BIOGRAPHY
Brightly colored, glossy ovals and stripes of acrylic paint dazzle viewers of Omar Chacon’s artwork. Built layer upon layer, the drips and dots are a rainbow of colors and each individual oval shape is a unique composition that contributes to the work as a whole. At the start of each painting, thousands of acrylic ovals or drips are prepared, then peeled and collaged onto canvas. Taking advantage of the synthetic qualities of acrylic – its bright, slick sheen, and pliability, Chacon’s surfaces glisten with exuberant color, projecting a spirit of optimism with a nod to discovery, both in everyday life and in the surprising details of each painting.
Born in Bogota, Colombia, Omar Chacon received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, CA and his BFA from the Ringling School of Art and Design, FL . In 2009, Chacon was selected as part of the Queens International Four during the 2009 Biennial at the Queens Museum of Art, New York. Chacon is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2007 William and Dorothy Yeck Award through the Miami University National Young Painters Competition and a 2008 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. His paintings have been reviewed in Art & Antiques, Artnet, and Artweek Magazine, among others.
_____
Born in Bogotá, Colombia
Lives and works in Astoria, New York
EDUCATION
2004
MFA, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2002
BFA, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Fluid Borders, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Las Mesalinas y Otros Ensayos, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2013
Ensayos, Fouladi Projects, San Francisco, CA
2012
Bacanales Tropicales, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2011
Bacanaria Tropical, Magrorocca Gallery, Milan, IT
2010
Bacanales, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Pictures at an Exhibition, Lincart, San Francisco, CA
2009
Sancocho Vitae “Tata” Greene Contemporary, New York, NY
2008
Mostra Personale, Magrorocca, Milan, Italy
Sancochos a la Cimabue, Bronx River Art Center, Bronx, NY
2007
New Works, Lincart, San Francisco, CA
Busy at War and Love (with Jose Sarinana), Greene Contemporary, Sarasota, FL
2005
New Works, Lincart, San Francisco, CA
2004
The Unified South Part 1 (Venezuela, Ecuador, Uruguay), Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
New Works, Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford, CA
Glass Dots and Stripes (with Verena Schatz), Brunnhofer Gallery, Linz, Austria
Pixelated: Sum of its Pieces, Children's Museum of the Arts, New York, NY
2014
Turn Up the Heat, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Discernable Regularities, Collar Works Gallery, Troy, NY
2013
Catch as Catch Can, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2012
Yi, Dos, Drei, Four, Fouladi Projects, San Francisco, CA
Today’s Visual Language: Southern Abstraction, a Fresh Look, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
2011
The Working Title, Bronx River Art Center, NY
w h i t e-h o t, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2010
Stratigraphic, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, CA
2009
Sunny Side Up, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
Material Color, Hunterdon County Art Museum, Clinton, NJ
Rolling and Ruling, Sabina Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Queens Museum of Art, New York
Sancochos Casiquenos a la Cimabue, Heistand Galleries, Miami University, Oxford, OH
Albright Knox Collector’s Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2007
Assemblage, Greene Contemporary, Sarasota, FL
Miami University Young Painters Exhibition, Heistand Galleries,
Miami University, Oxford OH
2006
Uneasy Marriage, Motel Gallery, Portland, OR
2005
Painting in the '00's, Freefall, Online exhibition
Ad Infinitum: The Aesthetics of Repetition II, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, CA
First Class, Lincart at Post Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Macomexico Arte Contemporaneo, Lincart, Mexico Lindo
Close Calls, Headlands Center For The Arts, Sausalito, CA
2004
CREAM from the top, Arts Benicia Center Gallery, Benicia, CA
# 1 The South, Ft Mason MFA Exhibit at Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco, CA
505 Sansome Trans-American Tower Project, Trans-American Pyramid, San Francisco, CA
2003
Glad to be Unhappy, The Tahoe Gallery, Sierra, NV
AWARDS
2008
NYFA Artist Fellowship, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York, NY
2007
The Miami University National Young Painters Competition for the William and Dorothy Yeck Award, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, Juror: Jerry Saltz, Village Voice
2005
SECA Award Nominee, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2004
Tournesol Award and Residency Finalist, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
MFA Studio Award Nominee, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2002
Merit Scholarship and Grant, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
Teaching Assistantship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC
Jurors' Award, Best of Ringling, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
Public Commissions
2017
NYU Langone Art Program and Collection
Download Complete CV (PDF)