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Artworks
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Biography
Miguel Arzabe makes vibrant abstract paintings in oil and acrylic. They take visual cues from indigenous weavings of the Americas and modernist painting. His process proceeds through actions borrowed from the history of abstract expressionism - paint is poured, smeared, pressed, pooled, pulled, sprayed, wiped, brushed. There is a tension between control and chance mark making. Crisscrossing swaths of parallel strips are applied to the support during the process of building up layers, masking certain areas and echoing the form of the weave.
In tandem with painting, Arzabe works across other media, such as video and paper weaving. Ideas migrate and overlap freely between the subjective realm of painting and other conceptual modes of making. The work as a whole addresses issues of agency, progress, how value is created, and existential conundrums. "Arzabe draws all these and more allusive threads together into a raggedy but visually arresting fabric." - Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
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CV
Download Arzabe CVLives and works in San Francisco, CA
EDUCATION
MFA, University of California, Berkeley, CA
MS, Environmental Fluid Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PASELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Animales Familiares, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2021
Tejido Cultural, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles
Cóndor de Cuatro Cabezas, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2017
Weavings, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
Videos, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
2016
Cultural Fabric, DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA
I Can’t Make It by Myself, Recology, San Francisco, CA
2015
Las Cosas que Pintan / Painting in an Expansive Field, Verge Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2014
/*Reject Algorithms*/, Cult Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
Sightlines, StoreFrontLab, San Francisco, CA
2013
El otoño mío es tu primavera, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
2011
falling in, curated by Bruno Mauro, Ampersand International Arts, San Francisco, CASELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Future Fair, Johansson Projects, New York, NY
Á Pleins Poumons, Fondation Bullukian, Lyon, France
Cumbi, Tucson Art Museum, Tucson, AZ
2022
Follow the String, Marin MOCA, Marin, CA
Tikkun, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
Resonance of Place, CCA Wattis Institute, San Francisco, CA
2021
Festival Sillon / Itinéraire Art Drôme, Annecy, France
Community Garden, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
After the Fire, Round Weather, Berkeley, CA
Once Removed, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2020
Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, Gongiu, South Korea
Works on Water Triennial, Governor’s Island, NY
In This Light, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Bay Area Visual Artist Exhibition Production Relief Grant, Ever Gold[Projects], San Francisco, CA 2019
Resonance: Lyon Biennal, Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon, France
de.Payser, L’arteppes/Mikado, Annecy, France
Teatro dei Fauni, Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland
Nocturnes, Images Passages, Annecy, France
BelVedere, MARS, Milan, Italy
Special Projects, Untitled Art Fair, San Francisco, CA
Deviate/Landscape, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA
Trove, San Marco Gallery, Dominican University, San Rafael, CA
2018
Recontres Internationales, Paris/Berlin Billboard Creative, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Mystery Theater Sports Bar, Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK
VIGOROUS, Minimicro Cinema, Cincinnati, OH
2016
Perhaps We Could Chat Trough a Few Specifics, FIFI Projects, Mexico City, Mexico
Open Studio of Alejandro Almanza Pereda, Mexico City, Mexico
I Never Learned the Title of the Song I Always Sing, Minnesota St Projects, San Francisco, CA
2015
Artist-Run, The Satellite Show, North Beach, Miami, FL
Miami Mayhem, Cult Exhibitions Off-site, South Beach, FL
Carry On, The Red Tree House, Mexico City, Mexico
Caprichos Anatomicos, Works, San Jose, CA
Indigo Mind, StoreFront Lab, San Francisco, CA
The Possibilities of Paper, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA
2014
Above/Below, curated by Danielle Rante, Wright State University, Dayton, OH
Art Market Art Fair, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
Fun and Games, Montalvo Art Center, Saratoga, CA
2013
Unseen, Cult Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
Sea Stories Between the Tides, curated by Amir Mortazavi, Highlight Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Featured Alumna, curated by Ryan Pierce, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Thinking Like the Universe, curated by Aimee Friberg, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco, CA and Hatch Gallery, Oakland, CA
Out the Window Project, LA Freewaves, Los Angeles, CA
Wood Anniversary, curated by Terri Hopkins, Marylhurst University, Portland, OR
Conversation Continuum, Martina }{ Johnston, Berkeley, CA
2012
Hors Pistes 2012, curated by Géraldine Gomez, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
I am Crime, SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
Random Acts, curated by William Moreno, OCCCA, Orange County, CA
Traps, curated by Jared Dyer, Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA
Where the Western Wind Blows, curated by Amanda Mayo, Rock Bar, San Francisco, CA
Pods, Contraptions & Relics, curated by Brian Karl, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Open Studios, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM
2011
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Montréal, Canada
Summer Drift, Rm Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Hors Pistes 2011, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Darkness and Light, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Leyendas, 35mm Ciné Café, Cochabamba, Bolivia
Walking on Thin Ice, Ampersand International, San Francisco, CA
2010
The More Things Change: Shadow Shop, SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA
The farther away the better I see you, Painting Salon, San Francisco, CA
Fall Open House, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
No Right Angles, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
2009
Passive/Aggressive, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Soccer in the Gallery, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Immediate Future, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
LAND/ART, The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, courtesy of Richard Levy
Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
John Muir Text Messages, The Great Wall, Oakland, CA
Free Time, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2008
Naturations, Ego Park Gallery, Oakland, CARESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2023
Sam and Adele Golden Foundation
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
2022
Golden Foundation Artist in Residence Award, New Berlin, NY
San Francisco Bay Area Artadia Award
New American Paintings, Pacific Coast Edition
Millay Arts Residency
2021
Public Art Commission: California Natural Resource Agency, Sacramento, CA
Public Art Commission: Children’s Medical Center, Omaha, NE
2019
Public Art Commission: SF COUNTS 2020 Census
Public Art Commission: CBRE Oakland Headquarters
Public Art Commission: San Francisco International Airport Hyatt Hotel
Public Art Commission: Making Waves Academy, Richmond, CA
2018
Public Art Commission: San Francisco Arts Commission Poster Series
Lucid Art Foundation Artist in Residence
2017
Facebook Artist in Residence
2016
Recology Artist in Residence
DeYoung Museum Studio Program
2015
Kala Art Institute Residency
Project 387 Artist Residency
Bayview Artist Residency
2014
University of Georgia Athens - Foundations Visiting Artist
2013
Montalvo Art Center Irvine Fellowship
2012
Vermont Studio Center Full Fellowship
Signal Fire Residency, Oregon
Santa Fe Art Institute Residency
Philadelphia Art Hotel Residency
2011
Don Blanche Residency, Ontario, Canada
2010
Headlands Center for the Arts Graduate Fellowship
Harry Ford Lord Fine Arts Award
UC Berkeley CRG Arts Grant
2009
Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship in the Fine Arts
2008
UC Berkeley Graduate Fellowship
2006
Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, WYCOLLECTIONS
deYoung Museum, San Francisco,
California Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida
Facebook, Inc.
YouTube, Inc.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
University of California San Francisco Hospital
CBRE, Inc.
Anne and Paul Wattis
Robert and Elaine Stein Gallery, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
Albuquerque Museum of Art and History
Oakland Museum of California
San Francisco Arts Commission
Making Waves Academy, Richmond, CA
County of Alameda
kW Engineering, Inc.
Stranger & Stranger, Inc.
Various private collectionsPRESS AND PUBLICATIONS
2020
Artist Interviews, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts
The Racket Journal : Issue 19
Leaf Litter No. 8, Signal Fire Arts
2019
Commissioned artwork printed for Headlands Center for the Arts year-end fund drive mailer 2018
Dan la baie, artistes cherchent studio désespérément, Olga Yurkina, Le Temps
Weaving the present fight with past, Ryan Kost, San Francisco Chronicle
Illustration featured in the Guardian, U.S. Edition
2016
Dedicated Space, by Alisa Carroll, photographs by Daniel Dent, San Francisco Cottages and Gardens
Leaf Litter #6, Iron Point Press
Interviewed on Full Circle, KPFA 94.1 FM Berkeley, CA
2015
The Anti-Fair: Artist-Run Miami Beach, review by Cara Ober, BmoreArt.com
Artist’s unusual work redefines painting in ‘Las Cosas Que Pintan’, review by Victoria Dalkey, Sacramento Bee
2014
Arzabe at Cult by appointment, but hurry, review by Kenneth Baker, Arts and Not, SFGate.com
Two Solo Shows in SF, review by Leora Lutz, WhiteHot Magazine of Contemporary Art
Miguel Arzabe /*Reject Algorithms*/, edited by Bonnie Begusch, Carets and Sticks
In Conversation: “/*Reject Algorithms*/”, SFAQ online
Cult objects, by Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Experience landscape in a different way, article by Pam Dillon, Dayton Daily News
2013
Interviewed on Art Beat, Talk Radio AM 1260 Santa Fe, NM
The Art of Miguel Arzabe, article by Michael Abatemarco, Santa Fe New Mexican
Random Acts, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art
Cover Image for White Spaces, Black Faces, University of North Carolina Press
2011
Photography published in Canadian art quarterly cmagazine issue 112
Falling In, essay by Bonnie Begusch, published by Ampersand International Arts
"Thin Ice" at Ampersand, review by Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
Writing included in Pawel Kruk performance document published by Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam NL
2009
Land/Art New Mexico, Radius Books
2008
Post-Apocalypse Now, review by Dewitt Cheng, East Bay Express
2006
I don’t see any cowboys downtown, Albuquerque Alibi
