Ramón Bonilla
Artist Statement
A nearly half a millennium old citadel; a century old defunct dam; a concrete children’s maze; a 1800’s forgotten state in a dense tropical forest; the mountainous horizon in 1980’s video game battlezone; places with a deep personal connection to Bonilla provide a residual content that permeates in his artwork. As people relate to places by attaching qualities reflecting their own; the work of Bonilla is infused with characteristics reflecting his own relation to physical or virtual locations.
His work is a nondescript re-materialization within the limitations of the domain of representation. There is no here nor there. The work is produced through addition, juxtaposing and cancellation of painting material and visual elements as in the erosion or expansion process of a changing site. In the work of Ramon Bonilla structures stand against an empty background acting as an infinite extension or a containing borderless wall barrier holding elements back. Intricate line work, gesture texture, clusters of asymmetrical shapes evoke a stoic remoteness in time. Like looking through a tiny crack in the wall of reality the work of Bonilla considers our relation to our world while offering a muted first person view of possible futures.
Artist Bio
Ramón Bonilla is a Denver based artist with a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de San Juan, Puerto Rico and is also an alumni of Redline Contemporary Art Center Denver. He has been featured on 5280’s Home magazine as one of the “The Five Local Artists To Watch And Collect”. His work has been commissioned for The Gates Building, Nexus BSP in Denver, Stanley Marketplace in Aurora, CO, The Bonfils-Stanton Foundation in Denver and through Muros, Chicago. His work is also part of the art collections of Le Meridien Hotel Denver and The Four Seasons Hotel and Resort Beverly Hills. He has been represented by Michael Warren Contemporary and currently has limited representation through Space Gallery Denver and Simon Breitbard Fine Arts in San Francisco. He has shown with Direction/Instruction, an international art group organized by Hyland Mather and showed his work at Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia. He has also shown his work at Understudy Denver and 516 Arts in Albuquerque, NM. Bonilla recently received a grant from the Inside Fund through the Andy Warhol Foundation to develop his project Illuminati DIA.
In 2017 Bonilla was also featured on Westword’s 100 Colorado Creatives 3.0. As a member of the international art group Direction/Instruction organized by Hyland Mather; Bonilla showed his work at Paradigm Gallery in Philadelphia. This year his work became part of a show at The Foothills Art Center about the housing crisis in Denver titled “Finding Home.” His work was also included in a group show titled “Paisatari Vol II.” presented at Galeria Project Art at Tampico, México. This year he is presenting Illuminati DIA at the Denver Theater District as part the Understudy experimental space and is also participating of In Sight On Site: Murals at the Arvada Art Center as part of In Sight On Sight. Bonilla will be participating of a show at Albuquerque’s 516 Arts titled Puerto Rico: Defying Darkness.
Bonilla’s has been recognized by Westword, The Government Development Bank Puerto Rico, U.S. National Park Service, Museum Of Contemporary Art Puerto Rico, Saatchiart.com and Artslant.com. His work has also been included in Artnet.com, Artsy.com, Puerto Rico Art News, Autogiro, ArtMaze Mag and Go Play Denver. In the past Bonilla has been represented by Michael Warren Contemporary.
Ramón Bonilla’s work examines the concept of place through landscape and architecture by integrating a seminal approach to minimalism, geometry, brutalism and low-poly art. In his work there is an underlying concern with material resourcefulness and the environment. Ramón Bonilla has a BFA from Escuela de Artes Plásticas de San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Selected Exhibitions
SOLO
2021 Illuminati DIA, Insite Fund, Denver + Aurora, CO
2018 Illuminati DIA, Understudy – Theater District, Denver, CO
2016 Build To Suit, Michael Warren Contemporary, Denver, CO
2008 AKA Armageddon Exercises, Artspace, Hartford, CT
2001 High Art At Low Prices!, Institute For Community Research, Hartford, CT
1998 Supercalifragilísticoe
1996 La Mancha De La Moncha, Cafe Berlin, San Juan, PR
GROUP
2020 Art Gym, Denver, CO
2020 TBD, Station 16 Gallery, Montreal, CA
2020 TBD, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
2020 Untitled Creative Fusion, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
2019 Trunk Show, Simon Breitbard Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Place In Line, Redline, Denver, CO
2019 In Sight On Site, Arvada Center for the Arts, Arvada, CO
2019 Direction/Instruction II, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (Curated by Hyland Mather, Andenken
Gallery, Amsterdam, NL)
2019 Momentum,Space Gallery Annex, Denver, CO
2019 Locals Only, Mirus Gallery, Denver, CO
2018 Trunk Show, Simon Breitbard Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2018 Puerto Rico: Defying Darkness, 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM (Curated by Dr. Josie Lopez, Curator, 516
Arts, Albuquerque, NM)
2018 Hard Lines: An Exploration of Geometry, Space Gallery, Denver, CO
2018 Paisatari Vol. 2, Galeria Project Art, Tampico, Mexico
2018 Finding Home, Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO
2018 Redline 10th Anniversary, Redline, Denver, CO (Curated by Cortney Lane Stell, Executive Director and
Chief Curator, Black Cube, Denver, CO)
2018 In Sight On Site, Arvada Center for the Arts, Arvada, CO
2017 Downshifting, Redline, Denver, CO (Curated by Ramón Bonilla, Artist, Denver, CO)
2017 Nice Work If You Can Get It, Redline, Denver, CO (Curated by Daisy McGowan, Director and Curator at
the UCCS Galleries of Contemporary Art, Colorado Springs, CO)
2016 Doors Open Denver, Redline, Denver, CO
2016 Direction/Instruction, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (Curated by Hyland Mather, Director, Andenken
Gallery, Amsterdam, NL)
2016 Monumental, Redline, Denver, CO (Curated by Dr. Marisa Lerer, Assistant Professor Visual & Performing
Arts, Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY)
2016 Westword Artopia, Denver City Hall Center, Denver, CO (Curated by Jolt, Guerrilla Garden, Denver, CO)
2015 ArtSlant Showcase, artslant.com, 2nd Place Award
2015 One Square Foot, Redline, Denver, CO
2014 One Square Foot, Redline, Denver, CO
2009 Cognates, Artspace, Hartford, CT Interventions
2008 Art On The Line: Works On Paper, Farmington Valley Arts Center, Avon, CT
2007 Show 4 A Show, Artwell, Torrington, CT
2000 IV National Art Show, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Juan, PR
COMMISSIONS
2021 Aztec Camera, Room environment, Meow Wolf, Denver, CO
2020 The Slope of a Straight Line.The Process of Remodeling the Future, Mural, Bonfils Stanton Foundation,
Denver, CO
2019 Urban Growth Boundary, Art reproduction, Element Hotel, Denver, CO
2018 Untitled, Art reproductions, Gaylord Rockies Hotel, Aurora, CO
2018 Untitled, Art reproductions, Four Seasons Hotel Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Untitled, Wall Vinyl, Nexus BSP, Denver, CO
2017 Landform. Made. Trace. Elevation, Wall Vinyl, Gates Building, Denver, CO
2017 Untitled, Mural, Stanley Marketplace, Aurora, CO
2016 Lodo Aglow, Painted Window Front, Denver Chamber Of Commerce, Denver, CO
Awards
2017 100 Colorado Creatives 3.0, Westword, Denver, CO
2017 Juror, Selection Committee Public Art Red Rocks!, Arts And Venues, Denver, CO
2015 Residency 2015 – 2017, Redline Gallery, Denver, CO
2015 Originals Under $2,000 And Under, Saatchiart.com (Curated By Rebecca Wilson) 2014 Juror,
Selection Committee For Mural, 40 Arts West, Lakewood, CO
2014 Featured Artist Voz Y Corazón, Mental Health Center Denver, Denver, CO
1994 Design Contest U.S. National Park Service Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 3rd Place Award
Publications
Amanda M. Faison, “Art At Home: The five local artists to watch—and collect..” 5280 Magazine, Home August/September 2018, https://www.5280.com/2018/07/state-of-the-art/
Michael Paglia, “Three Installations at Home in Foothills Arts Center’s Finding Home”, Westword, May 2, 2018.http://www.westword.com/arts/foothills-art-center-hosts-artists-exploring-housing-in-finding-home-1026352 3
Michael Paglia, “DownshiftingShows Less Is More At Redline”, Westword, July 19, 2017.http://www.westword.com/arts/redlines-downshifting-shows-less-is-more-in-reductive-art-9269256
Susan Froyd, “100 Colorado Creatives 3.0”, Westword, February 2, 2017. http://www.westword.com/arts/100-colorado-creatives-30-ramon-bonilla-8753736
“Build To Suit/Ramón Bonilla/ Denver”, Autogiro Blog, Nov 8, 2106
Risa Friedman, “Ramón Bonilla”, The Fruit Factory, October 28,2016,
http://thefruitfactory.net/ramon-bonilla/
Puerto Rican artist Ramon Bonilla in the group show Direction / Instruction” at Paradigm Gallery,
Philadelphia”, Puerto Rico Art News, August 17, 2016http://artnewspr.blogspot.com/2016/08/puerto-rican-artist-ramon-bonilla-in.html?m=1
Edwin Velazquez, “El artista joven Ramón Bonilla se destaca en Denver como artista residente del Redline Art Center”, Puerto Rico Art News, June 2, 2016http://artnewspr.blogspot.com/2016/06/el-artista-joven-ramon-bonilla-se.html
Westword Art And Culture, “Meet All The Artists Of Artopia”, Westword, February 19, 2016. http://www.westword.com/arts/meet-all-the-artists-of-artopia-2016-7528977/
Michael Paglia, “Review: Monumental Brings Rack and Ruin to RedLine’s “R/Evolution”, Westword, February 24.2016http://www.westword.com/arts/review-monumental-brings-rack-and-ruin-to-redlines-r-evolution-7633010
Redline, Go Play Denver, Oct 22, 2015, https://www.goplaydenver.com/redline/
