Alberto Baraya 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.
Read MoreBaraya 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 colonisation. Throughout his travels, the artist collected and catalogued artificial plants, putting into question the tradition of scientific categorisation, 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 was born in 1968 in Bogotá, where he still lives and works. 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.
Text courtesy Galeria Nara Roesler.
