Portrait of Pablo A. Medina by Pedro Martin.

Pablo’s work investigates the vernacular of found letterforms and sign painting from Latin-American neighborhoods in New York City and around the world. Re-contextualizing this visual language from urban landscapes into a personal one serves as a way of reclaiming his own eclectic Latino identity and becomes a departure point for research on cultural and spiritual themes, including Yoruban, Indigenous, and Buddhist forms of devotion. Most of his work is painted on either wood, canvas or paper although a fabric flag made for the historic Wide Awakes procession in 2020, is a new medium of exploration which has led to his most recent series of fabric banners, each one celebrating a different Yoruban Orisha.


BIOGRAPHY

Pablo A. Medina is a Cuban-Colombian artist whose work combines folkloric letterforms with spiritual and ancestral themes. In 2018, the Latin America Contemporary Fine Art Competition (Chelsea, NY) awarded him an exhibition space in Miami’s Spectrum Art Fair during Art Basel. In 1999, He was the youngest exhibitor in the Design Triennial exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Museum. He has been a contributing artist for a series of fundraising exhibitions that have collectively raised over $15,000 for non-profit organizations including ACLU, The Standing Rock Council, Make the Road NY and City Harvest. On October 3, 2020, he marched along with hundreds of other artist activists in the historic Wide Awakes procession, protesting police violence, encouraging voting and manifesting Black joy. He has taught art and design at Parsons School of Design, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and at California College of the Arts (CCA). He paints in his studio in Sunset Park Brooklyn. For inquiries, send an email to pablo4medina [at] gmail [dot] com.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS

New York Latin-American Triennial, Longwood Art Gallery, Hostos Community College , 2022-23.

Museum of Graffiti, Miami, FL, 2021. We are all connected, a fundraiser for the Cuban artist movement Movimiento San Isidro.

New Latin Wave Festival, Virtual, 2021.

Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2020. Here, Now.

Pleiades Gallery, Chelsea, NY, 2020. Altered States.

Catalyst Gallery, Beacon, NY, 2019. Small Works.

Planthouse Gallery, New York, 2019. Building Power, A benefit for VOCAL-NY and the Young Center for Immigrant Children Rights.

Spectrum Miami at Art Basel, Miami, 2018. Awarded exhibition booth during Miami Art Week by a jury from the Latin-American Contemporary Fine Art Competition (Chelsea, NY).

East Village Social, New York, 2018. Benefit Exhibition for City Harvest and Vocal-NY.

Blackburn 20/20 Gallery. New York, 2017. Benefit Exhibition for NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council.)

Groundfloor Gallery. Brooklyn, NY, 2017. Benefit Exhibition for ACLU and IRAP (International Refugee Assistance Project)

Rogue Space Gallery. New York, 2016. Benefit Exhibition for Standing Rock Medic + Healer Council and Civil Liberties Defense Center.

DAVID & SCHWEITZER Contemporary. Brooklyn, 2016. Arts in Bushwick, Making the Future Group Exhibition.

111 Minna Gallery. San Francisco, CA, 2012. All ten paintings exhibited were created during my one-semester artist-in-residence at California College of the Arts.

Chelsea Art Museum. New York, 2006. Exhibited a video and a photograph in the 10 Years Running exhibit, a group exhibit of faculty and alumni at Parsons School of Design.

Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design MuseumNew York, 1999. Five typeface designs were exhibited at the Design Triennial, the most prestigious design exhibition in the country.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Type Directors Club. New York, 2012. Exhibited 12 paintings that were made during an artist-in-residence at California College of the Arts.

Zakka Bookstore and Gallery. New York, 2005. A series of handmade posters installed in the Zakka gallery.