Humberto Vélez
Friend of the Collective
Humberto Vélez
Humberto Vélez’s work actively explores the possibilities of working in collaboration with different groups (artists and handcrafters, special communities, athletes, musicians and groups conformed especially for the project), in different places and cultures. The artistic projects are conceived from what he calls “the ability to create esthetics” of, for, and with these groups, according to their different lifestyles, thereby managing different concepts and expressions of popular culture, power, and ethics. The human relations on which Vélez constructs his creative processes are as important as the final project. In his work, as it was described by curator Gerardo Mosquera, “the community should be an active agent” at the same time as his art also “interweaves personal memories, dreams, visions, and the determination of pretending to invent new worlds.” For this, the artist works with diverse media, ranging from the popular to the high-tech, from the traditional to the contemporary (8th Bienal de Arte Panama, 2008).
Humberto Vélez studied law and political sciences in the University of Panama and was awarded a scholarship from The Foundation of Latin American Cinema for studying Filmmaking and TV in the International School of Cinema of San Antonio de Los Baños, Cuba, funded by Gabriel García Márquez.
He has been an artist in residence in Vienna (1998, Ministry of Foreigner Affairs), London (2001,Triangle Arts Trust-Gasworks), Sheffield (2007,Yorkshire ArtSpace) and Toronto (2009,York Gallery University). In 2010 he is been invited to be artist in residence at METAL Art Foundation in London Southend.
Born in Panama in 1965, Humberto Vélez lives and works between London and Rio de Janeiro as an artist, art teacher, independent filmmaker, and a culture and arts projects producer. His present art projects include: an invitation to create public art projects in 2010 for the Pompidou Centre; for the V Congress of the Spanish Language in Valparaiso, Chile ; and for the York University Gallery in Toronto. He has been commissioned for the DAROS-Latinamerica Foundation to create a performance for the opening of CASA DAROS, a new art centre for Latin American arts in Rio de Janeiro in 2011.
