San Gimignano
Beijing
Les Moulins
Habana
Roma
Sao Paulo
Paris
Dubai
José Antonio Suárez Londoño was born in Medellín in 1955. In 1977, he graduated from the Universidad de Antioquia with a degree in biology.
It was at this time that he began his disciplined and meditative artistic practice, mostly concentrating on printmaking, producing illustrations of miscellaneous subjects, such as portraits and botanic motifs combined with calligraphic text. Shortly thereafter, he enrolled at the École Supérieure d’Art Visuel, in Geneva, Switzerland, from which he graduated in 1984 with a degree in fine arts. Although he had already produced a consistent body of work, he found his signature process in the mid-1990s during a sojourn in Daytona, Florida, where he bought a small notebook and a black marker at a local Office Depot. While slowly reading Brian Eno’s A Year with Swollen Appendices, he began filling the notebook’s pages with humble sketches in response.
From this point on, his work would become a diaristic commentary on his literary interests and everyday activities—a visual synthesis that reflected his previous training in biology and his childhood obsession with the illustrated Larousse encyclopedic dictionary. In 1997, Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince suggested to Suárez that they should work in tandem for a year, with Suárez producing a drawing a day illustrating his life in the form of a visual diary and Abad Faciolince responding in writing. Although this project never materialized, it initiated Suárez’s most recognized body of work; since then he has been routinely producing yearly notebooks filled with eclectic drawings of objects, landscapes, portraits, textile patterns, reproductions of Old Master paintings, and color studies. Known as The Yearbooks, these notebooks function as a visual autobiography revealing his intimate thoughts and literary, artistic, and musical interests.
Eschewing public life and art-market dynamics, Colombian artist José Antonio Suárez Londoño has been working with the utmost concentration for the past four decades, developing a vast repertoire of small-scale drawings, etchings, and prints. Despite his isolation, his meticulous, delicate, figurative drawing practice anticipated the work of a generation of Colombian artists.
2018
José Antonio Suárez Londoño. Almanach, Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, DE
2016
A new Larousse, Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
Planas, Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia
As if in a foreign country, Galerie nachst St. Stephan, Rosemarie Schwarzwalder, Vienna, Austria
2015
Muestrario, CAPC musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Muestrario, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
2012
El Camino más largo comienza con una simple línea, Galería Continua, San Gimignano, Italy
2007
MD07, Casa del encuentro, Medellín, Colombia
2003
26 Litografías sobre Piedra, Galería Sextante, Bogotá, Colombia
1990
Visions de Créche, Galerie Brot und Käse, Ginebra, Switzerland
1984
Retratos, Galería de la Oficina, Medellín, Colombia
1978
Salón Regional de Artes Visuales, BPP, Medellín, Colombia
1973
Salón de Arte Joven, Museo de Zea, Medellín, Colombia
2021
NB: Nota Bene, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France
2018
A meeting point: Claire Kerr / Mikko Rikala /José Antonio Suárez Londoño, espacio artkunstarte, Madrid, Spain
2017
José Antonio Suárez Londoño y Santiago de Paoli, Lulu, Mexico City
Tamarind Salon, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, Mexico
2016
32 São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brasil
Lotería, espacio artkunstarte, Madrid, Spain
2015
FIAC, Casas Riegner, Paris, France
Frieze Art Fair, Casas Riegner, London, UK
ARCOmadrid, Casas Riegner, Madrid, Spain
Todo sobre la mesa, Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia
“Why Abstract Art?” (¿Por qué el arte abstracto?), Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia
Muestrario, Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
2014
Art|Basel|Miami Beach, Casas Riegner, Miami Beach, USA
Superficies de colección, Galería de la Oficina, Medellín, Colombia
Tiempo Complementario, Galería de la Oficina, Medellín, Colombia
SP-Arte, Casas Riegner, São Paulo, Brazil
2013
Art|Basel|Miami Beach, Casas Riegner, Miami Beach, USA
Saber Desconocer, 43 Salón (Inter)Nacional de Artistas, Medellín, Colombia
Dibujos, Bernal Espacio, Madrid, España.
Il Palazzo Enciclopedico, 55th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
Música, Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia
2012
Tracing Time, Josée Bienvenue Gallery, New York, USA
Empatía, Beatriz González, Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia
ARS Bienale, Galería de la oficina, Medellín, Colombia
The Yearbooks, Drawing Center, New York, USA
2011
Dibujar es escribir Escribir es dibujar, Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia
2010
Art Feature | 41|, Basel, Switzerland
The modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times, MoMA, New York, USA
Festival Internacional de Música de Cartagena, MAM Cartagena, Colombia
2009
El grito y la escucha, Bienal do Mercosul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2008
41 Salón Nacional de Artistas, Cali, Colombia
2007
Dibujos, Alonso Garcés Galería, Bogotá, Colombia
Ejercicios con Colección Pizano, Museo de Arte Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, Colombia
Pattern vs Decoration, Hospelt Gallery, San Francisco, New York, USA
2004
Trienal de Grabado, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2001
Dibujos y Grabados, Museo de las Américas, Washington, USA
2000
F(r)icciones, visiones del sur, Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
1999
Nulla Dies Sine Linea, Sala Suramericana, Medellín, Colombia
1998
24 São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil
1995
Contemporary Art of the Non-Aligned Countries, The National Museum, Jakarta, Indonesia
1994
Dibujos y Grabados, Galería DER BRÜCKE, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1991
Bienal de Cuenca, Cuenca, Ecuador
Dibujos, Galería Garcés Velásquez, Bogotá, Colombia
1990
XXXIII Salón Nacional, Bogotá, Colombia
1988
Ex-Libris, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia
Bienal de Grabado, San Juan de Puerto Rico
1986
Nuevos Nombres, Casa de Moneda, Bogotá, Colombia
XXX Salón Nacional, Museo Nacional, Bogotá, Colombia
2012
Selected artist to design the new batch of coins by the Banco de la Républica, Bogotá, Colombia (2012)
2005
Artist in Residency, Tamarind Institute, Alburquerque, NM, USA (2005)
1982
Best Student of the Year, Ecole Supérieure d’Art Visuel, Ginebra, Switzerland (1982)
Premio vida y obra, Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia
Mention, II Salón Regional de Artes Visuales, Colombia
Declarado Fuera de Concurso, V Salón Arturo Rabinovich, Medellín, Colombia
First Prize, Salón Regional MAMM-BPP, Colombia
Mention, Ex-Libris Exhibition
Mention, XXXIII Salón Nacional de Artistas, Colombia
Banco de la República, Colombia
Colección MOCA, Los Ángeles, USA.
Blackburn Print Workshop, New York, USA
Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA
Ruth and Marvin Sackner, Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami, USA
Tamarind Institute, Alburquerque, USA
Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, USA
