Alejandro Santamarina
Born in 1958 in Buenos Aires Argentina, at a young age of 17 starts exhibiting and working in the Visual Arts field.
From 1977 he exhibits and works in Argentina and abroad, traveling often to Europe and the United States.
In 1981 the French Government grants him a Fellowship to research in the field of printmaking.
He is nominated in 1986 for a Fulbright Commission Fellowship in Painting, being accepted to study a master in Fine Arts at the Chicago Art Institute, and special studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and Cal Arts in Valencia, California.
He is presently working in the interdisciplinary field of Art and Design being the main subjects of his researches. His wife Viviana has actively participated in most of his projects from the very beginning of their relationship forty two years ago.
For the past 20 years he resides and works in San Francisco, California working at the present time in a series of sculptures and installations.
His work is featured at the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Buenos Aires MAMBA
Education
1976 – Attended two years at the Pridiliano Pueyrredon School of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires studying painting, sculpture and printmaking.
1978 – Visual studies with Art Critic and present Buenos Aires Museo Sivori Director, Hugo Monzon
1979 – Studies of Art Symbols with Art Critic and Jungian Psychiatrist Abraham Haber
1981 – The French Government grants him with a fellowship to work in individual investigations in printmaking under the guidance of painter Antonio Segui.
Since the beginning of his career he constantly researches and innovates in the alternative uses of traditional art elements.
Art Awards
1978 Honorific Mention in Drawing, Young Artists Competition at the Argentinean Hebrew Society.
1979 Honorific Mention in Painting, Salon Fondo Nacional de Las Artes. Buenos Aires
1981 Georges Braque First Prize in Printmaking, consisting in a Fellowship for research Granted by the French Government. He stays in Paris at the Cite Des Arts for a year all expenses paid.
1986 Nominated for the Fulbright Fellowship in Painting.
2005 Second Place in Sculpture Scottsdale Center for the Arts
Design Awards
1991/92 First Prize at “The Festival At the Lake” Oakland California (Two years in a row)
1991 First Prize “Fiesta de Las Artes” San Juan Bautista California
1992 Patron Purchase Award “Las Olas Art Festival” at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Florida
1992 Purchase Award City of Miami Beach Festival, Florida.
1999 Best of Category Tempe Festival of the Arts.
2005 First Prize Metal category Portland Arts Festival
Publications
Hugo Monzon. Diario La Opinion, ” Artistas Noveles en Lirolay”, 1978. / Hugo Monzon. Diario La Opinion, ” Desde Santamarina hasta Van Der Poll”, 1979. / Hernandez Rosselot, “Conceptos y Simbolos”, 1981.Diario La Nacion. / Julio Sapolnick. Diario Clarin, “Desorden con Sentido”1981. / Osiris Chierico, Diario Clarin, “El Premio Braque”, 1981. / Alejandro Santamarina, Revista Artinf, “Alejandro Santamarina”, 1981. / Arturo Carrera, Revista Artinf, “Exposiciones” 1986. / Laura Buccellato, Revista Artinf, “7 Artistas en la Fundacion San Telmo” 1986. / Jorge Lopez Anaya, Diario La Nacion, 1986. /. Image Magazine San Francisco Examiner “Wrubber Wraparound”, 1988. / Alice Thibeau, San Francisco Focus Magazine, 1988. / SF Weekly, Interview, 1991. / Details Magazine “High on a Hill”. Often newspapers like The Examiner and The Chronicle and specialized magazines mention or write about his designs or artistic endeavors
Since the beginning of his career his work was often reviewed by art critics and other experts through specialized magazines and newspapers and also through Radio and Television.
Since 1977 he participates in several Art Shows being the following some of them,
Solo Exhibitions
Mixed Media Assemblages, Financiera San Martin Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Artemultiple Gallery Painting, Buenos Aires.
Cite Des Arts Painting, Paris
Lirolay Gallery Drawings, Buenos Aires
Group shows (partial list)
Not the Knitting you Know Eleven Eleven Sculpture Space Washington DC
River Gallery Chelsea MI
Cherry Creek Art Festival Sculptures and interactive installations. Denver Colorado
Personal visions Latin American Art in the Bay area, Richmond Art Center. California.
Alejandro Santamarina and Andres Waissman Merril College, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Help I’m a Rock, Gregory Ghent Gallery, San Francisco California.
Argentine Artists Exhibition, University of California, Los Angeles California.
Fiesta annual de Los Artistas, Cemento Buenos Aires.
Painters from Buenos Aires, promoted by the City Hall of Buenos Aires itinerant show.
Installations, Fundacion San Telmo. Along with artists Suarez, Prior, Rearte, Kuitca. Buenos Aires.
Centro Cultural de La Ciudad de Buenos Aires Gustavo Marrone and Alejandro Santamarina collaborative installation.
Argentine Hebrew Society SHA. Young Painters Prize, Buenos Aires.
Galeria VEA along with Prior and Marrone. Buenos Aires.
Fortabat Foundation Prize, Museo Nacional De Bellas Artes.Buenos Aires.
Vecinalismo, Itinerant Show promoted by the Buenos Aires City Hall Secretary of Culture.
Ex-presions, Centro Cultural de La Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
Jornadas de la Critica CAYC. Buenos Aires.
Artists on Paper, Centro Cultural de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.
The Consecration of spring, Estudio Giesso. Buenos Aires.
Rearte & Santamarina Paintings, Galeria del Circulo. Buenos Aires.
Cite International Des Arts Paintings and Silk-screens, Paris.
Galerie de la Defense Prints, Paris.
Banco del Acuerdo Prize, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.Buenos Aires.
Jornadas de la Critica, Artemultiple Gallery. Buenos Aires
25 Years of the Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires.
Prior, Rearte, Santamarina, Works on Paper, Galeria Artemultiple. Buenos Aires.
Georges Braque Prize Drawing, Museo Sivori, Buenos Aires.
Lanus Foundation, Fondo Nacional de las Artes.Buenos Aires.
Georges Braque Printmaking, Museo de Arte Moderno. Buenos Aires.
LXVIII Salon Nacional de Artes Plasticas Painting, Buenos Aires.
Galeria El Mensaje Pastels and Paintings, Buenos Aires.
Galeria Lirolay, Collages, Buenos Aires.
Art & Design Galleries (partial list)
Martin Lawrence Galleries 50 Galleries throughout the United States. / International Gallery, San Diego, California. / Limn Gallery, San Francisco, California. / Alianza Gallery, Boston. / Atrium Gallery Northville. /Sansar Gallery Bethesda MD/ Circa Now Gallery, Houston Texas. / Corcoran Gallery Washington. / American Artisans Gallery Memphis. /Gallerie Alexander, La Jolla, California. / Calma Chicha, Buenos Aires. / Munar Buenos Aires. Galleries in Spain, Japan, Canada and England had carried his designs.
santamarina baskets 