Monica Perez Vega

Monica is an expressionistic paintings visual artist whose work explores ideas of uncertainty and adaptation. She paints in a range of media and her sculptures are assembled from found, gifted and reclaimed material, including former paintings. It is about letting go as well as the circularity of life and process, echoing the cycles of nature.

Style & Approach

Her imagined landscapes sit between nostalgia and unease. Originally from California, she has lived in Montreal, Amsterdam, London and currently Birmingham, UK. Her memories of home are warped by a changing landscape, and her experiences of continually starting over have led to a practice which investigates cycles of change. There is a fluidity and resilience to her practice which is guided by incident. She is interested in the potential between renewal or collapse and relies on disruption as a search for hope amid precarious uncertainty.

Skies and trees are ongoing themes in her work. Skies are about transience as well as a certain presence in the moment. They are also a part of a wider concern with the environment, impacted by experiences of home. She is also interested in the meditative aspect of skies and their emotional range, as well as the ambiguity between sunrise or sunset/ beginning or end. Trees, on the other hand are anthropomorphic figures which tell a story of steady resilience. Tree stumps are headless figures; embodiments of disruption, but also places where life quietly thrives. Bark is also a skin; a protector of vulnerability. Trees elicit memories of home and act as markers to time. As one who often feels lost between place, trees represent an aspire for rootedness.

Monica Perez Vega’s Early Career & Exhibitions

She has an MFA in painting from the Slade School of Art (2019) and a BFA in painting and drawing from the California College of the Arts (2005). She also completed the Turps Correspondence Course (2022). Recent exhibitions include Mud-luscious: The Resilience of Joy, Malvern Library, Great Malvern; The Worcester Open 2023 (Climate Change Edition), The Art House, Worcester (Honourable mention); Material Presence, Fitzrovia Gallery, London 2022; Lido Open 2022, The Lido Stores, Margate; BEEP Biennial 2022, Swansea; Weary Harold, ASC Gallery, London, 2022; The ArtWorks Open 2020, BAGT, London; 'To the Trees,' solo exhibition; SUPA Gallery, Birmingham, 2020; The Collector's Eye, LEMA Mobili, London, 2020; 'Studio Visit,' No. 20 Arts, London 2019; 'Raw Materials: Plastics,' Nunnery Gallery; Bow Arts, London 2019.