Gonzalo Fuenmayor
Barranquilla, Colombia, 1977
Lives and works in Miami , USA
Gonzalo Fuenmayor's work reflects the double cultural influence that has inexorably marked his artistic practice: Hispanic and North American. His childhood and youth took place in one of the cities that most appropriately embodies the essence of the Caribbean city (Barranquilla, Colombia) and his professional activity has developed in the United States, where he currently lives and works. Fuenmayor's work questions the notions of Caribbean identity as a brand and the stereotypes that this concept has generated through images that, by force of being repeated by advertising, have become local symbols such as bananas, toucans, pineapples and palm trees. In his dark backgrounds, intensely worked with charcoal, the artist represents that series of objects that transformed into "visual grafts" offer new readings and reflections on identity, the perception of the other and national culture in a globalized world.
Gonzalo Fuenmayor holds an MFA, Masters in Fine Arts from Boston University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York. His work is part of the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation, Bogotá; the Jorge&Darlene Pérez Collection in Miami and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (MAMBO), among others.