# Javier Tapia

Javier Tapia (born 1957) is a Peruvian artist and painter.

## Biography

Javier Tapia was born in 1957 in Lima, Peru, and grew up in a period of upheaval when guerrilla warfare dominated political and social movements across the country. He moved to the United States in the 1980s, witnessing various phases of humanity: good and evil, intellectual and primitive, connected and separate. Tapia takes these studio themes as abstract shapes and broad strokes to serve as a metaphor for chaos and control, or structure and disorder. In the tradition of the Peruvian Textile, he overlaps, subtracts, and reworks the watercolors, flipping the paper out as bold colors emerge like carvings. The active ingredients emit physically; Work becomes energetic, on the verge of chaos, but organized in the constraints of paperwork. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia and works in the Virginia Commonwealth University's Faculty of Painting and Print Production, where he has been teaching since 1988.

## Education

From 1984 to 1987, Tapia studied at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts and was a recipient of a Presidential Scholarship.
In 2015, Tapia worked as an associate professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Typography at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In 2019, Tapia joined the staff of Virginia Commonwealth University. The school has also exhibited the department's art to view Javier's work.

## Artworks

Drawings and Paintings :
| Artwork Name | Size | Medium | year |
| Untitled | 24 x 31 in | watercolor on paper | 2018 |
| Untitled 2 | 52 x 82 in | watercolor on paper | 2012 |
| Buscando Peyotl | 200 x 300 cm | Oil on two canvases | 2009 - 2010 |
| Mambo del Parque O 'Higgins | 150 x 150 cm | Mixed media on canvas | 2008 |
| Envy is everywhere | 130 x 150 cm | Mixed media on canvas | 2007 |
| Bagual | 150 x 150 cm | Oil on canvas | 2008 |
| Chambucha al aguaire | 150 x 150 cm | Oil on canvas | 2007 |
| Two Sculptures on a Cave | 150 x 180 cm | Oil on canvas | 2007 |
| Back in the ranch | 150×180 cm | Canvas | 2008 |
| Don Carlos I. Fundo | 150×180 cm | Oil and acrylic on canvas | 2008 |
| “EST 005” and “EST 011” | 50×40 cm | Acrylic on canvas | 2020 |
| Untitled 3 | 100 x 80 cm | Oil on canvas | 2012 |
| Untitled 4 | 60 x 66 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2012 |
| Untitled 5 | 60 x 66 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2013 |
| Untitled 6 | 52 x 82 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2013 |
| On the Road to Mount San Victoire | 60 x 66 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2014 |
| With the Wrong We See | 61 x 45 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2016 |
| The Great Intruder | 40 x 66 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2016 |
| The Gap | 40 x 66 in | Watercolor on Arches paper | 2016 |
| The Gift | 18 x 72 in | Watercolor on Strathmore paper | 2019 - 2020 |

## Exhibitions

Solo Shows :
| Exhibition | Organization | Location | Date |
| Javier Tapia: High Density: Fragments, Stories and Traditions | Galleri Christoffer Egelund | Copenhagen, Denmark | APR 17,2015 - MAY 16,2015 |
Group Shows :
| Exhibition | Organization | Location | Date |
| Isabel Bigelow and Javier Tapia | Anthony Reynolds Gallery | London, United Kingdom | DEC 05, 2008 - JAN 17, 2009 |
| Echo | Galleri Christoffer Egelund | Copenhagen, Denmark | APR 19,2013 - MAY 11,2013 |
| SUMMERTIME'13 | Galleri Christoffer Egelund | Copenhagen, Denmark | JUN 20,2013 - AUG 10,2013 |
| Summertime 14: The Big Annual Group Show | Galleri Christoffer Egelund | Copenhagen, Denmark | JUN 06,2014 - AUG 16,2014 |
| Travelling Dust | 18th Street Arts Center | Santa Monica, Los Angeles, CA, US | NOV 07,2014 - DEC 12,2014 |
| Good fortune, No blame | Galleri Christoffer Egelund | Copenhagen, Denmark | NOV 11,2016 - DEC 17,2016 |
| A Decolonial Atlas: Strategies in Contemporary Art of the Americas | Vincent Price Art Museum | Monterey Park, California, USA. | APR 22,2017 - JUL 22,2017 |
| A Decolonial Atlas: Strategies in Contemporary Art of the Americas | Tufts University Art Gallery | Medford, Massachusetts, US | JAN 16,2018 - APR 15,2018 |
Tapia does not have a specific collection because he also collaborates with other artists on numerous exhibitions. He has more exhibited at the Embassy Art Gallery of Peru, Washington, DC; Museo de Osma, Barranco, Peru; Bloom Galleries, Milan, Italy; Hunt Galleries at Mary Baldwin College, Staunton, Virginia; 1708 Gallery, and Anderson Gallery, both, Richmond, Virginia. With him he participated in the Strategies in Contemporary Art of the Americas in Vincent Price Art Museum exhibition. along with colleagues whose works are tied to the legacy of colonialism and challenge the dominant, accepted stories.

## Books

Published Books :
| Year | Title | Author | Publisher | Ref |
| 2015 | Ergentium | Javier Tapia, Eduardo Tapia | CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015 | |