Mid-Career Artist Award
Leyla Cárdenas (b. 1975). Colombian artist based in Bogotá.
Her work delves into the architectural ruins of the city as indices of social transformation, forgetfulness and historical memory. The decomposition of the physical and emotional weaves of intervened spaces and vestiges are used as materials for her work, with a sculptural strategy that is both destructive and constructive.
“For me, it’s inevitable to see the objects of the world as ruins of what they used to be. An analogy with the work of the amateur archaeologist can be made. I learn more about my work by undoing instead of doing, de-constructing instead of constructing. The materials that I interact with are literally vestiges of a fragmented reality”. - Leyla Cárdenas.
Photo courtesy of the artist
A Look Inside:
Born │
Leyla was born in 1975 in Bogotá, Colombia where she still lives and works.
Education│
M.F.A., University of California, Los Angeles (2004) | B.F.A., Los Andes University, Bogota, Colombia (1999).
Awards and residencies│
Resistance as the way of survival. Ria Keburia Gallery Art Residency, Tbilsi, Georgia (2018) | Artist in residency at Q21. Museums Quartier Wien, Vienna-Austria (2016) | Premio Oma al Arte. (Oma Art prize) Colombia | NEARCH project. Art & Archeology. Jan Van Eyck Academie. Maastricht (2015-18) | 1st Prize 2ª Bienal de Artes Plásticas y Visuales granted by FGAA, Bogotá (2012) | LARA (Latin American Roaming Art) un proyecto de Asiaciti Trust (2012), among others.
Selected Exhibitions│
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
“Ressasser”. Galerie Dix9 Hélène Lacharmoise, Paris (2018) | “vice versa” Site Specific project at Dimensions Variable, Miami-USA (2017) | “reconocer” at Galería Casas Riegner, Bogotá-Colombia (2017) | “Indagaciones Cronotópicas”. Solo exhibition at Galería Max Estrella, Madrid- España (2016) | “Trama”. Proposal for Espacio Odeón. Bogotá (2015) | “Site-specific intervention”. Museo La Tertulia, Cali (2014) | “El Tiempo lo aguanta todo”. Casas Riegner gallery, Bogotá (2014) | “Scarcity” Site-specific intervention, ICASJ, Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose, CA-USA (2014), among others.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
“Especular”, LA Art Show, invited by CSRC and Lacma, Los Angeles (2018) | “Elèctric i llunyà”, Centre d’Art Tecla Sala, Barcelona (2018) | “Estructuras Vivientes”. Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador (2018) | “Building as ever” - II California Pacific Triennial. Orange County Museum of Art. CA-USA (2017) | “Home-So Different”, So Appealing. June 11 - Oct 15, 2017 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and Nov 19, 2017 - Feb 4, 2018, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). Part of Getty's Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA | “El Universo Holograma”, Museo La Tertulia-Cali (2017) | “The Materiality of the Invisible” - Mares and Bureau Europa, Maastricht/ND (2017) | “Dix Ans!” - Galerie Dix9 Hélène Lacharmoise, Paris (2017) | “The Rest is History”. Group exhibition. Dimensions Variable, Miami-USA (2016) | “Pensamiento Escultórico”. Group exhibition Galería Casas Riegner, Bogotá (2016), among others.
