Monika Bravo

Born in Colombia in 1964
Lives and works in New York, USA

I examine the notion of perception and question whether the place we live in, is a mental construction. Using my practice as a tool to understand these laws, I challenge the audience’s own perception of what they consider real; generating a platform where they are induced to connect by exploring, interacting and at times by focusing on an objectplace- scene for a duration of time.

I transform space into time-based and at times interactive structures, using the computer as a tool to generate drawings and paintings, since I was trained as a photographer, the medium has evolved from a mechanical process to the intangible zeros & ones. This intangibility incited me to implement an imaginary physical practice of simulated cutting, pasting, superimposing and layering in the production of the works. This is crucial on how I transfer them back into form as I have developed a personal way of mounting, projecting onto mirrors, mylar and slabs of sanded plexiglass.
These surfaces recreate environments that express ideas of mental constructions and reality; such as weaving looms, skylines, aquariums, political borders, labyrinths and oracles (I Ching).
The visual interest to landscape, ranges from the philosophical “Is our experience in the world an illusion?”, to the emotional “when does a space become a place?” I have questioned whether political borders are none other that lines in our imagination. I also use abstract codes like weaving and literary texts as potentiality of form not so much as direct meaning, but as embodiment of the possibilities of the mind and how as an individual I can define my relationship and responsibility to nature.

Solo Exhibitions
2014 – URUMU – curated by Beatriz Lopez, NC-arte, Bogota, Colombia
2013 – Proyectos Individuales: Laboratorium – curated by Jose Roca, ArtBO, Y Gallery.Bogota
2013 – LANDSCAPE_OF_BELIEF – curated by Jeff Lambson, MOA Brigham Young U. Museum of Art, Provo Utah
2005 – NO_NAME: (FREQUENCY + REPETITION) – Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Caja, Burgos, CAB, Spain
2002 – PLAYING_WITH_TIME – Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM

Group Exhibitions
2014 – Waterweavers: The River in Contemporary Visual and Material Culture from Colombia – curated by Jose Roca at Bard Graduate Center NYC
2013 – LOS HABLADORES – (traveling show) curated by Selene Wendt, Gerardo Mosquera, Museo de Arte Banco de la Republica, Bogotá, Colombia
2012 – THE STORYTELLERS – (traveling show) curated by Selene Wendt, Gerardo Mosquera, Stenenser Museum of Oslo, Norway
2012 – TURN AND WIDEN – The 5th Seoul International Media Art Biennale, Seoul Museum of Art
2004 – 11-S – Museo Reina Sofia, curated Paco Barragan, Madrid, Spain
2004 – URBES INTERIORES – curated Jose Roca, Sala de Exposiciones, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia