Juan Bolivar Caracas, Venezuela, b. 1966

Juan Bolivar (b. Caracas, Venezuela 1966) paintings negotiate the tension between meaning and form. The central preoccupation in recent works has been the intertextual merging of references from early European avant-garde (painters like Malevich, Mondrian and Van Doesburg), with popular culture and rock music references (bands like AC/DC, Def Leppard and Thin Lizzy). Both are specialisms in their own right so for example few may have heard of Ivan Kliun, a contemporary of Malevich, or Tygers of Pan Tang, from the ‘new wave’ of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) in the late 1970s.

Bolivar presented his solo exhibition High Voltage at JGM Gallery in 2017. He has twice been a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner award. His works are included in The Government Art Collection, and selected for significant exhibitions such as New British Painting at John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton and East International at Norwich School of Art. His work was included in Nanjing Museum’s first international exhibition of contemporary art where he was a prize winner. Recent projects include a residency at Macro Museum, Rome, and Bauhaus 100: Utopia in Crisis; a group exhibition travelling to Weimer, Germany.