Ramon Vega Solos at Invisible NYC

Thursday, 11 January 2007 09:11

New York City - Invisible NYC is proud to host a solo-exhibit of recent works by artist, Ramon Vega.  Mr. Vega, was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York City at the age of 9.  He graduated with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2006 and has participated in exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Vega’s work focuses on widely-varied ornamental and architectural structures that emerge from consumer spectacles, specifically, sports and fashion. He meticulously selects and extracts these found images from their original setting, re-contextualizing the architectural space.  For example, in Free Fall (2006), a gymnast extracted from her floor exercise aimlessly descends, or perhaps ascends, within a wide minimalist expanse losing her grasp on her expected victory.  In other work, Mr. Vega uses his found images to create a series of “frames” and patterns of interlocking, overlapping, and at times combative figures.  In particular, these “frames”, have become metaphors for the presence and absence that is left as the models and athletes are pushed to the perimeter.  Their idealized bodies reference the space of their failed triumph and the anonymity of the subject is further heightened by their replication.  At times, compositions create an all-over effect and suggest the structural composition of DNA, and yet at closer look are in fact strategically placed Andy Roddick’s in full serve, dancing and fighting with each other (or himself).  In describing his work, Mr. Vega states:

• On a daily basis, I consume hundreds of images from television, film, and magazines to pop up’s on my computer which hail me in very specific ways.  In my work, I describe the replication of images and the traces left after the image is lodged into my mind.

These reappropriated and dizzying examples of popular iconography and consumerism are dissimilar from advertising in that the work doesn't seek to sell an image but in its structure alludes to the way that the system of dealings operates.  Nothing is being sold in these pieces except the simple description of surface and artifice.  The result is a simulation of the transactions that provide all of us with a sense of access to an unattainable cultural identity.  The overall visual effect is a stunning installation of color and pattern using familiar images in unexpectedly new compositions.