Yoab Vera
Born 1985, Mexico City, Mexico
Lives and works between Mexico City and Istanbul
Yoab Vera received an MFA from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also studied meditation practices at the Mindfulness Awareness Research Center in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. In his practice, Vera employs the motif of the horizon as a guiding structural event for contemplation. The origin of his modular paintings is geometrically abstract, and the artist approaches representation of natural phenomena through intuitive mark-making. Using oil-stick, oil, and concrete, Vera integrates architecture, spirituality, and neuroaesthetics in what he terms “haptic contemplative painting.” Vera distills the complexity of passing time into the simple truth of the rise and fall of the sun, mindfully exploring reality through the present moment, the psychological components of memory, and the changing conditions of light.
In 2021 Vera was awarded the New York Community Trust Award in Painting and Poetry and has also received awards from the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City.
EDUCATION
2021 MFA, Painting, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, US
2020 I.P. P. Mindfulness Awareness Research Center (MARC), Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, US
2013 BA, Art and Art History: concentration in Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art, Hunter College, New York, NY, US
2007 School of Architecture, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2026 ‘Yoab Vera: Horizontes de Sentido,’ Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico City (Solo)
2026 ‘Yoab Vera & Deniz Yurtbay: 108 blossoms for the Himalayas,’ Patan Museum, Kathmandu, Nepal (Group)
2026 Dallas Art Fair with Saenger Galería and Make Room Gallery (Group)
2025 The Memory Palace, Wilhelmina’s Gallery, Mandraki, Hydra, Greece (Group)
2025 NADA New York with Saenger Galería, New York, USA (Group)
2025 Art Brussels with Saenger Galería, Brussels, Belgium (Group)
2025 Dallas Art Fair with Saenger Galería, Dallas, TExas, USA (Group)
2025 Zona Maco with Saenger Galería, Mexico City, Mexico (Group)
2025 Thögal: Pausa nel Paesaggio’ (Pause in the Landscape), Casa MB, Milan, IT (Solo)
2024 ‘Yoab Vera: Reminiscence — Contigo Aprendí,’ Alexander Berggruen, New York City, New York, USA (Solo)
2024 ‘Scent of Time: Horizontes Temporales,’ Casa Gilardi, Mexico City, Mexico (Solo)
2024 Dallas Art Fair, Saenger Galería, Dallas, Texas, USA (Group)
2024 Material Art Fair, Saenger Galería, Mexico City, Mexico (Group)
2023 ‘Amanecí Otra Vez,’ El Castillete, Madrid, Spain (Solo)
2023 ‘Circadian Memories: Amar Pacifico,’ Make Room, Los Angeles, California, USA (Solo)
2023 ‘Robert Janitz + Yoab Vera: Un Diálogo,’ Saenger Galería, Mexico City, Mexico (Solo)
2023 ART021 Art Fair, Make Room LA, Shanghai, China (Group)
2023 Kyoto Art Fair, Saenger Galería, Kyoto, Japan (Group)
2023 ‘And The Night Flowers Open,’ Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome, Italy (Group)
2023 Dallas Art Fair, Saenger Galería, Dallas, Texas, USA (Group)
2023 ‘Things Seen,’ Make Room, Los Angeles, California, USA (Group)
2023 Material Art Fair, Saenger Galería, Mexico City, Mexico (Group)
2023 SG Art Fair, Make Room, Singapore (Group)
2022 ‘the everyday in memory,’ Lainer Family Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA (Solo)
2022 ‘You Had Me At Goodbye,’ LaMontague Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Solo)
2022 ‘Pasajes Urbanos,’ Salón Acme, Mexico City, Mexico (Solo)
2022 ‘Terms of Belonging,’ Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA (Group)
2022 ‘Way Home,’ Latin American Art Consortium, Shanghai, China (Group)
2022 ‘Light Touch, LA Dreams,’ CFHill, Stockholm, Sweden (Group)
2022 ‘Those Lazy Crazy Hazy Days of Summer,’ Make Room, Los Angeles, California, USA (Group)
2021 ‘Haptic Contemplative Painting,’ New Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA (Solo)