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, MX
Memory of a Telluric Movement, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, CH.
The fact of Constantly returning to the same point or situation, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, DK.
2021
Las Piedras Saben Esperar, Centro Internazionale di Scultura, Peccia, CH
The Circularity of Desire, Sean Kelly, New York, USA
2020
El primer fuego, Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, MX.
Directional Energies, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, USA.
2019
Museo Amparo, Puebla, MX.
Koenig Galerie, Berlin, DE.
Sueño autosuficiente, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, MX.
2018
A Simple Rule to Remember, Franz Josef Kai, Vienna, AT.
Not all those who wander are lost, Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, SP.
Non tutti quelli che vagano sono persi, Museo del Novecento, Florence, IT.
Somewhere Behind the Eyes, Sammlung Philara, Düsseldorf, DE.
The Body is Lost Outside, Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, DK.
Newton’s Fault, Galerie König, Berlin, DE.
Mecánica de lo inestable, OMR, Mexico City, MX.
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, MX.
Every Blind Wondering Ends in a Circle, Blueproject Foundation Barcelona, SP.
Die Feder und der Elefant, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, DE.
The Stone That The Builder Refused, König Galerie, Berlin, DE.
2016
Transformer, Curated by Marc Olivier, Comporta, PT.
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, MX.
The Elephant and the Feather, Marfa Contemporary, Marfa, USA.
2015
The Contracted Position, Impronta, Guadalajara, MX.
A Line Written On Every Corner, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen.
The Theory of the Additional Element, Intervention to Los Carpinteros’ studio, 12th Bienal de La Habana, La Habana, CU.
Tectonic Acts of Doubt and Desire, Galería Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, SP.
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, VE.
State of Rest, Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX.
2013
Dass muss de Ort sein (This must be the place), Figge Von Rosen Gallery, Cologne, DE.
Shadow as a Rumour, Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK.
2012
El juego de lo posible, Galería Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, SP.
elogio de la sombra, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, MX.
2011
Promise of a Better World, Galeria Hotel Demetria, Guadalajara, MX.
Only the Shadow Knows, Galleria Gentili, Prato, IT.
Nowhere Can Be Now Here, Figge Von Rosen, Berlin, DE.
2010
Continuos Space, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Vigo, SP.
Ningún lugar puede ser aquí, Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX.
2009
2 + 2 + 5, Galería Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, SP.
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, IT.
Hechizo, TBogotá, Bogotá, CO.
x, y, z, MACO, Mexico City, MX.
2006
El mundo de ayer, El Eco Museum, Mexico City, MX.
The Illegal Architect, Galeria Studio Dabbeni, Lugano, IT
2005
Never on Sunday, Galería Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, SP.
Nomad Platform, Casa de America, Madrid, SP.
2004
Still Standing, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City, MX.
Untitled Elevation No. 2, Les Halles, Valais, CH.
2002
Erasing Memory, Galería Enrique Guerrero, Mexico City, MX.
2001
Temporality Is a Question of Survival, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK.
2022
Form Follows Energy, Lago/Algo, Mexico City, MX.
Something New, Something Old, Something Desired,
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, DE.
Come take a look!, Taguchi Art Foundation, Tokyo,
Japan.
2021
Excepciones Normales: Arte Contemporáneo en México, Museo Jumex, Mexico City, MX.
2020
NIRIN 22nd Biennale of Sydney, Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia.
Momentum, Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands.
2019
Walking Through Walls (upcoming), Gropius Bau, Berlin, DE.
Escenario Líquido (upcoming),13 Bienal de la Habana, La Habana, CU.
Latinoamérica en las Colecciones CA2M y Funación ARCO, Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid, SP.
There will never be a door. You are inside, Sala de Arte Santander, Madrid, SP.
Nullpunkt der Orientierung, DZ BANK Kunstsammlung, Frankfurt am Main, DE.
Concrete Contemporary, Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, CH.
2018
Unstable Stillness, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong.
Exposición Inaugural, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Querétaro, MX.
The Artist is Present, YUZ Museum, Shanghai, CN.
A Balancing Act, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, NL.
There is a lot of past to go. Oroi, ARTIUM – Basque Museum of Contemporary Art Vitoria-Gasteiz, SP.
Sheet Steel, KANAL – Centre Pompidou, Brussels, BE.
ACCROCHAGE, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin, DE.
Almost Solid Light: New Work from Mexico, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, USA.
Cycles of Collapsing Progress, International Fair, Tripoli, LB.
Pensamiento Especulativo, Fundación Calosa, Irapuato, MX.
Common Currents, Hemisfair Park, San Antonio, USA.
Acrópolis, Hotel Demetria, Guadalajara, MX.
Latinoamérica: Volver al Futuro, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Fundación Rubino, Buenos Aires, AR.
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, JP.
Perpetual Construction: A Dialogue with the House of Jean Prouvé III, CAB, Brussels, BE.
Lecturas de un territorio fracturado, Museo Amparo, Puebla, MX.
Selected, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, USA.
Taguchi Art Collection, The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma, JP.
Perspectives 2: Artists in the Berla Collection, MACT/CACT, Ticino, CH.
Sign o’ the Times, Philipp Von Rosen Galerie, Cologne, DE.
[The Queen Falls., Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX.
Monumentos, Anti-monumentos y nueva escultura pública, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, MX.
2016
Sol LeWitt: A Tribute, Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, NL.
Frieze Sculture Park, Frieze London, Regents Park, London, UK.
Full Moon, Museum Voorlinden, AG Wassenaar, NL.
Exhibitions are the best excuses, show curated by Christian Jankowski, Michael Fuchs Galerie, Berlin, DE.
Inside out, Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen, DE.
¿Cómo te voy a olvidar?, Galerie Perrotin, Paris, FR.
Cher(es) Ami(e)s, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR.
2015
I was once lonelyness, Blain|Southern Galerie, Berlin, DE.
Bienal Do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, BR.
Risk, Turner Contemporary, Kent, UK.
In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimu Igni, Museo Jumez, Mexico City, MX.
Selección = Relación, Espacio Monitor, Caracas, VE.
La Ciudad. Sus Afectos, MUCA Roma, Mexico City, MX.
Konkret mehr Rham!, Kunsthalle Osnabrück, Osnabrück, DE.
Diane Van Deren, Galería Gabriela Mistral, Santiago de Chile, CL.
Carambolages, Gallerie Vallois, Paris, FR.
2014
Do Objeto Para o Mundo, Colection INHOTIM, Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizone, BR.
Testigo del Siglo, MAZ Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Zapopan, MX.
Art & Me. Cxollection Mudam, Mudam Luxenbourg, LU.
Limited Visibility, Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, USA.
La persistencia de la geometría, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, MX.
Leviatán, Museo Raúl Anguiano, Guadalajara, MX.
The Theater of the World, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, MX.
2013
The Parergon and The Gutter, David Risley Gallery, Copenhagen, DK.
Infra-Mince, Figge con Rosen Gallery, Berlin, DE.
Weight and Measure, Siegfried Contemporary, London, UK.
Regrese mañana, MAZ Museo de Art de Zapopan, Zapopan, MX.
Trip and Traveling, Klaipėda Culture Communication Center (KCCC), Klaipeda, LT.
La persistencia de la geometría, MUAC, Mexico City, MX.
Bucareli Act, Bucareli 154, Mexico City, MX.
Salón ACME, Archipielago, Mexico City, MX.
Now Here is also Nowhere: Part II, Stroum Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
2012
Art Public, Art Basel Miami Beach, USA.
Footnotes on Candida Höfer, Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX.
New Meditations, Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto, ON, CA.
Misrepresentation Mistake, and Non-Disclosure, Rove Gallery, London, UK.
Rotary Connection, Casey Kaplan, New York, USA.
Ugly, Dirty and Bad, Espacio M, Mexico City, MX.
2011
En obras: Teixeira Collection, TEA, Tenerife, SP.
The Space Between Now and Then, Espacio 51, Mexico City, MX.
La persistencia de la geometría, Caixa Forum, Madrid, SP.
Erschaute bauten, MAK, Vienna, AT.
Everything Must Go, Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, NY, USA.
Wir sind alle astronauten, MARTa Herford, Herford, DE.
Atardecer ranchero, Galería Travesia Cuatro, Madrid, SP.
Customary Beauty, Mor Charpentier, Paris, FR.
Now, Museo Cabañas, Guadalajara, MX.
2010
Kirkergaard’s Walk, Galería Marilia Razuk, Sao Paulo, BR.
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, MX.
30th Anniversary, Display 2, Studio Dabbeni, Lugano, IT.
2009
Where Do We Go From Here?, Bass Museum of Art, Miami, USA.
Zwischenzonen, MUMOK, Viena, AT.
Prethunderdome, White Flags Project, St. Louis, USA.
Getting Nowhere, Galeria Gentili, Florence, IT.
Hecho en casa, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, MX.
Panorama. Foreigners Everywhere, Museu do Arte Moderna, São Paulo, BR.
Desenhos (Drawings): A – Z, Museu da Cidade, Lisboa, PT.
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, CA, 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, NY, 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, FL, 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, PA, USA.
In The Absence Of Recombination, Bronx River Art Center, New York, NY, 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, FL, USA; and , MAPR, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Anónimo, Centro de arte Santa Mónica, Barcelona, Spain.
Mexico DF: una exhibición sobre, PS1, New York, NY, 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, NY, 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, FL, 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, FL, 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, MA, 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, FL, USA
Collection Krauss, New York, USA
Collection Levinas, Washington DC, 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, p. 84.
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, p. 46.
Currah, Mark, “Jose Dávila”, Time Out Magazine, No. 1626, Oct 17 2001, London, p. 62.
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, p. 140.
Santoscoy, Paola, “Jose Dávila”, Revista Código 06140, No. 22, Ago 2004, Mexico, p. 42.
Scotini, Marco, II Prague Biennale, Exhibition catalogue, Prague, 2005.
Smith, Dan, “Jose Dávila”, Art Monthly Magazine, No. 251, Nov 2001, London, p. 33.
Tuesday to Friday 10.00 – 18.00
Saturday 11.00 – 16.00
Córdoba 100, Roma Norte
Mexico City
06700
+ 52 55 5207 1080
+ 52 55 5511 1179
info@omr.art