Biography

Alberto Baraya (b. 1968, Bogota, Colombia) is best known for his multimedia production, which includes installation, drawing, photography, sculpture and video. He began his career creating ironic self-portraits from appropriated iconic paintings or by forging  provocative scenarios . In 2003 he initiated the the on-going series Herbário de plantas artificiales, in which he delved into and critiqued the practices of 17th and 18th-century European travellers.

 

Baraya undertakes  the role of the traveller, replicating the tradition of botanical and anthropological expeditions that were carried out in Europe in the name of science and colonization. Throughout his travels, the artist collected and catalogued artificial plants, putting into question the tradition of scientific categorization, taxonomy and the Western fascination for, or perhaps mystification of its colonies. The artist creates parodies of colonial explorations, using plastic plants or global market ‘residues’ as a means of pointing out their repercussion on today's global affairs.

 

Alberto Baraya lives and works in Bogota, Colombia. Among his recent solo shows, we  can highlight: Expedición siciliana, at Galería Fernando Pradilla (2019), in Madrid, Spain; Alberto Baraya – Estudios comparados de paisaje, at Espacio Odeón (2017), in Bogotá, Colombia; Ornitologia Bolivariana – La fábula de los pájaros, at Museo Quinta de Bolívar (2015), in Bogotá, Colombia; Expedición México, at Galería Proyecto Paralelo (2014), in Mexico City, Mexico. His works featured in recent group shows: Manifesta 12 Palermo – The European Nomadic Biennial: The Planetary Garden. Cultivating Coexistence, Palermo, Italy (2018); Flora, at Stavanger Kunstmuseum (MUST) (2019), in Stavanger, Norway; Modern Nature, at Drawing Room (2019), in London, UK; Le bruit des choses qui tombent, at Frac Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (FRAC PACA) (2017), in Marselha, France; Botany Under Influence, at apexart (2016), in New York, USA; and Naturaleza nominal, at Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M) (2015), at Madrid, Spain. His works are included in important collections, such as: Collection Pierre Huber Video and Films, Geneva, Switzerland; Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), University of Essex, Colchester, UK;Museo de Arte de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia;Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, USA.

Exhibitions

News

Press

  • manifesta 12, palermo Download

    manifesta 12, palermo

    Barbara Casavecchia, Art Agenda 20.6.2018
  • natureza fabricada Download

    natureza fabricada

    Paula Alzugaray, seLecT 13.6.2018
  • exposição divulga biodiversidade da amazônia com ciência e arte Download

    exposição divulga biodiversidade da amazônia com ciência e arte

    Simone de Marco, Diário Oficial 12.6.2018
  • natureza fabricada Download

    natureza fabricada

    Paula Alzugaray, ISTOÉ Independente 8.6.2018
  • que país é esse? Download

    que país é esse?

    Beta Germano, Casa Vogue 18.3.2018
  • alberto baraya et son paradis végétal artificiel Download

    alberto baraya et son paradis végétal artificiel

    Emmanuelle Jardonnet, Le Monde 18.8.2017
  • an exhibition examines how plant taxonomies influenced world history Download

    an exhibition examines how plant taxonomies influenced world history

    Monica Uszerowicz, Artsy 31.8.2016
  • botanique sous influence Download

    botanique sous influence

    Clelia Coussonnet, Diptyk 3.2.2016
  • even utopian citizens like to leave the house Download

    even utopian citizens like to leave the house

    Holland Cotter, The New York Times 24.6.2014
  • 8th berlin biennale curator on berlin contemporary art and gentrification Download

    8th berlin biennale curator on berlin contemporary art and gentrification

    Stephen Truax, Hyperallergic 28.5.2014
  • alberto baraya at the frost art museum, miami Download

    alberto baraya at the frost art museum, miami

    arte al día 5.1.2014
  • falsos testemunhos de lugares reais ou vice-versa Download

    falsos testemunhos de lugares reais ou vice-versa

    Ana Maria Maia, seLecT 23.7.2013
  • a jornada do artista expedicionário Download

    a jornada do artista expedicionário

    Flávia Ragazzo, Avianca em Revista 13.7.2013
  • brasil, india y colombia ganan bienal Download

    brasil, india y colombia ganan bienal

    ElTiempo 11.12.2011
  • o mundo classificado Download

    o mundo classificado

    Paula Alzugaray, ISTOÉ 31.3.2010

Video

Critical Essays

  • estudios comparados de paisaje

    pedro corrêa do lago
    The series Expedición Rio, part of the project Estudos Comparados de Paisaje (1998–2018) by Alberto Baraya, offers a rare opportunity for observing the direct relationship between the work of the traveling artists who portrayed Rio de Janeiro’s landscape in the 19th century and the recent work of a notable contemporary artist. Even though he is Colombian, Alberto Baraya clearly drank from the well of the great landscape artists active in Brazil, since at times it seems that the background in his paintings are verbatim transpositions of landscapes by the traveling artists, but with the addition of nearly mythical animals, totally unexpected in this context. Actually, despite the obvious kinship with the work of those 19th-century artists, the similarity lies not in the simple repetition, but in the same posture that Baraya assumes while registering Rio de Janeiro’s incomparable landscape, with the aim of incorporating it as a backdrop of his fabulous interventions. Alberto Baraya’s treatment of the landscape arises from the same enraptured contemplation of the landscape that...