Ana Velez PT/ES
“It’s super important, the place where you are in that time, in that moment in time. I think of that statement—I always look at it and I say, maybe I should write something new, but no, it’s what really influences me as an artist and myself as a person.”
Ana Velez was born in Liston [Portugal] in 1982. She currently lives and works between Lisbon and Madrid [Spain].
Portuguese visual artist Ana Velez completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa [Portugal] and the Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino [Italy], in 2007. She went on to study and was awarded a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting at the Faculdade de Belas-Artes da Universidade de Lisboa [Portugal] in 2011.
She has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions at institutional level, and also in collective projects of urban art. She uses drawing as a directional tool, enquiring about its multiple material possibilities, which has led her to develop work in the public space. This work has entailed a series of pictorial interventions on damaged or demolished buildings.
She addresses themes based on the concept of identity, constructed on three ideas: place, memory and body, highlighting place as the container of memory and identity.
She is co-founder and an active member of Vazarte, a multidisciplinary collective dedicated to creating reflective art projects, art spaces and urban art creations. In 2015, she also co-founded Atelier Contencioso with three other artists, with whom she shares a workspace and the authorship of several artistic interventions and public art projects.
Her work is represented by Galeria Belo-Galsterer [Lisbon, Portugal] and Tönnheim Gallery [Madrid, Spain], and held in major private and institutional collections in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Mexico.
Her most significant solo exhibitions include Galeria Belo-Galsterer, Lisbon [2023], Gabinete de dibujos, Valencia [Spain, 2018], Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes, Lisbon [2016], Bloco103 | Contemporary Art, Lisbon [2014], and Galeria Fernando Santos, Oporto [Portugal, 2008].
Her work has been commissioned for significant group exhibitions including Battle Royale, Portugal [2022], Sufoco, Portugal, [2021], 0°20'7"Norte 6°43'5"Este, Portugal, [2020], Off-site, Portugal [2019], Premi de Pintura Internacional Guasch Coranty, Spain [2018], Past | Present | Future, Austria [2017], Périplos - Arte Portugués de Hoy, Spain [2016], Arte Hoje, Portugal [2014], Mostra Jovens Criadores’10, Portugal [2011], and others.
For important biennales such as the Bienal de Cerveira, Portugal [2018, 2017, 2013 and 2011], BIS 7.ª Bienal de São Tomé e Príncipe, Sao Tome and Principe [2013], or the Biennale JCE / Jeune Création Européenne, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Lithuania and France [2011/13].
She was the recipient of an Artist Residency at BIS 7.ª Bienal de São Tomé e Príncipe, Sao Tome and Principe [2013], and at Atelier de la Résidence JCE / Jeune Création Européenne 2011/2013, France [2012].
She was awarded a support from Fundo de Fomento Cultural Ministério da Cultura [Lisboa, 2020], Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Support for Internationalization, Portugal [2013], a Collezione Peggy Guggenheim Internship [Solomon R. Guggenheim, New York], Venice, Italy [2007], amongst others.
Open to:
Interview with Ana Velez: Embracing memory, time, and place as a container for identity.
