2024 MFA THESIS EXHIBITION
edgard camacho

JANUARY 11 - FEBRUARY 23, 2024

The surface of the recent 3D forms I have been creating are an invitation to activate curiosity. Those physical objects resemble animals, creatures that existed or will exist. Intuitively I make marks over clay: Sharped edges, cracks, teared pieces, blisters, incisions, blown pieces, hair like and scalped textures are elements I used to invite the audience in, but also suggesting caution. I believe natural geological processes like erosion and sedimentation in clay provide me the platform to explore the past, present and future engrained in the history of the material. 

The juxtaposition of forces and energies are likely rooted in my personal history of deep contrast: Venezuela vs. United States, political turmoil vs. democracy, citizen vs. alien, minority vs. majority, engineer vs. artist; I am all of these things depending on where I am standing. In the same way, the characters in my visual language take on new identities in different contexts. I now find myself working as a translator as I bring the language to life in 3D form. 

Edgard Camacho was born in Venezuela in 1979. Since an early age he developed an interest in figurative art and The Latin New Figuration, although he did not officially begin his art career until his early twenties.

He rapidly became part of the list of “Best Upcoming Contemporary Artists” by the National Culture Center in Venezuela, a recognition that helped him to show nationally and internationally. In 2004 he was forced to move to United States of America and later relocated to Fairfield, Iowa in 2012. He earned a BFA from Maharishi University of Management in 2015 under the advisory of artist Jim Shrosbree. Learning Transcendental Meditation turned Camacho`s figurative art approaches into abstractions: He switched from forms into shapes and from backgrounds into planes.

The Venezuelan artist moves around these two constant elements to understand dimension and space, not only to do paintings, but “Visual investigations”