Artmedia Gallery is proud to present Tony Vázquez-Figueroa’s work in his solo exhibition Within the Gaze, based on a series of digital-print montages identically titled. In every montage, the artist applied the strategy of superimposing and blending the front and the back of a page taken from an American illustrated magazine of the mid-20th century. The crossed-gazes constructed in the United States on the local culture and the Venezuelan culture —the latter according to the way it was recreated for American consumers— are the core of each representation. The show also includes some elements such as a light box with original magazine illustrations, a short documentary film and a written postcard both from the 1950s, as well as a set of contemporary printed cards made by the artist and related to the montages. The ensemble contributes to conform a particular art installation.

At the time mentioned above, although mostly considered by foreigners a tropical and exotic destination, Venezuela was also a developing country with an expanding petroleum industry, higher growth rates, and modern urban and architecture renewal programs in several cities, mainly Caracas. The United States was its leading provider of technology and capital for investments. Besides, American qualified professionals and tourists traveled to Venezuela more frequently than ever before. Vázquez-Figueroa explores the peculiar tensions of these economic and political relations displaying a handful of artistic resources and critical discourses.

There is at least a double game of gazes in this exhibition. One, the gaze the attendants direct to works on view. Another, the conflictive ones that, inside these works, occupy the center of the artist’s proposal. In the complex dialogue between the installation and its beholders, the gaze emerges not only as a personal but also as a historical and cultural product.

About the artist

Tony Vázquez-Figueroa (Born in Venezuela and based in Miami, Florida).  He received a broad range of academic training in visual arts in Havana, New York, London and Boston, after working several years at his family advertising agency. His work has been exhibited in group shows since 1998, and individually since 2003. In 2014, Vázquez-Figueroa won the First Prize at the 63rd Annual All Florida Juried Competition and Exhibition, and last year the Rozas-Botran Foundation Latin American Award.

About the curator

José Antonio Navarrete has developed an extended international career as a curator, researcher, and critic of visual arts and culture. His lengthy bibliography focuses on topics of modern and contemporary art, with emphasis on how media technology has affected and transformed art practices. During this decade, he has also exhibited his artistic work.

About the gallery

Artmedia Gallery was founded in 2012. With a location in Wynwood Art District, Miami, Florida, the gallery has the mission to explore the vast possibilities of the expanded notion of art through media technology, with photography and video as its core interest.