Jason Mena (represented by Spain’s Luis Adelantado Gallery) has been chosen to participate at ARCO Madrid in a group exhibition (at Booth 10E07). [He is presently also taking part in the group exhibition “Deconstrucciones: convivencias y convergencias hacia una antropología urbana” in San Juan, Puerto Rico.] ARCO Madrid will take place February 16-20, 2011.

Based in Puerto Rico, Jason Mena (1974, New York) is a graduate of the San Juan School of Visual Arts [Escuela de Artes Plásticas de San Juan]. His more recent solo shows include “We all shall play in the ruins” (2010) at the Luis Adelantado Gallery in Valencia, Spain, and “A Visual Representation through The Exploration of Sound” (2009) at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mena works between Mexico, Spain, New York, and Puerto Rico. He has shown his work in numerous international venues such as the Poly/Graphic Triennial: Latin America and the Caribbean and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Puerto Rico, the Museum of Modern Art, Dominican Republic, the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco and the Painters & Sculptors Association Gallery, Israel. He was nominated for the Emerging Artists Brugal ARCO Madrid 09 Acquisition Award, received the 2008 Lexus Grant for the Arts and the 2006 AICA.

Description (from “We shall play in the ruins” exhibit): “Jason Mena’s work entails a multi-faceted approach to contemporaneity that, drawn from conceptualism and minimalism, reveals the complexities and contradictions of the ever increasing urbanization of space. The City and its architecture becomes the main protagonist and consequently witness of the post-modern condition. Reality and fiction converge; they appear and disappear in the urban landscape, provoking multiple reactions and interpretations. Working with different media, mainly photography, video, installation and sculpture, Mena reacts to his surroundings and eerily reminds us that appearances can ultimately be deceiving. His work leads to a profound criticism of the constant simulation of culture, the speed of urbanization and the accelerated decay of our social and political climate. [. . . ] By focusing on the malleability of perception, these images not only delineate the fragility of contemporaneity but also the apparent imperceptibility of our urban reality.”

For more on the artist, see http://jasonmena.com/

The Luis Adelantado Galleryu is located at 6 Bonaire Street in Valencia, Spain (46003). For more information, see http://www.luisadelantadovalencia.com/

Image: One of his “Emptiness on Emptiness” 2010 series, a collection of porcelain figures that have been sliced open to show their hollow insides.