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“Vivimos en un mundo de reproducciones, el original ya no existe.”
(Armando Romero)

In Romero’s work, references to classical culture and the great masters are not about inspiration—they are about quotation. Borrowing becomes a way to create a connection between the present and the past. He deconstructs visual codes by creating distance, desacralizing them to place what once was and what now is on the same level. In this visual poetry, words and everyday objects are blended. The artist is an observer—he arranges and organizes an eclectic world that challenges the viewer by presenting a true visual puzzle.

His favorite theme is the circus—this fantasy world where humans and animals coexist and ultimately merge. Posters from famous 20th-century American circuses serve as the backdrop for his new works, enriched with added objects adhered to the surface and portraits of artists as references (such as Botticelli, Seurat, and Goya). With comic anarchism, he compulsively destroys his own works using scratches, scribbles, and signs of wear—this becomes his signature.

Immersed in Mexico’s art world from a very young age thanks to his father, a sculptor, Armando Romero developed his artistic education at La Esmeralda Art School in Mexico City, where he studied painting, sculpture, and printmaking. A few years later, he began teaching these same disciplines at the same academy. He has exhibited extensively in the United States, Switzerland, and Mexico, consistently showcasing the nonconformist attitude that defines his work.

Curriculum Vitae

Armando Romero

Solo and Group Exhibitions

2009

  • XX Century Parade, Leslie Feely Gallery, New York, NY, USA

  • XX Century Parade, The MAC, Dallas, Texas, USA

  • XX Century Parade, Tasende Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA

2008

  • Alpha Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

  • Fantastic Animals in Danger of Extinction, Galerie Espacio, Morges, Switzerland

2007

  • Los Angeles Art Show, Tasende Gallery, Santa Monica, California, USA

2006

  • Juárez: Variation in Image, National Palace, Mexico City

  • Tasende Gallery, West Hollywood and La Jolla, San Diego, California, USA

  • Arteaméricas, Tasende Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA

  • 20th Century Art, Tasende Gallery, New York, USA

2005

  • Metamorphosis, Metaphors, Mexico, Musée de Pully, Pully, Switzerland

2004

  • Mexican Nature, Museo del Carmen, Mexico City

  • Intermittent Landscape, Graphic Intervention, Museo Nacional de la Estampa, Mexico City

2001

  • Le Manoir de la Ville de Martigny, Martigny, Switzerland

  • Contemporary Art of Mexico, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland

  • EUROP’ART, Basel, Switzerland

  • Casa Colón Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA

2000

  • Kunsthaus Richterswil Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland

  • Espacio Gallery, San Salvador, El Salvador

  • Casa Colón Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA

  • Ramis Barquet Gallery

1999

  • Young Latin American Artists, Pasaje D’Retz, Paris, France

  • EUROP’ART, Basel, Switzerland

1998

  • Mexican Cultural Center, Miami, Florida, USA

  • Casa Colón Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA

  • First International Encounter, Johnnie Walker, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City

  • For the Love of Chiapas, Art Auction, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City

  • FONCA Grantees, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City

  • Small Things, Galerie Espacio, Morges, Switzerland

1997

  • III Monterrey Biennial, Monterrey, N.L., Mexico

  • Alfredo Zalce Biennial, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City

  • Passion in Red, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City

  • Year-End Sale Exhibition, City Bank-City Gold, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City

1996

  • VIII Rufino Tamayo Painting Biennial, Museo Rufino Tamayo / MACO, Oaxaca

  • The Eternal Return, ITAM, Mexico City

  • Casa Colón Gallery, Mérida, Yucatán

1995

  • XV National Young Art Encounter, Instituto Cultural Aguascalientes

  • Masters Exhibition, ENEPG Gallery, La Esmeralda, Mexico City

  • First Toy Art Object Biennial, Museo de la Ciudad de México and Museo José Luis Cuevas

1994

  • World Environment Day, Casa del Lago, Mexico City

  • Masters of ENEPG, La Esmeralda and ENAP, Casa de la Cultura Reyes Heroles, Mexico City

  • VII Rufino Tamayo Painting Biennial, Oaxaca and Mexico City

  • On the Threshold of the 21st Century, National Medical Center, Mexico City

  • Nature and Abstraction, Galería Matos, Mexico City

  • The Gallant Green, Diego Rivera Mural Museum, Mexico City

1993

  • XIII National Young Art Encounter, Centro Cultural Aguascalientes and Museo Carrillo Gil

  • Ecological Week in Mexico City, Claustro de Sor Juana

1992

  • Meeting of Two Worlds, Alliance Française of Mexico and ENEPG Gallery, La Esmeralda

  • Los Arcos Gallery, Cuernavaca, Morelos

  • 1st National Painting Contest on Fabric, INDAR, Pinacoteca 200, Mexico City

  • Distinguished Alumni from La Esmeralda, Instituto Norteamericano de Relaciones Culturales

  • 12 Works on Paper, Pascuale Lanetti Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA

Awards and Honors

  • 2004 – Fellow of the National System of Art Creators (FONCA)

  • 2001 – FONCA Grant & International Studio Program, New York

  • 2001 – Selected for the Alfredo Zalce Third Biennial

  • 2001 – Selected for the V Biennial of Painting, Sculpture, and Printmaking, Monterrey

  • 2000 – Selected for the X Rufino Tamayo Painting Biennial

  • 1998 – Selected to represent Mexico in Emerging Painting of Latin America and the Caribbean, Pasaje D’Retz, Paris

  • 1997 – Selected for Alfredo Zalce Biennial

  • 1996 – Acquisition Prize, VIII Rufino Tamayo Painting Biennial

  • 1996 – FONCA Young Creators Grant in Visual Arts – Painting

  • 1996 – Selected for the III Monterrey Biennial

  • 1995 – Selected for XIV National Young Art Encounter

  • 1995 – Selected for the First Modern Art Biennial

  • 1993 – Acquisition Prize, VII Rufino Tamayo Painting Biennial

  • 1988 – Acquisition Prize, National Visual Arts Contest Cutzamala 88

  • 1988 – Honorable Mention, 25th International Film Showcase

  • 1988 – Included in the National Sculpture Dictionary by Lili Kashner, UNAM

  • 1988 – Acquisition Prize, First National Fabric Painting Contest, INDAR

  • 1998 – Acquisition Prize, IFAL/Alliance Française

  • 1998 – Special Recognition from CONACULTA Director Rafael Tovar y de Teresa

Collections

  • MACO (Museum of Contemporary Art of Oaxaca)

  • United Distillers Group, Mexico City

  • Pintart, S.A. de C.V.

  • Ultra Corporation, Mérida, Yucatán

  • Rototank Group, Spain

  • Autotal Corporation, Mérida, Yucatán

  • Satinera Industry of Yucatán

  • Lodemos y Asociados S.C.P., Mexico City

  • UNI de México, Mérida, Yucatán

  • Casa Colón Gallery, Miami, Florida & Mérida, Yucatán

  • Ditassa, S.A. de C.V., Mexico City

  • Muñoz Arquitectos y Asociados S.C.P.

  • Ferrell Schultz and Fertl P.A., Miami, Florida

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