Studio Gallery
Visual artist Rafael E. Vera will be in residence at the Tarble Arts Center from February 14–26, turning one of the Tarble galleries into an active studio. Along with students from EIU’s Department of Art + Design, Vera will be present and working during museum open hours from February 14–18, creating an exhibition that will open in the same space on February 25. This residency will offer visitors an unprecedented glimpse into site-responsive studio practice, how installation art is conceptualized and made, and the importance of teaching, learning, and collaboration within Vera’s larger art practice.
Rafael E. Vera received his BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was a recipient of the Edward L. Ryerson Fellowship Award and the George L. and Roman Siegel Fellowship Award. In 2013 he received the 3Arts Ragdale Residency Fellowship. He currently teaches Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking at Loyola University Chicago. Recent exhibitions, curatorial projects, and publications include New American Paintings, issue 107; the 23rd Evanston and Vicinity Biennial, where he received the 2017 Exhibition Award; the LA Art Show 2016 and 2018; Transient Visitant (with marimba, clarinets, body and chair) in collaboration with composer Victor Marquez-Barrios, Truman State University, Missouri; Present Standard, Chicago Cultural Center; Bad Editions (1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition), Ralph Arnold Gallery, NEIU Art Gallery and Arrowhead Gallery, Illinois; Mutual Dealings, Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago; and The Moments Between: New Work by Rafael E. Vera, Averill and Bernard Leviton A+D Gallery, Chicago. Vera was born and raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and presently lives with his wife and two kids in the city of Chicago.
