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
