Gabriela Gamboa
Foto: Pedro Wazzan
Gabriela Gamboa is a multidisciplinary artist born in Pittsburgh and raised in Venezuela. The daughter of a metalurgical engineer, her life was greatly marked by the many moves her family made, not only within the country, but also to Europe and the United States.
Being in a state of constant transition, Gabriela became interested in the essence of communication and language at an early age, weaving it into her performances, using her own body as a point of origin. She has also developed a language of her own to accompany her videos.
The element of displacement, transplantation and mimicry are present in her work, which include experimentations in film, performance, video, multimedia installations and photography. She explores strategies of communication and camouflage that have marked her own life through the use of the body as a medium and the personal as an act of political manifestation.
After obtaining her bachelor’s in art and Design from the University of Chicago, she co-founded the experimental multimedia ensemble POLYBURO and was a member of the electronic music collective MUSIKAUTOMATIKA, exploring connections between multiple mediums and artistic collaboration to address concerns about social and ecological issues.
Gamboa has also been an educator and arts promoter. In the early 1990’s she was called upon to co-create the media department of the Instituto Superior de Artes Visuales Armando Reverón, where she began her teaching career in video art which she continues to the present.
Gabriela has exhibited artwork both regionally and internationally at renowned institutions including Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima, Perú, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago, Chile, The Coral Gables Museum, Miami, the Boston Center for the Arts, among others. In 2021, she was awarded and Ellies Creator Award by Oolite Arts.
She currently lives in Miami and her studio is in the Bakehouse Art Complex.
V I T A
EDUCATION
MFA, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Art and Design, University of Chicago, Bachelor of Art and Design
Graphic Design, Instituto de Diseño, Caracas, Venezuela
PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS AND INTERNSHIPS
Eugene Ionesco, University of Chicago.
Christian Belpaire, Instituto de Diseño, Caracas
Antoni Muntadas, Escuela de Arquitectura Universidad Central de Venezuela
Nelson Garrido, Caracas
Ricardo Armas. Caracas
Luis González Palma, Caracas.
AWARDS
2021 South Arts Grant
Ellies Award Recipient, Miami, Florida
2020 MAS! Grant, Miami Dade Artists
2011 Artist Grant, Residency Vermont Studio Center
2001 Written on the Wall. Salón Michelena 2nd. Prize
1985 Best Photography, Premio del Consejo Municipal de Caracas.
SOLO SHOWS
2022 New Topographies, Bakehouse Art Complex and Deering Estate outdoor installation
2017 MS17 Art Project, New London CT
2014 Campos de Fuerza, La Caja, Caracas, Venezuela
2012 Dis/Placements, Expressions Gallery, New London, Conn.
2010 Sounding board, Galeria 39, El Hatillo, Venezuela
Expressiones Gallery, New London Conn
2001 Another pretty face, Ateneo de Caracas
1999 Devotions, Ecopermformia, Caracas
1995 Silentium, Alianza Francesa de Barquisimeto
1980 Ephemeral, degradable installation, Chicago
GROUP SHOWS
2023 Silent Narrator/Curious Spectator, The Frank, Pembroke Pines, Florida.
2022 Adopted Landscapes, Collective 62, Miami
2021 Art To Save LIves, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Viewpoints, Audrey Love Gallery, Miami, Florida.
2020 Home Sweet Home, Pinecrest Gardens, Florida
Espacio Visible, Amerant Bank, Miami.
CUERPOS CONFINADOS, Online Exhibit at Museo del Zulia.
2019 Crónicas Migrantes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima, Peru.
For Now, Coral Gables Art Museum
2018 Mark, Scratch, Stroke, Capture, Fort Point Gallery, Boston. Artist and curator
Untitled Environment, Miami Institute of Photography, Miami
2017 Caracas Intervenida, Trinidad Alta, Caracas
2015 Trópico, Oficina No.1, Caracas
2015 Feelers, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston
2015 Electroestática Ambiental, Centro Cultural BOD, Caracas.
2014 Boston Young Contemporaries, Boston, USA
2013 4 + 4, Galeria 39, Caracas
2011 Biennale Internacional, Merida, Venezuela
2004 Barro de America, Centro de Arte Lía Bermúdez, Maracaibo
2001 Retrospective Video Art in Venezuela, Contemporary Art Museum Caracas
60 Salón Arturo Michelena, Valencia
2000 Video/habitats, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
58 Salón Arturo Michelena, Valencia
1998 13 Women in Latin American Art, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Chile, Santiago.
23 Salón Arte de Aragua
56 Salón Michelena
1997 55 Arturo Michelena Visual Art Salon, Valencia
ECOPERFORMIA, Caño Amarillo, Caracas
1996 VIII Eugenio Mendoza Biennale, Sala Mendoza, Caracas
VIARTE, Catholic University, Caracas
1994 Video Today, Sala Mendoza, Caracas
1993 IV Young Photography Salon
1992 I Visual Art Salon, Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas
1991 Salón Fundarte, Caracas
1990 III Oriental Bienalle, Cumaná, Venezuela
I National Visual Arts Biennale, Mérida
MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATIONS/ PERFORMANCE
2022 With Maria Theresa Barbist, My Auxiliary Ego,Miami Internaitonal Performance Festival, Bass Museum
2001 Writing on the wall, Caracas
1997 Devotionary II, Ecoperformia, Caracas
1996 Devotionary I
1993 Utsiegaiane
Electronic Cabaret, Caracas
1992 Water, Espacio Balzac, Caracas and Valencia
Mujer Pantano, Science Museum, Caracas
1991 There will come soft rains, Videoescultura 91, Caracas, Valencia
1990 Galileo, Caracas
TEACHING
2018-2021 Miami Institute of Photography, Miami Florida.
2010-2018 Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Fotograficos, Caracas, Venezuela
Escuela Foto Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
1992-1999 Instituto Universitario Armando Reveron. Undergraduate and graduate.
SELECTD LECTURES
2022 In Conversation, The Artist Book, Jaffe Center for Book Arts and ISProjects
2019 On Silence, Communication and Technology, Rice University, Texas
Guest Lecturer Cerquone Project, Madrid, Spain
2018 Art in Times of Strife, Maryland Institute College of Art
Guest Speaker International Center for Photography, New York
The Poetics of Images, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami
2017 Guest Lecturer and Studio Critiques, Brandeis University, Massachusetts
Guest Artist, Media Lab, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
2010 The Artist and The Polis, University of Berkeley, California.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
2012 De la Autoconstrucción a las Comunidades Cerradas w/ Antoni Muntadas
1992-1994 Instituto Armando Reverón – research and design for the creation of Mixed Media and Alternative Media
curriculum and laboratories for the Bachelor of Art Diploma.
1993 FUNDARTE research grant -Sound Landscapes –w/Stefano Gramitto
ARTISTS BOOKS
2021 A Study of Dust
1998 25% RayaPuntoRaya
1996 25%Still Life
COLLECTIONS
Jaffe Center for Book Arts
Museo de Arte Contmeporáneo de Chile
Galeria de Arte Nacional de Venezuela
Ateneo de Valencia, Venezuela
Netherlands Embassy, Caracas
Colección Banco Exterior, Caracas, Venezuela
Colección David Zune