Leonardo Vargas

Graduated with a master's degree in Fine Arts from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht in the Netherlands and a specialization program in history and theory of modern and contemporary art. Based in Strasbourg, where he has been developing his artistic practice since 2016.

The work of Leonardo Vargas focuses on painting as a process of transformation. He often works with found images from various sources such as the canon of art history, photographic archives, fashion magazines, or advertising.

Through his work, Vargas launches a visual inquiry into the nature of the images and what they represent. He seeks to establish links with images found on different media. He aims to expand the poetic possibilities of the image to empower a visual experience focused on the field of sensation. Thus, the relationship with the image would go beyond its utilitarian approach to surpass simple consumption which is often accompanied by the act of swiping visual content on a screen.

In this way, his work explores the possibilities of paint as an agent of visual transformation. By establishing a dialogue between the mediatized image and painting, he confronts "the technical outcome that derealizes these images... to find the human right ...

- Master of Arts in Fine Arts. Hogeschool voor der Kunsten Utrecht/Utrecht School of the Arts. Utrecht, The Netherlands.

- Specialization in History and theory of modern and contemporary Art. University of the Andes. Bogotá.

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS / EXPOSITIONS INDIVIDUELLES :

“Pop-up Galeries” Fondation Fernet Branca. Exposition individuelle présentée par la Galerie Bertrand Gillig au sein de “Pop-Up Galeries” (Fondation Fernet Branca, Saint Louis, France. Mars 2022)

“Chanson d’automne : Peintures (in)connues”. Galerie Bertrand Gillig. (Strasbourg, France. Octobre 2021)

“Leonardo Vargas / Peintures”. Galerie Bertrand Hassoun. (Besançon, France. Juin 2019)

” Portraits ” (Exhibition “au CubeExpo”, Permanence du Député Sylvain Waserman, Vice-président de l’Assemblée Nationale française, en collaboration avec la Galerie Bertrand Gillig. Strasbourg, France, Avril 2019)

” On The Walls” (NDSM Treehouse. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. July 2011)

“They have a rotating cap and permanent body” (Kinderdijk Project. Nieuw-Lekkerland, The Netherlands. April 2011)

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