Simón Vega (1972) creates drawings, ephemeral sculptures and installations inspired in the informal, self made architecture and vendor carts found in the streets and marginal zones of Central America. These works, assembled with wood, cardboard, plastic and found materials often parody famous Modernist and mythological buildings and cities, surveillance systems as well as high-tech robots and satellites developed by NASA and the Soviet Space Program during the Cold War, creating an ironic and humorous fusion between first and third world, while commenting on the political and socio-cultural effects of that conflict in today’s Central America.
Born in San Salvador, El Salvador in 1972, Simon Vega graduated in Fine Arts at the University of Veracruz in Mexico in 2000 and received a Master´s degree in Contemporary Arts from the Complutense University in Madrid in 2006.
Growing up in El Salvador in the late 70s and early 80s, Simon Vega witnessed The Cold War in a period when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union were competing for influence in Central America, among the poverty-stricken nations. These early memories have greatly shaped the artist’s view and approach to the world of contemporary art.
He has exhibited his work extensively in Europe, the United States and Latin America, including the 55th Venice Biennial in Italy, the 24th Paiz Art Biennial Guatelama, the IX Havana Biennial, in Cuba, the Museo del Barrio’s “The S-Files” show in New York in 2011 and at the Bronx River Art Center in 2008, both in New York City, as well as at the Hilger BROT Kunsthalle in Vienna, Austria (2010 & 2012).