Monica is a visual artist whose work explores ideas of uncertainty and adaptation. She is originally from California, but has lived in Montreal, Amsterdam, London and currently Birmingham, UK. Her experiences of continually starting over have led to a practice which investigates cycles of change.
Monica paints in acrylics, spray paint, inks and dyes, and she also incorporates natural, found and reclaimed material. She embraces accidental and incidental moments in her work and allows herself to be guided by material. There is a fluidity and resilience to Monica’s practice that relies on moments of disruption. She is always seeking the catalyst and has embraced the transformative nature of the elements as potential collaborators. Her sculptures are assembled from found, gifted and repurposed material usually referencing a precarious reconstruction while her paintings respond to circumstance. All things in nature must adapt to the uncontrollable elements forced upon them and Monica seeks to capture that which is on the verge of either renewal or collapse.
EDUCATION
2019 MFA, Slade School of Fine Art, London
2005 BFA, with distinction, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2021
Wild Grapes, Unit 3, London
Ikon for Artists, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham
Colour & Poetry: A Symposium, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL online event and exhibition
Life on Venus, The Tub Hackney, London
2020
ArtWorks Open 2020, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London
RBSA Prize Exhibition 2020, RBSA, Birmingham
Qube Arts Open, Qube Gallery, Oswestry, Shropshire
Solo Exhibition, To the Trees, SUPA Gallery, Birmingham (Online)
The Collector’s Eye, LEMA Mobili, London
Retrograde, The Old Print Works, Birmingham (Postponed)
2019
Studio Visit, No. 20 Arts, London
Orbit UK Art Graduates Show, OXO Bargehouse, London
Limbo, Slade School of Fine Art, London
MFA degree show, Slade School of Fine Art, London
Raw Materials: Plastics, Nunnery Gallery/ Bow Arts, London
Distant Heres, The Stone Space, London
How Are You, Babe?, Blank 100, London
Nomenclature of Colours, Slade Research Centre, London
2018
Dark to Light, 35 Chapel Walk, Sheffield
Sammelwut, Nijmegen
Slade Interim Show, London
Wells Art Contemporary, Wells
Beep Painting Prize, Swansea
Liquitex White Walls Mural, London
The Field, ASC Gallery, London
2017
Thuyskamer, Amsterdam
2015
Solo Exhibition, Rob Radamaker Gallery, Utrecht
ADDITIONAL
2021
Guest Artist/ Workshop Leader, Gallery 37/ Punch Records, Centrala, Birmingham
Adult Creative Workshop, Ikon gallery, Birmingham
Family Saturday art workshop, Ikon gallery, Birmingham (online)
2020
Small Works Art Gallery, London/Birmingham
Materials Club, STEAMhouse, Birmingham
Sporadic Assemblage, ongoing collaboration with Steph Shipley, Birmingham/Lancaster
2019
The Lionel Anthony Charitable Trust Award for Excellence in the Arts, London
Slade Summer School Art Education Residency and Artists’ Talk, London
Raw Materials: PLASTICS, Bow Arts, London
2018
Merzbarn Residency, Lake District
TFAC Residency, The Griffin Gallery, London
2016-2019
Hiraeth Magazine and Podcast, Amsterdam/London
2002
All College Honors Nomination, California College of the Arts, San Francisco
2001
‘Cutting Edge’ Award, James Kaneko Gallery, Sacramento
2000
‘Cutting Edge’ Award, James Kaneko Gallery, Sacramento
BIBLIOGRAPHY
My Life in Trees, Self-published, 2021
SOLACE, zine project by Matthew Magill, September 2020
Moseley B13 Magazine, issue #511, September 2020
Exhibition | Monica Perez Vega: ‘To the Trees,’ Ruth Millington. 25 July 2020
Average Art, Issue #44, March 2020
Chic Chats #27: Monica Perez Vega, Lawfully Chic. 5 Aug. 2019
Raw Materials: PLASTICS, May 2019
WOTISART?, issue #11, Feb. 2018
Novelty Magazine, issue #11, March 2018
Fresh Paint Magazine, issue #9, Oct. 2015
For full CV, please inquire.