Edwin Monsalve
Medellín, Colombia, 1984.
Lives and Works in Medellín , Antioquia.
He studied Visual Arts at the University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
His work has an initial reference in the Botanical Expedition of 1808 directed by the Spanish scientist José Celestino Mutis in Colombia. Monsalve constantly reflects on man's influence on the environment, the study and cataloguing of botanical species and the effects caused by the overexploitation of natural resources in the Colombian jungle.
In his work the resemblance between the real and the simulated becomes a wink to the spectator to destabilize the recognizable rather than to reaffirm what has been known as traditional in the realisms and new-realisms that have emerged throughout history. The use of vegetable and mineral materials such as coal and oil is a constant in his work as well as raw materials such as gold, silver and copper to which the artist gives new readings and meanings beyond their industrial and commercial uses.
Edwin Monsalve is awarded the EFG Collection/ARTNexus prize to the young Latin American artist 2017 and prize at the IV Bienal Alzate Avendaño de Bogotá, 2016. His work is represented in collections such as the Museo de Antioquia, Colombia; the Suramericana de Seguros, Bogotá, Colombia; EFG Bank, Miami, and in numerous international private collections.