERTO ÁLZATE AVENDAÑO FOUNDATION, 2012
-Grant for Projects Circulation, MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF COLOMBIA, 2011
-MDE11 Art Residency, MEDELLIN – COLOMBIA / DISTRICT INSTITUTE FOR THE ARTS – IDARTES, 2011
-District Grant and Award Santa Fe Gallery exhibitions, GILBERTO ÁLZATE AVENDAÑO FOUNDATION, 2010
-Grant, The city a Common Patrimony, DISTRICT INSTITUTE FOR PATRIMONY AND BOGOTA MUSEUM, 2008
-Outstanding graduate student scholarship for MFA, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBIA, 2008 -2010