Olga de Amaral

Born in Bogotá, Olga de Amaral is one of the most globally renown textile artists, whose work can be considered as defining for the medium itself. A highly influential voice in contemporary Latin American art, Olga de Amaral has been equally and widely recognized by major institutions in Europe, North America, and Asia. From the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Venice Biennale, from the Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto to the Foundation Cartier in Paris, her seminal impact is the bright result of more than five decades of zealous artistic practice.

Rooted at once in Amerindian textile traditions and post-modern sculptural explorations, Olga de Amaral weaves with the conceptual threads that are part of her identity. She channels the elements that make up her landscape, and poetically embodies the contrasting realities of her Colombian and South American environment. Fibers, gesso, paint, precious metals, and non-traditional materials are united in unique works that reverberate with echoes of the Zero movement monochromes, Bauhaus textiles, and Pre-Columbian ceremonial jewels.

The relevance of Olga de Amaral’s work has been recognized in artistic, academic and art market circles. She established and directed the Textile Department at the University of the Andes in Bogotá in 1965, was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973, and named “Artist Visionary” by the Museum of Art and Design in New York in 2005. Honored at the multicultural gala of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2011, and recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women's Caucus for Art in 2019, Olga de Amaral has secured her place in Art History.

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Image courtesy of: ©Diego Amaral.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021, Olga de Amaral: To Weave a Rock, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, United States
2021, Olga de Amaral: To Weave a Rock, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States
2019, The Light of Spirit, Galerie La Patinoire Royale, Brussels, Belgium
2017, Olga de Amaral: Expansions, Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO), Bogotá, Colombia
2016, Olga de Amaral: 30 años con Bellas Artes, Bellas Artes, Santa Fe, USA
2014, Olga de Amaral: Selected Works, Louise Blouin Foundation, London, UK
2008, Golden Fleece, Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
2007, Strata, Centro Cultural Casa de Vacas, Madrid, Spain
2005, Olga de Amaral: Resonancias, Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal
2004, Threaded Words, Embassy of Colombia to the United States, Washington DC, United States
2002, Tiempos y tierra, Museo de la Nación, Lima, Peru
2002, Museo de Arte Moderno, Barranquilla, Colombia
1999, Olga de Amaral: Forests, Stelae, Umbras, Hillside Terrace, Tokyo, Japan
1999, Textilmuseum Max Berk, Heidelberg, Germany
1999, Olga de Amaral: Woven Gold, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, USA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022, Guardar semillas en el cabello, MAC, Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá,
2021, Craft Front and Center, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY, USA
2021, A Chronicle of Modern Crafts: Works from the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
2019, Striking Gold: Fuller at Fifty, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA, USA
2018, Southern Geometries: from Mexico to Patagonia, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France
2017, Contrarrelatos en la colección MAMM, Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín, Colombia.
2017, Beyond Craft: Materials and Objects at TATE Modern, TATE Modern, London, UK
2015, Pathmakers: Women in Art, Craft and Design, Midcentury and Today, MAD, New York City, NY
2014, Unorthodox, The Jewish Museum, New York City, NY, USA
2014, Gold, Bass Museum, Miami Beach, FL, USA,
2014, Fiber: Sculpture 1960–present (traveling exhibition), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA,
2014, Decorum, Power Art Station, Shanghai, China.
2013, Gold Rush, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ, USA
2012, Sourcing the Museum, Textile Museum, Washington, DC, USA
2011, Sleight of Hand, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO , USA
2009, Plusultra Oltre il barocco: Arte latino-americana a confronto, Museo della Città, Brescia, Italy
2008, One of a Kind, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA
2006, Tradición y vanguardia en el arte colombiano, Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
2002, La mirada del coleccionista. Colección Ganitsky Guberek, Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia

SELECTED PRESS
2021, Olga de Amaral’s MFAH exhibit is a must-see as she ‘plays around’, Andrew Dansby, Houston Chronicle
2019, Great women artists. Phaidon Press
2018, Artnet Asks: Textile Artist Olga de Amaral, Lorraine Rubio, Arnet news.
2015, Olga de Amaral: El manto de la memoria, Amaral Editores, Galerie Agnès Monplaisir, Somology Editions d’Art
2015, Prices rising for Olga de Amaral's artworks--artnet News, Arnet news
2014, Waterweavers. A Chronicle of Rivers, José Roca, Alejandro Martin, Bard Graduate Center Press
2014, Fiber: Sculpture 1960-present, edited by Jenelle Porter, ICA Boston