MERYGODIGNACOLLET

Curriculum

Mery Godigna Collet, born in Caracas Venezuela, 1959, has participated in 34 solo and more than 40 group exhibitions in Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, New York, Miami, New Mexico and Texas.

As her thinking on the visual arts evolved, her ideas and attitude on how to approach art has changed. Her interest in ecological matters has grown and the "concept" has become the "nuclei" of her work. The concept and the technique run parallel though morphogenesis principles, as the artist acts as an “activator” producing a cause in the unconventional materials she uses. The final “consequence” allows her to reach her goal: Portraying the subject with the subject. In her works, she shows a tendency to minimalism where the only statement is a call to reflection.

For more than forty years, she has been developing a work of great formal coherence that explores different perceptive, mental, and emotional states. The unifying thread through the years has been the rigorous research about the “interference” related to societal and ecological subjects and materials and their connection with the subject. By assembling and tensioning objects and raw materials, color and light, her works open as much as they conceal physical and mental spaces.

Searching for vertiginous gaps between vocabularies of shapes, she explores the gap between intimate and social, the existential and the everyday, the environment and degradation.

Mery Godigna Collet's artistic proposal is based on 4 research projects involving new techniques that reveal ways "concepts" translate through "matter." Matter, Time, and Space (Materia, Tiempo, y Espacio) 1997, Done with Fibers (Hecho con Fibra) 2003, Metallic Light (La Luz Metalica) 2006, Language and Memory (2022).

Her works are at the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Zulia (MACZUL) in Venezuela, the Galleria D'Arte Moderno Aroldo Bonzagni di Cento (Italy), the Quai Branly Museum, Latin American Art Museum and Petroleum Museum in Texas. She has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Siderurgica del Orinoco, the Museum of Discurso de Agostura in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, the Centro Romulo Gallegos of Latin American Studies (CELARG) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Caracas, Venezuela. Monument Museum "La Rocca" in Cento, Italy, the Museum Pallazo Estense (Italian branch of the Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg), the Centre D'Art Puyguerin-Vayolles, Monts sur Guesnes, France and the Museum of the Americas in Miami, USA.

Education

  • Course on Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology. University of Cambridge. (2025)
  • Course on Philosophy and Ethics. MIT School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. (2018)
  • Printmaking workshop. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas. Caracas Venezuela (1992)
  • Pigments production. College of Art. Boston MA. (1990)
  • Antique techniques on paper fabrication. Cairo Museum, Cairo Egypt. (1988)
  • B.Architecture and Urbanism. Universidad Central de Venezuela UCV. (1986)
  • Courses in Art History. Sorbonne University. Paris France. (1985/1986)
  • Courses in Graphic Design at the Design Institute Villasmil de Leon, Caracas Venezuela (1976)
  • Courses in Drawing and Art History at the Real Escuela de San Fernando, Madrid Spain. (1975)
  • Residencies

  • Artist in Residence Austin Fire Station # 10. Austin TX (Sept| Dec 2021)
  • Artist in Residence. Accademia di Arte, Ferrara Italy. (Feb|June 2017)
  • Artist in Residence. Building 98, Marfa TX. (Feb|May 2014)
  • Visiting artist. Centre D’Expression Libre. Paris, France. (Feb 2007)
  • Visiting artist. Arts program Bolívar State. Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela (April 2002)
  • Assistant Professor Hand Free Drawing Architecture Faculty UCV Caracas Venezuela (1985|1986)
  • Exhibitions (Solo)

  • 2025 TRAMAS MexicArte Museum, Austin TX.
  • 2022 ENTHROPY ESB-MACC. Austin TX.
  • 2019 INTERFERENCE TransArt Foundation for Art & Anthropology. Houston TX
  • 2018 KLEIN VENEDING Galleria del Carbone. Accademia D’Arte Citta Ferrara Ferrara Italy
  • 2018 ME TOO Museo Archeologico di Belriguardo, Voghiera, Italy
  • 2017 ONOMATOPOEIA Museo Archeologico di Belriguardo, Voghiera, Italy
  • 2017 INATURALE Galleria Il Carbone, Ferrara IT
  • 2016 PETRO POEMS MACC Austin TX
  • 2015 EVPO Greasewood Gallery, Marfa TX
  • 2015 EXTRA VIRGIN PETRUS OIL WareHouse 1-10, Magdalena NM
  • 2014 MARFA’S PHANTOMS Building 98, Marfa TX
  • 2014 THE PRESENCE OF EMPTINESS Building 98, Marfa, TX (Permanent Public Art)
  • 2014 EXTRA VIRGIN PETRUS OIL Louise Underwood Hopkins Center for the Arts LUHCA Lubbock, TX
  • 2013 OILY OIL Caridi Gallery Miami, FL & Nina Torres Fine Art, Miami FL
  • 2012 EL DORADO Benson Latin American Collection, UT Austin, TX
  • 2012 EXTRA VIRGIN PETRUS OIL Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration and Environmental Law & Rapoport Center for Human Rights, UT, Austin TX
  • 2011 EXTRA VIRGIN PETRUS OIL Petroleum Museum, Midland TX
  • 2011 G Gallery, Houston, TX
  • 2009 DE VUELTA AL ORIGEN Sala de Exposiciones BV, Isla de Margarita. Venezuela.
  • 2008 ACEITE DE PIEDRA Galería Punto de Arte, Caracas, VEN
  • 2008 LUMIERE METALIQUE Gallerie D’Expression Libre, Paris, France
  • 2007 MARI METALICI Monumento histórico La Rocca, Cento, Italy & Galleria Il Carbone Ferrara Italy
  • 2003 EN TONO DE FIBRA Sala de Arte Sidor (siderúrgica del Orinoco) Pto. Ordaz, Venezuela
  • 2003 WINDOWS Galería Punto de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
  • 2002 AQUA Casa del Congreso de Angostura, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela
  • 2001 ARGUCIAS Galería Ocre, Caracas, Venezuela
  • 2001 AQUARIUM 1221 Brickell Ave. Miami, FL
  • 2001 PENELOPE’S TAPESTRIES Eastern National Bank, Miami, FL & Venezuelan Consulate NYC, NY
  • 1998 De Sueños, Ilusiones, Laberintos y Temores Galería Ars Forum, Caracas, Venezuela
  • 1997 RETRATOS Galería Ars Forum, Caracas, Venezuela
  • 1996 BLUE Galería El Muro, Caracas, Venezuela
  • 1995 DIMELO TU Galería El Muro, Caracas, Venezuela

  • Exhibitions (Group)


    Public Art


    Lectures and Panels

    Museums (Represented at)

  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
  • Latin American Art Museum, Miami, FL.
  • Gallería D’Arte Moderno di Cento, Bologna, IT
  • Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, FR (Research. Archive)
  • Petroleum Museum, Midland, TX
  • Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, UT Austin, TX (Research. Archive)
  • MexicArte Museum, Austin, TX
  • Biblioteca Ariostea, Ferrara Italia (Research.Archive)