Bio
Rafael Villares (b. Havana, 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist particularly interested in projects that promote research, collaborations and interventions in public spaces. His work usually looks at the landscape as a redefined concept, built by Culture, closely related to the idea of man as the cause and effect of all things. Trough photography, sound and installations, Villares inverts certain aspects of our surroundings, taking the sounds of the Havana streets into a nearby forest, or creating a larger-than-life planter with a park bench and tree, that can be moved from location to location by means of a truck and crane. Villares studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro and the Centro Experimental de Artes José Antonio Díaz Peláez. He has exhibited widely in Cuba and internationally, including the Chazen Museum in Madison, Wisconsin, Museo Nacional de Arte (MNA), Bolivia and three large scale installations during the past Havana´s Biennales. He has been and artist in residence at the Vermont Studio Center, USA and at Vancouver Biennale, Canada. He currently lives and works in Havana, Cuba.
Rafael Villares (n. La Habana, 1989) es un artista multidisciplinario particularmente interesado en proyectos que potencien la investigación, las colaboraciones e intervenciones en espacios públicos. Su trabajo usualmente mira el paisaje como un concepto redefinido, construido por la Cultura, en estrecha relación con la idea del hombre como causa y efecto de todas las cosas. Fundamentalmente a través de la fotografía, el dibujo y la instalación, Villares invierte ciertos aspectos de nuestra realidad inmediata, llevando los sonidos de las calles de La Habana a un bosque cercano, o creando una maceta gigante con un banco de parque y un árbol, suspendida en el aire con una grúa y que se movía por varias zonas de la ciudad. Villares estudió en el Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), en la Academia San Alejandro y en el Centro Experimental de las Artes Visuales en La Habana. Ha participado en numerosas exposiciones, local he internacionalmente, incluyendo el Chazen Museum en Madison, Wisconsin, el Museo Nacional de Arte (MNA), Bolivia y tres grandes instalaciones en espacio público como parte de las Bienales de La Habana. Rafael ha sido artista en residencia, entre otras, en el Vermont Studio Center, E.E.U.U. y en la Residencia Internacional de la Bienal de Vancouver 2019, Canadá. Actualmente vive y trabaja en La Habana, Cuba.
CV
RAFAEL VILLARES (b. Cuba, 1989)
Lives and work in Havana, Cuba
EDUCATION
2010-2015 Higher Institute of Art (ISA), Havana, Cuba
2005-2009 National Fine Art Academy San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba
2003-2005 Visual Art Experimental Center, Havana, Cuba
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2019 Encounters in the landscape, Miler Lagos-Rafael Villares, Montenegro Art Projects, Bogota, Colombia, 2019
Unknown Land, NG Art Gallery, Panama City, Panama
2018 Divergence: Liquid Paradigm, Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba
2015 Echo´s morphology, Artis 718 Gallery, Havana, Cuba
2014 Inventory, Ludwig Foundation, Havana, Cuba
2012 Itinerant Landscape, public space installation, collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
2010 Two Instants, Visual Arts Center (CDAV), Havana, Cuba
2009 About Human Loneliness, Conference Room, San Alejandro Academy, Havana, Cuba
2008 Breath, José Antonio Díaz Peláez Gallery, San Alejandro Academy, Havana, Cuba
2007 Where too much light forms walls with dust, Poetry House, Havana, Cuba
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 10 de 500 – The curvature of the circle, Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba
Zona Maco, Mexico DF, Mexico.
Cartographies of the spirit, Open Studio Carlos Garaicoa 15.0, Madrid, Spain
2019 Arsenal-Open Studio / Havana Art Weekend, Havana, Cuba
Connections, Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba
Killing a monk, Barcú, MAP, Bogota, Colombia
The Vancouver Ideas, Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
Cuba: Utopic horizons, Palazzo Ca’Zenobio, Venece, Italy
Cuba: Identity y Difference, Palazzo Ca’Zenobio, Venece, Italy
Intersections, XIII Havana Biennale, Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba
HB – Contemporary Cuban Art, Collateral XIII Havana Biennial, Great Theater of Havana, Havana, Cuba
Meridian 80 West, Collateral XIII Havana Biennial, NG Art Gallery-La Habana, Havana, Cuba
Lights, Maxima Estudio-Taller, Collateral XIII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
Scope Art Fair, NY, USA
2018 Meraki, NG Art Gallery, Panama City, Panama
Clear Boundaries, NG Art Gallery, Panama City, Panama
The given Land, Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba
The mystic of the body, National Museum of Art (MNA), La Paz, Bolivia
2017 The mystic of the body, Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba
Scope Art Fair, Miami, USA
Sonique, Hispano-American Cultural Center, Havana, Cuba
Ad líbitum, Open Studio k-51. Havana, Cuba
2016 En un dos por tres, Cuban artist at the SIART Biennale – Bolivia, La Paz, Bolivia
Scope Art Fair, Miami, USA
In situ: visions on landscape of the Great Antilles, Dr. Pío López Martínez Art Museum, Puerto Rico
Pulse Art Fair NY, New York, USA
Line Up, La Acacia Gallery, Havana, Cuba
Intersections Havana-Portland, The Hoffman Gallery, Portland, USA
2015 Maretti Art Prize, CDAV, Havana, Cuba
Footnote, Espacio Abierto Gallery, Revolución y Cultura Magazine, Havana, Cuba
Hyperthermia, Casa del Alba, Havana, Cuba
Aperture: Photography in Cuba Today, Chazen Museum – Madison, Wisconsin, USA
1st Caribbean Festival of the Image, Mémorial Act, Guadalupe
XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
Behind the Wall II, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
Zona Franca, Fortaleza San Carlos de la Cabaña, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
A collective project, Co Galería / 66 Arte Contemporáneo, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
13 Tales + 1, ISA, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
HB, Pabexpo, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
RAM ROM RUN, Loft Habana, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
M.O.R (Museo Orgánico Romerillo), Kcho Studio, Collateral XII Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
Pulse, L Gallery, Havana, Cuba
Ethics and esthetics, International Press Center, Havana, Cuba
Coordinates, Art Cartagena, MAP (Montenegro Art Projects), Cartagena, Colombia
2014 Now 12, Galería Artis 718, Havana, Cuba
Legacy, Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba
Borders in questions 1, Artepari –Gallery for contemporary art, Graz, Austria
Borders in questions 1, Kunstraumhaaaauch-quer, Klagenfurt, Austria
Xl’2/ 6th Cuban Contemporary Art Saloon, CDAV, Havana, Cuba
POS-IT 2014, Galería Artis 718, Havana, Cuba
13 Tales + 1, Ludwig Foundation, Havana, Cuba
Ca Chi Pún / stone, paper and scissors, Cuban Art Factory (F.A.C.); Havana, Cuba
Bread and Circus, ISA, Havana, Cuba
The Order of all Things, Galeano Gallery; Havana, Cuba
Rodando se encuentran, Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China
2013 Art Cartagena, Cartagena, Colombia
POS-IT 2013, Collage Habana Gallery; Havana, Cuba
II Art on Paper – Brussels 2013, Rainhart Gallery, Brussels
Tócate, Havana Gallery, Havana, Cuba
2012 Scaping with landscape, Montenegro Art Project (MAP), Miami, USA
Odeón Contemporary Art Fair, MAP, Bogotá, Colombia
Listen to silence, 11 Cuban artist, Collage Habana Gallery, Havana, Cuba
SenseLAB, University of Havana, Havana, Cuba
Lo inédito viable, XI Havana Biennale, ISA, Havana, Cuba
Havana Open-House, Workshop 9, Collateral XI Havana Biennial, Servando Gallery, Havana, Cuba
Scaping with landscape, MAP-CPAPD Luz y Oficios, Havana, Cuba
2011 Trivialities and common places, Cafeine Gallery, Miami, USA
Trivialities and common places, MAP, Miami, USA
Odeón Contemporary Art Fair, MAP, Bogotá, Colombia
SPRAY, Kubanishevideokunst/ Cuban video show, Das Hochhaus Kokerei Hansa Museum, Dortmund, Germany
Cascarilla at the workshop, René Portocarrero Gallery, Havana, Cuba
Cuban Art Factory (F.A.C)/ IV Edition, 2011, Pabexpo, Havana, Cuba
Three and One, Ambos Mundos Hotel Gallery, Havana, Cuba
2010 The tip of the bullet/ A decade of Cuban Art, Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba
Calma locura del color paciente, Galería Ramón Alva de la Canal, Universidad de Veracruz, Jalapa, Mexico
2009 pc.cuba.com, Evento Internacional de cultura y medios digitales, Havana, Cuba
IV Ars Latina Biennial/ Context and Identity, CDAV, Havana, Cuba
The black tunnel, Cascarilla Gallery, San Alejandro Academy, Havana, Cuba
Sharing Dreams Retrospective, CC Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Havana, Cuba
2008 Sharing Dreams 5, Majadahonda Gallery, CC Pablo de la Torriente Brau, Havana, Cuba
CACa at the workshop, René Portocarrero Gallery, Havana, Cuba
The sculpture is more than three dimensions, Cascarilla Gallery, San Alejandro Academy, Havana, Cuba
2007 It is over & Pixel, Maqueta de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
Variaciones en blanco y negro, José Antonio Días Peláez Gallery, San Alejandro Academy, Havana, Cuba
Shot, 9 Digital Art Saloon, Havana, Cuba
1er certamen internacional de Fotografía Surrealista EIBAR 2007, Eibar, Spain
2006 Looking for space, Galería Servando Cabrera, Casa del Estudiante, Havana, Cuba
Tribute to childhood, Pedro Borras Astorga Foundation, Madrid, Spain
Awards Exhibition, 8th Digital Art Saloon, Havana, Cuba
Hi Jim, Havana opens its doors to you, La Madriguera Gallery, Havana, Cuba
Intervention 1, San Alejandro Academy, Havana, Cuba
2005 Break the line, Servando Cabrera Gallery, House of the Student, Havana, Cuba
GRANTS & AWARDS / BECAS Y PREMIOS
2015 Creation Grant, El Reino de este Mundo, Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), Havana, Cuba
2010 Creation Grant, Juan Francisco Elso, Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), Havana, Cuba
2009 Creation Grant, Studio 21, Visual Arts Center (CDAV), Havana, Cuba
2006 1st Prize, 8th Digital Art Saloon, Havana, Cuba
WORKSHOP & RESIDENCIES / TALLERES Y RESIDENCIAS
2019 Artist in Residency, Vancouver Biennale, Vancouver, Canada
2016 Artist in Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Vermont, USA
2016 Artist in Residency, Casasola Non-Conventional Art & Design, Panama City, Panama
2015 Workshop Exercises by Luis Camnitzer, Casa de Las Américas, Havana, Cuba
2013 Workshop for Installation and Performance (T.R.I.P.), Los Andes University, Colombia- ISA, Havana, Cuba
2012 Workshop SenseLab, Alanus Hoshshoule, Germany- ISA, Havana, Cuba
2007 Interchange Workshop, San Alejandro Academy- Cardinal Wiseman HS, London, UK
COLECCIONES RELEVANTES / RELEVANT COLLECTIONS
National Council of Arts, Cuba; Chazen Museum, USA; Minneapolis Art Institute, USA; Jorge Luis Cuevas Museum, Mexico; Lewis & Clark College Collection, USA.; Jorge M. Pérez Collection, USA; Gilbert Bronwstone Collection, France; Nina Menocal Collection, Mexico; Madeleine Plonsker Collection, USA; Casa Cortés Foundation Collection, Puerto Rico; Eduardo Salazar, Colombia; Jorge Rais, Colombia; Harry Woldenberg Collection, Mexico; ArtOnCuba Collection, USA; Cota Cohen Collection, USA , Los Corbonell Collection, Panama-Cuba and MAP Collection, USA