Guadalajara, Mexico, 1974
Lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Jose Dávila’s work, nurtured by his architecture formation, makes constant reflections on modern architecture and urbanism, contemporary art, its forecasts and failures. With references such as architectural utopias or milestones in twentieth century art, Dávila approaches the vital contradictions between form and function. His hybrid structures can become cold or warm, light and heavy, producing signs of functionality, which are impossible to discern, and whose meaning varies between architecture and art.
Humor, melancholy and a sense of loss are notions expressed by the artist through elemental forms and materials, referencing the work of key artists and architects in the history of art. By appropriating the series “Homage to the Square” by Josef Albers, Donald Judd’s “stacks”, or cutting out the figure of Yves Klein jumping to the void or Piero Manzoni signing the back of one his “living sculptures”, Dávila reflects on the definition of conceptual art that states that it is the content and not the form what gives importance and meaning to a work of art.
1993-1998
Architecture School, ITESO University, Guadalajara, Mexico
1993
Sculpture, Fine Arts Academy of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
2022
Grava Suelta, OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
Memory of a Telluric Movement, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich, Switzerland
The fact of Constantly returning to the same point or situation, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021
Las Piedras Saben Esperar, Centro Internazionale di Scultura, Peccia, Switzerland
The Circularity of Desire, Sean Kelly, New York, USA
2020
El primer fuego, Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, Mexico
Directional Energies, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA
2019
Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
Koenig Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Sueño autosuficiente, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City
2018
A Simple Rule to Remember, Franz Josef Kai, Vienna
Not all those who wander are lost, Travesía Cuatro, Madrid
Non tutti quelli che vagano sono persi, Museo del Novecento, Florence
Somewhere Behind the Eyes, Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, Germany
The Body is Lost Outside, Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
Newton’s Fault, Galerie König, Berlin, Germany
Mecánica de lo inestable, OMR, Mexico City
2017
Sense of Place, LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, Los Angeles, USA
BALTIC Artists’ Award 2017, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, UK
Conjunto escultórico Parque San Jacinto, Permanent public sculpture, Guadalajara, Mexico
Every Blind Wondering Ends in a Circle, Blueproject Foundation Barcelona, Spain
Die Feder und der Elefant, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
The Stone That The Builder Refused, König Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2016
Transformer, Curated by Marc Olivier, Comporta, Portugal
Practical Structures, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, USA
Stones Don’t Move, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
Jose Dávila: EL OBJETO Y EL ENTORNO, Museo Jumex, Mexico city, Mexico
The Elephant and the Feather, Marfa Contemporary, Marfa, USA
2015
The Contracted Position, Impronta, Guadalajara, Mexico
A Line Written On Every Corner, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Theory of the Additional Element, Intervention to Los Carpinteros’ studio, 12th Bienal de La Habana, Cuba
Tectonic Acts of Doubt and Desire, Galería Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, Spain
2014
The Lightness of Weight, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
Daylight Found Me With No Answer, Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK
Recent Work, Espacio Monitor, Caracas, Venezuela
State of Rest, Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
2013
Dass muss de Ort sein (This must be the place), Figge Von Rosen Gallery, Cologne, Germany
Shadow as a Rumour, Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK
2012
El juego de lo posible, Galería Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, Spain
elogio de la sombra, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico
2011
Promise of a Better World, Galeria Hotel Demetria, Guadalajara, Mexico
Only the Shadow Knows, Galleria Gentili, Prato, Italia
Nowhere Can Be Now Here, Figge Von Rosen, Berlin, Germany
2010
Continuos Space, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Vigo, Spain
Ningún lugar puede ser aquí, Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
2009
2 + 2 + 5, Galería Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, Spain
The Sierpinski Variable, Bloomberg Space, London, UK
2008
Art Positions, Art Basel, Miami Beach, USA
Studies for Future Buildings, Renwick Gallery, New York, USA
2007
Space after Space, Borgovico 33, Como, Italia
Hechizo, TBogotá, Bogotá, Colombia
x, y, z, MACO, Mexico City, Mexico
2006
El mundo de ayer, El Eco Museum, Mexico City
The Illegal Architect, Galeria Studio Dabbeni, Lugano, Italia
2005
Never on Sunday, Galería Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, Spain
Nomad Platform, Casa de America, Madrid, Spain
2004
Still Standing, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City
Untitled Elevation No. 2, Les Halles, Paris, Valais, Switzerland
2002
Erasing Memory, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico
2001
Temporality Is a Question of Survival, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
2023
El eco de Picasso, Museo Picasso Málaga, Spain
Cerámica Suro: A Story of Collaboration, Production, and Collecting in the Contemporary Arts, Dallas Contemporary, USA
El tiempo en las cosas II at Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
The Paradoxes of Internationalism (As Narrated by the Museo Tamayo Collection). Part I, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
2022
Form Follows Energy, Lago/Algo, Mexico City, Mexico
Something New, Something Old, Something Desired at Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Come take a look!, Taguchi Art Foundation, Tokyo, Japan
2021
Excepciones Normales: Arte Contemporáneo en México, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
2020
NIRIN 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia
Momentum, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands
2019
Walking Through Walls (upcoming), Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany
Escenario Líquido (upcoming),13 Bienal de la Habana, La Habana, Cuba
Latinoamérica en las Colecciones CA2M y Funación ARCO, Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid, Spain
There will never be a door. You are inside, Sala de Arte Santander, Madrid, Spain
Nullpunkt der Orientierung, DZ BANK Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Concrete Contemporary, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, Switzerland
2018
Unstable Stillness, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong
Exposición Inaugural, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Querétaro, Mexico
The Artist is Present, YUZ Museum, Shanghai, China
A Balancing Act, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands
There is a lot of past to go. Oroi, ARTIUM – Basque Museum of Contemporary Art Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Sheet Steel, KANAL – Centre Pompidou, Brussels, Belgium
ACCROCHAGE, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Almost Solid Light: New Work from Mexico, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA
Cycles of Collapsing Progress, International Fair, Tripoli, Libya
Pensamiento Especulativo, Fundación Calosa, Irapuato, Mexico
Common Currents, Hemisfair Park, San Antonio, USA
Acrópolis, Hotel Demetria, Guadalajara, Mexico
Latinoamérica: Volver al Futuro, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Fundación Rubino, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Edifice, complex, visionary, structure, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
2017
Sin Título. Contemporary Mexican Art, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, USA
Saber Acomodar (Know How), Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, USA
Art of the New Millennium in Taguchi Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Japan
Perpetual Construction: A Dialogue with the House of Jean Prouvé III, CAB, Brussels, Belgium
Lecturas de un territorio fracturado, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
Selected, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA
Taguchi Art Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, Japan
Perspectives 2: Artists in the Berla Collection, MACT/CACT, Switzerland
Sign o’ the Times, Philipp Von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, Germany
[The Queen Falls., Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
Monumentos, Anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, Mexico
2016
Sol LeWitt: A Tribute, Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, Netherlands
Frieze Sculture Park, Frieze London, Regents Park, London, UK
Full Moon, Museum Voorlinden, AG Wassenaar, Netherlands
Exhibitions are the best excuses, show curated by Christian Jankowski, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Inside out, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, Denmark
¿Cómo te voy a olvidar?, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, France
Cher(es) Ami(e)s, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2015
I was once lonelyness, Blain|Southern Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Bienal Do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Risk, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK
In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimu Igni, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico
Selección = Relación, Espacio Monitor, Caracas, Venezuela
La Ciudad. Sus Afectos, MUCA Roma, Mexico City, Mexico
Konkret mehr Rham!, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
Diane Van Deren, Galería Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Carambolages, Gallerie Vallois, Paris, France
2014
Do Objeto Para o Mundo, Colection INHOTIM, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizone, Brazil
Testigo del Siglo, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, Mexico
Art & Me. Cxollection Mudam, Mudam Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Limited Visibility, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, USA
La persistencia de la geometría, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico
Leviatán, Museo Raúl Anguiano, Guadalajara, Mexico
The Theater of the World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
2013
The Parergon and The Gutter, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Infra-Mince, Figge con Rosen Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Weight and Measure, Siegfried Contemporary, London, UK
Regrese mañana, MAZ Museo de Art de Zapopan, Zapopan, Mexico
Trip and Traveling, Klaipėda Culture Communication Center (KCCC), Klaipeda, Lithuania
La persistencia de la geometría, MUAC, Mexico City, Mexico
Bucareli Act, Bucareli 154, Mexico City, Mexico
Salón ACME, Archipielago, Mexico City, Mexico
Now Here is also Nowhere: Part II, Stroum Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
2012
Art Public, Art Basel Miami Beach, USA
Footnotes on Candida Höfer, Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
New Meditations, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Misrepresentation Mistake, and Non-Disclosure, Rove Gallery, London, UK
Rotary Connection, Casey Kaplan, New York, USA
Ugly, Dirty and Bad, Espacio M, Mexico City, Mexico
2011
En obras: Teixeira Collection, TEA, Tenerife, Spain
The Space Between Now and Then, Espacio 51, Mexico City, Mexico
La persistencia de la geometría, Caixa Forum, Madrid, Spain
Erschaute bauten, MAK, Vienna, Austria
Everything Must Go, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, USA
Wir sind alle astronauten, MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany
Atardecer ranchero, Galería Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, Spain
Customary Beauty, Mor Charpentier, Paris, France
Now, Museo Cabañas, Guadalajara, Mexico
2010
Kirkergaard’s Walk, Galería Marilia Razuk, Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Architecture of Tatiana Bilbao, Mexican cultural institute, San Antonio, USA
Transurbaniac, University Art Gallery, UC San Diego, USA
The White Cabinet, Fundación JUMEX, Mexico City, Mexico
30th Anniversary, Display 2, Studio Dabbeni, Lugano, Italia
2009
Where Do We Go From Here?, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA
Zwischenzonen, MUMOK, Viena, Austria
Prethunderdome, White Flags Project, St. Louis, USA
Getting Nowhere, Galeria Gentili, Florence, Italia
Hecho en casa, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico
Panorama. Foreigners Everywhere, Museu do Arte Moderna, São Paulo, Brazil
Desenhos (Drawings): A – Z, Museu da Cidade, Lisboa, Portugal
2008
Posession, PETRa, México City, México
Whats my name?, HIST, Ghent, Belgium
An Unruly History of the Readymade, Fundación Colección JUMEX, México City, México
Per adesso noi siamo qua, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy
To build, to dwell, to think, IVAM, Valencia, Spain
Megastructures Reloaded, Mint, Berlin, Germany
Hasta el infinito y mas allá…, CAC, Sevilla Spain
2007
Conversations, Travesía Gallery 4, Madrid, Spain
Yaq, La Planta, Guadalajara, México
The hyper-realism of sim, Charro negro, Guadalajara, Mexico
Rio Balsas, Rio balsas 35, Mexico City, Mexico
The People’s choice, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy
Deshecho, Casa del Lago, Mexico City, Mexico
2005
Domicile, Muse d’art moderne, Saint-Étienne, France
II Bienal de Praga, Karlin Hall, Praga, Czech Republic
Misunderstandings, GAM, Mexico City, Mexico
Farsites, San Diego Art Museum, InSite 2005 San Diego, USA
Eco. Arte contemporáneo mexicano, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
2004
Oil. TPS, San Antonio, USA
So Far So Close. America’s Society, New York, USA
Gridlock: Cities, Structures, Spaces, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Taranaki, New Zealand
Construction per une deconstruction, Galerie Valerie Cueto, Paris, France
Light and Atmosphere, Miami Art Museum, Miami, USA
24/7 Projects retrospective, The bakery / Annet Gelink, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2003
Cambio de Valores. Espai de Art contemporani, Castello, Spain
Mexico’s contemporary, Allbright College Art Gallery, Reading, Pennsylvania, USA
In The Absence Of Recombination, Bronx River Art Center, New York, USA
Salón Bancomer, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico
Piel fría, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City, Mexico
Mex attacks, Fundazione Prometeo, Lucca, Italy
Jetset, Museum of Installation, London, UK
2002
Fatamorgana, Galería Zero, Milan, Italy
Interplay, The Moore Space, Miami, USA; and , MAPR, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Anónimo, Centro de arte Santa Mónica, Barcelona, Spain
Mexico DF: una exhibición sobre, PS1, New York, USA; and Kunstwerke, Berlin, Germany
Sauvage. La Panadería, Mexico City, Mexico
Teoría del ocio, Fundación Colección JUMEX, Mexico City, Mexico
2001
Asamblee, Centro cultural de Mexico, Paris, France
The Vanishing City, Programa Art Center, Mexico City, Mexico
Recreo, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City, Mexico
Cómo es que los autos no vuelan aún? Centro de las artes, Monterrey, Mexico
2000
Cuarto de demostraciones: Apex Art, New York, USA; and NICC, Amberes, Belgium
La casa ideal, Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela
Open Studio, Braziers Workshop, Oxfordshire, UK
Un pedazo de la acción, Galería Emma Molina, Monterrey, Mexico
Segundo Festival Internacional de Arte Sonoro, Casa-estudio Diego Rivera, Mexico City, Mexico
Propulsión a chorro, Museo de las Artes, Guadalajara, Mexico
1999
Ciencias no naturales, Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico
Look Look. Espacio 16/16, Guadalajara, Mexico
Televisión Incidental, Televicentro, Guadalajara, Mexico
En la búsqueda de un lugar no conquistado, Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico
1998
Fotografía Incidental, Squash Público, Canchas 7, 8 and 9, Guadalajara, Mexico
Incidental, Torre Guadalajara, Expoarte 98, Guadalajara, Mexico
Doméstica, Mar Egeo #1237, Guadalajara, Mexico
2022
Manifiesto of Fragility, 16th Biennale de Lyon, France
2020
NIRIN, 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island, Australia
2019
Havana Biennale, Detrás del Muro, La Havana, Cuba
2015
Havana Biennale, Intervenction, Los Carpinteros’s studio, La Havana, Cuba
2012
Untitled (The Space Beneath Us), Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Public, Temporary Contemporary, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA
ART RIO, solo project curated by Julieta González and Pablo León de la Barra. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2009
II Trienal de San Juan, Puerto Rico
2008
Art positions, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, USA
2005
II Bienal de Praga, Karlin Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
2002
Bienal de Puerto Rico 02, San Juan, Puerto Rico
III Bienal Iberoamericana de Arquitectura e Ingeniería Civil, Santiago de Chile, Chile
2015
Residency at Fundación Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
2013
Residency at Hotel El Ganzo, San Jose del Cabo, Mexico
2004
Residency at École Cantonal d’art du Valais, Sierre, Switzerland
Residency at Kunstwerke, Berlin, Germany
2001
Residency at Camden Arts Centre, London, UK, 2001 (sponsored by The Andy Warhol Foundation)
Grant Programa Nacional para Artistas Jóvenes, FONCA, Mexico
2000
Residency at Braziers International workshop, Oxfordshire, UK
Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo, NY, USA
Biedermann Museum, Donaueschingen, Germany
Boston Fidelity Investment Group, Boston, USA
Coleçao Pereira, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Colección Coppel, Mexico
Collection Deutsche Bank, Germany
Coleccion DKV, Spain
Colección FEMSA, Monterrey, Mexico
Colección Fundación Rozemblum, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Collection Inhotim, Brumandinho, Brasil
Colección ICART, Miami, USA
Collection Krauss, New York, USA
Collection Levinas, Washington, USA
Colección Luiz Augusto Teixeira da Freitas, Lisboa, Portugal
Collection Michael Lynne, New York, USA
Colección Patrick Charpenel, Guadalajara, Mexico
Comunidad de Madrid, Colección de Arte, Madrid, Spain
Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Fundación/Colección JUMEX, Mexico City, Mexico
La Caixa Foundation, Madrid, Spain
MALBA, Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art
MUAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
MUDAM, Musee D’art Moderne, Luxembourg
Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA
Reina Sofía, Museo Nacional de Arte, Madrid, Spain
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY, USA
Teixeria da Freitas, Lisbon, Portugal
Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
Artes plásticas en Casa de América, Catálogo anual de exhibiciones, Ed. Ateneo Romano, Madrid, 2006
Arts Centre, London, 2001
Beith, Malcolm, “Mexico’s New Wave”, Newsweek International, May 26, 2003, USA
Biesenbach, Klaus and Patricia Martín, Mexico City: An Exhibiton about the Exchange Rates of Bodies and Values,
Bruni, Lorenzo, et. al., Domicile, Exhibition catalogue, Ed. D’art Somogy, Saint-Étienne, 2005
Cambio de Valores, Colección ARCO, Exhibition catalogue, EACC, Castelló, 2003
Capada, Paola, “Assael, Caretto, Courbout, Dávila”, Arte e Crítica, No.33, Ene 2003, Roma
Currah, Mark, “Jose Dávila”, Time Out Magazine, No. 1626, Oct 17 2001, London
Exhibition catalogue, P.S.1 – Kunstwerke, New York, 2002
Frieze Art Fair Yearbook 2004-5, JM. Frieze publication, 2004
Gallo, Rubén, Cream 3, Ed. Phaidon, 2003
Gallo, Rubén and Sacha Craddock, Jose Dávila, Temporality is a question of survival, Exhibition catalogue, Camden
Interplay, Exhibition catalogue, Moore Space. Miami, 2002.
Macri, Teresa, Mexico Attacks! Exhibition catalogue, Associazione Prometeo per l’Arte Contemporanea, Lucca, 2003
Oliveria, Nicolás and Nicola Oaxley, Installation art in the new millenium, Ed. Thames & Hudson, 2004
Piel Fría, Exhibition catalogue, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico, 2003
Power, Kevin and Osvaldo Sánchez, Eco, Exhibition catalogue, CONACULTA and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2005
Richter, Markus and Sabrina van der Lay, Megastructures-Reloaded, Exhibition catalogue, Ed. Hatje Cantz, Berlin, 2008
Rivero Lake, Francisca, “Jose Davila”, Art Nexus Magazine, No.46, Oct-Dec. 2002, USA
Santoscoy, Paola, “Jose Dávila”, Revista Código 06140, No. 22, Ago 2004, Mexico
Scotini, Marco, II Prague Biennale, Exhibition catalogue, Prague, 2005
Smith, Dan, “Jose Dávila”, Art Monthly Magazine, No. 251, Nov 2001, London
Tuesday to Friday 10.00 – 18.00
Saturday 11.00 – 16.00
Córdoba 100, Roma Norte
Mexico City
06700
+ 52 55 5511 1179
info@omr.art