Verónica Peña

“…In a similar obliquely Spanish vein, Verónica Peña mortifies her flesh, like a self-martyred saint, wrapping her body in bandages to suggest her wounded, not to say mentally-disturbed self – the Spanish saints were experts in suffering and self-denial, as St. Teresa and St John of the Cross famously made clear. Her attempt to heal herself is not exactly successful, for we see her floating, Ofelia-like, in the East River, apparently a suicide sanctified by the Gothic arches of the Brooklyn bridge above her…”

Donald Kuspit
about my work “Healing Time”.
The Gabarron Foundation at the Armory Show 2010 catalog.

Harmony and peace are endless human endeavors. I am an interdisciplinary artist. My current practice mixes performance art, painting, sculpture, and installation. My work tries to attain harmony and peace through achieving communion with other human beings, either present or absent. My performances involve very slow motions and having the body fully covered by some type of material. Thus, my performances naturally force the body to be still. This stillness is a natural bodily way of achieving harmony and peace. Since achieving communion is an important part of my work, audience participation, either active or...

Veronica Pena is an interdisciplinary artist from Spain currently living and working in the United States. Pena earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in the specialties of Drawing and Painting at The Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain. She earned her Master of Fine Arts at Stony Brook University, New York, focusing on installation and performance art.

EDUCATION

2009 Master of Fine Arts ( M. F. A. )
( 2006 - 2009 ) Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
art.stonybrook.edu

2005 Studio Art
( 2004 - 2005 ) Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA

2003 Bachelor of Fine Arts ( B. F. A. )
( 2002 - 2003 ) Accademia Albertina Di Belle Arti Di Torino, Torino, Italy
( 1998 - 2002 ) Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain
upv.es

1998 Studio Art
( 1991 - 1998 ) Taller de Demetrio Navaridas, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain

COMPLEMENTARY EDUCATION

2015
Workshop Symmetry and Suspension: Options for a Performing Body with Tony Orrico
Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
Sep 28 - Oct 02 / 2015
dfbrl8r.org

2014
Workshop Tiempo - Cuerpo - Espacio with Nieves Correa y Abel Loureda
MatsuCreación, Madrid, Spain
Aug / 21 - 24 / 2014
matsuestudio.com

2005
Photography a...

Pena's work has been exhibited in Spain, Italy, South Korea, and the United States. In New York, her work has been featured in "Without Name" at The Lab Gallery, in "Spain Art Fest' 10" at Times Square (Times Square Alliance), in "Spain In The City" at the Armory Show 2010 (Gabarron Foundation), in the "13th DUMBO Arts Festival" at the DUMBO Arts Center, and numerous not-for-profit galleries. In Spain, her work has been exhibited at Casa de America (Madrid), Fundacion Antonio Saura (Cuenca), Museo Orus (Zaragoza), and Fundacion Caja Rioja (La Rioja). She has been a recipient of the Socrates-Erasmus Grant, the Juan Genoves Universidad Complutense de Madrid Fellowship, and a candidate for the Dedalus Foundation Grant. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at Vermont Studio Center (Vermont, USA). www.veronicapena.com

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017
The Substance of Unity
Tippecanoe Arts Federation, Lafayette, IN
Aug / 30 / 2017 - Sep / 29 / 2017

2015
Siete Años Después De Recoger Sus Dientes (Seven Years After I Collected His Teeth)
La Gota de Leche, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain
03 / 17 - 30 / 2015

2011
In My Bedroom
Oasis Gallery, Marquette, MI

2010
Sin Nombre ( Without Name )
The Lab (For Installation + Performance Art), NY...