Monica Alonso
She studied Fine Arts at the University of Salamanca, specializing in sculpture, with Fernando Sinaga and Concha Jerez as teachers. She completed her doctorate at the University of Vigo with the thesis entitled “Domestic space in contemporary sculpture. 1985-1995“, in which she studies the work of Louise Bourgeois, Mario Merc, Vito Acconci, Ilya Kabakov. She visits Acconci and Kabakov’s studios to conduct his research.
In 1996, she was selected for the XII Youth Art Show of the Madrid Youth Institute, which was rewarded with a trip to the main art centers in Germany and the Netherlands.
She began her artistic career in 1997 with an exhibition in the prestigious Montcada room of the “la Caixa” Foundation in Barcelona, entitled: Despertar a la meva habitació. Curated among others by Alvaro Fominaya. In it, she exhibits the work Adosados 3, one of her most important creations. Exposed in 1998 at the Pontevedra Biennial, in 2005 at the Atlantic Center of Modern Art, to become part of the permanent collection of the Provincial Museum of Lugo. The work is exhibited in 2021 for the Galicia Futura exhibition.
In 1999 she obtained the Fenosa Scholarship that took her to Acconci Studio in New York. In 2001-2003 the Endesa Scholarship for plastic arts. In 2004 the YADDO Foundation Scholarship, New York. This leads him to spend seasons in this city between 1999 and 2004.
In 2002, the Galician Center for Contemporary Art dedicated an exhibition to her that the author entitled MITGA 1932-2020. Galician Therapy Individual Module, in which the author clearly expresses her relationship with Galicia and its culture.
In 2003 she held the SEMA exhibition at the Provincial Museum of Lugo. Perception Clinic at the Torrente Ballester Center in Ferrol. Both are large spatial interventions that will mark the future of her work.
In 2004 she traveled to Valdivia, Chile, to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Make the great intervention Love in the Clouds with Wolves.
2005 is a special year for the artist, she lives in Rome with a scholarship from the Spanish Academy in Rome. Her project focused on the work of Federico Fellini, a filmmaker who influences her work.
Until now Mónica Alonso had focused her research on the project Therapeutic Spaces and Transplants based on the location of essences and instincts, from which she has created Therapeutic Bedrooms and Transplants of love, fantasy, beauty, suicide. The artist affirms that everything she transplants is part of her.
In 2008 she started another project focused on Heat and Cold. She received the CAM Scholarship for Contemporary Art with the project: From cold to heat, from heat to cold, passing through the temperate. She takes her to travel from cold places to warm places, Oslo, Sao Paulo, Argentine Patagonia, Nord Kapp, Sahara.
Her multidisciplinarity leads her to carry out collaborative projects: Next 8 Mostra Internazionale di Architettura, La Biennale di Venezia, Spanish Pavilion, 2002; Hospital Room Therapy, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Santiago, CGAC, 2008 – 2010; Chromatic intervention in the Day Center of Maceda Ourense, 2009.
Her interest in architecture and psychology led her to create the discipline of Psychospace and its theories in 2012. Design spatial therapies: Childhood Bedroom Therapy, Bedroom Therapy, Hotel Room Therapy, Hospital Room Therapy. The latter is carried out at the CHUS of Santiago de Compostela, in the Pediatrics area from 2008 to 2010. In 2012 she began one of her most ambitious projects: The spatial and chromatic perception of the human being in different cultures. To obtain the data, design a questionnaire that relates psychology and color. Use statistical programs to present the results. She made applications in the Arab, Mexican and Galician culture. Extends the research to different social groups and carries out the project: Perception of color in women of different cultures, application to different cultural and social groups in the city of Lugo. Arab, gypsy, Galician women and social groups, victims of violence, gynecological cancer.
Another psychospatial project is: We are both unique. Alterarte Room, University Campus of Ourense. In this project, the spatial and chromatic questionnaire is applied to the students of the Campus. Highlight the study of spatial perception with the proposal: Describe your student room. The author asks the students to describe their student room so that she can draw it interpreting the description.
She has the following artistic residences: Capacete Rio de Janeiro Residence, 2009; Townhouse Cairo Gallery, 2013; La Quiñonera Mexico, 2015.
In 2015 she received the Excellence Scholarship from the Government of Mexico for the realization of an artistic project. What will be the great project begins: The magic of the hummingbird. 6 desperate cases, which will be exhibited at the MARCO Museum, Vigo, in 2020.
The artist’s current project is her consideration as a medium artist, which she explains in the following text: “My role is as a researcher and artistic therapist. I apply questionnaires to obtain data that I pass to statistical graphs and artistically interpret the results. As a therapist I maintain a relationship with the viewer/patient to improve emotional aspects through color. But I feel that the word therapist is too broad to define what I do, not even an art therapist. The word with which I feel comfortable is medium that puts the viewer in contact with the execution of the work of art. While the scientist is based on experimentation and the therapist on application, the medium has a creative capacity. It is a great satisfaction to have reached this point. My relationship with the viewer is active, I participate in the issues that concern them and that satisfy them and I can improve their lives. I am not the first to reach this point, I want to continue the work of the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark (1920-1988), who modified the relationship between artist and spectator, turning the latter into a patient and executor of the work. With Clark, they were already talking about the relationship between art and clinic, she insisted on working from art. I want to clarify that the creation that I present is art”.
In 2022 she is named Academician of the Galician Academy of Fine Arts.
PhD in Fine Arts. University of Vigo. Thesis entitled “The domestic space in contemporary sculpture 1985-1995”.
Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Salamanca, specializing in sculpture.
Graduated in Applied Arts. Ramón Falcón Higher School of Art and Design, Lugo.
2022.
Plastic Arts Award from the Galician Critic
2015.
Spatial and chromatic perception in Mexican culture. Residence La Quiñonera, Mexico D.F.
– Scholarship of Excellence of Special Programs of the Government of Mexico for foreigners. Artistic creation stays.
– Grants for the mobility of the Galician creative sector. MAC Fenosa.
2013.
Residence The ThownHouse Gallery, Cairo.
2009.
CAM Scholarship for Contemporary Art. Oslo, Saint Paul. Capacete Residence, Rio de Janeiro.
2005.
Scholarship Academy of Spain in Rome, MAE-AECI Scholarships
2004.
Grant from the Yaddo Foundation, New York. Coordination of the Esteban Vicente Museum Segovia, Spain
2001-2003.
Endesa scholarship for plastic arts
1999-2000.
Grant for Artistic Creation Abroad Unión FENOSA, New York
1997-1999.
Predoctoral Scholarship, Xunta de Galicia
1996.
Selected in the “XII Youth Art Show”, organized by the Youth Institute.
1995.
First Prize for Sculpture. IX Galician Contest of Plastic Arts.
Third Cycle Scholarship, Xunta de Galicia (1994-1996)
1994.
Accesit in the contest organized by the Salamanca City Council for the realization of a sculptural project
2021.
The magic of the hummingbird, six desperate cases. MARCO Vigo.
2020
We are all unique. Alterarte Room, University Campus of Ourense.
2015
Love is a biological necessity. Exhibition Hall of La Quiñonera. Mexico DF.
2012
Body stabilizers. SCQ Gallery. Santiago de Compostela
2011
White Anguish. Tiziana Di Cairo Gallery. Salerno Italy
Monica Alonso. Works (1993-2011). Provincial Museum of Lugo
Nostalgia for the sun, Fonsagrada Museum. Lugo.
2009
Funeral urn, The Last Bed. SCQ Gallery, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
2008
Cold. SCQ Gallery, Santiago de Compostela
Heat. Tiziana di Caro Gallery, Salerno, Italy
2006
Color Meat. May More Gallery, Madrid
2005
Beauty Transplants. SCQ Gallery, Santiago de Compostela
2004
Love in the Clouds. Museum of Contemporary Art of Valdivia, Chile
Latitudes 1 (together with Salvador Cidras). Caixa Galicia Foundation, Santiago de Compostela
2003
Vermella Bed for Natural Environment. May Moré Gallery, Madrid
Sema. Provincial Museum of Lugo
Perception Clinic. Torrente Ballester Center, Ferrol, A Coruña
2002
Pleasure Products, VGO Gallery, Vigo
MITGA 1932-2020, Galician Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela
2000
WorldTherapy. Art space, Caja Madrid, Pontevedra
Happiness Place Therapy. SCQ Art Room, Santiago de Compostela
1997
Wake up to the new room (with Daniel Chust). Montcada Hall of the “La Caixa” Foundation, Barcelona
2021.
Galicia Futura Gaiás Center Museum, Galician City of Culture Foundation. Santiago de Compostela.
2019.
The power of presence. Women Watching Women Project. Exhibition hall of the Provincial Council of Lugo.
2018
I… YOU… THEM… WE, WE online. Provincial Network of Museums of the Provincial Council of Lugo. Provincial Museum of Lugo
Model to assemble. Art in Galicia in the CGAC collection. Santiago de Compostela.
Universal Galicia. Galician art in the ABANCA and AFundación collections. Gaias Center Museum.
2017
From the panopticon. Each window a window. O Vello Cárcere Cultural Center, Lugo.
2016-2017.
Women of silence From Maruja Mallo to Ángela de la Cruz. MARCO, Vigo.
2016
10+1 experience. Marcos Valcarcel Cultural Center, Ourense. Provincial Council of Ourense.
Seed Auditorium of Galicia. Santiago de Compostela.
We are Space. Creative symbiosis between art and architecture. Provincial Council of Pontevedra.
2015
INDIETTO Roma X anni dopo. Royal Academy of Spain in Rome.
–Like at home. Creative stories about the extended home. Pazo Tor, Monforte de Lemos, Lugo.
2014
A woman’s look at the Lugo Postal Guide by Maruja Mallo. Women’s Look Festival.
2012
Works from the Gas Natural Fenosa collection. Palau de la Música i Congresos de Valencia.
Contemporary Galician art coordinates. Novacaixagalicia, Vigo.
73 x 73 x 273. Church of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
2011
ARCO Madrid, SCQ Gallery Stand.
2010
Miart, Fiera di Milano, Tiziana di Caro Gallery.
Bologna Art Fair, Tiziana di Caro Gallery.
2009
Realities, expressions, plots. Art in Galicia since 1975. Caixa Galicia Foundation, Ferrol.
Open records. Subjects, contexts and narratives in current Galician art. Provincial Museum of Lugo.
Couples. Exhibition hall of the Caixanova cultural center, Vigo.
2008
Art Forum Berlin, SCQ Gallery, Berlin.
Margins and maps. The creation of gender in Galicia. Galicia Auditorium, Santiago de Compostela.
Another geography. Galician art. Center for Hispanic American Culture, Havana, Cuba.
The mirror of every day. New additions to the Caixa Galicia Collection. Headquarters of the Caixa Galicia Foundation, Santiago de Compostela.
2007
Fragments of the whole Current Spanish art in the collection of the Unión Fenosa Museum of Contemporary Art, MACUF. Traveling exhibition through different parts of Europe in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes.
Riofisa Sculpture Biennial 2007, Madrid.
Maps, cosmogonies and reference points. CGAC, Santiago de Compostela.
ARCO 2007, Madrid, SCQ Gallery.
2006
-Scholars of the Royal Academy of Spain in Rome, Museum of the City, Madrid.
–Urbanites Urban attitudes in current Galician art, MARCO, Vigo.
–ARCO 2006, Madrid, SCQ Gallery.
–Storms File. ARCO and CGAC Collection, CGAC, Santiago de Compostela.
2005
–Art.fair 2005 Internationale Messe fur aktuelle Kunst, Cologne.
–Summary, 15 years of Endesa Scholarships, Endesa building, Madrid.
–Mirada Skegada, Funds of the Unión Fenosa art collection, MACUF, A Coruña.
–Spazi Aperti. Romanian Academy, Rome.
–26.55 Scholarship 2004-2005. Royal Academy of Spain, Rome.
–ARCO 2005 SCQ Gallery, VGO.
2004
–Endesa 7 Scholarships, Teruel Museum.
–Lisbon Art’2004. May More gallery stand.
–Architectures of the dream, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
–At first it was the trip, 28 Pontevedra Art Biennial.
–ARCO 2004 Madrid, SCQ Gallery, VGO.
–The Studio Open Doors Festival, Dublin.
–9th International Art Fair, Milan, May Moré Gallery.
2003
-Lisbon Art’2003. SCQ gallery support, VGO gallery support.
–The Undisciplined, MARCO, Vigo.
–Climbing games. Galician Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela.
2002
– NEXT 8 Mostra Internazionale di Architettura, La Biennale di Venezia, Spanish Pavilion.
–Doméstico’02, Seven studies in a warehouse, Madrid.
–Art Lisboa’2002, SCQ gallery stand, VGO gallery stand.
–Grace & Gravity, Estrany de la Mota Gallery, Barcelona.
–20 years 20 sculptors Galicia Sculpture, Torrente Ballester Center Ferrol, A Coruña.
–ARCO 2002, SCQ Gallery.
–Figures from Galicia, Caja Madrid, Museum of Pontevedra, Pontevedra.
2001
– Figures from Galicia, Caja Madrid, Youth Art Center, Madrid.
– Against identity, Annex Gallery, Pontevedra.
– Auditorium of Galicia Award, Auditorium of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela.
– Divine Human in the sculptural representation of tradition to this day. Regional Museum of Fonsagrada, Lugo.
2000
– XI National Art Biennial City of Oviedo.
– Five years of young art. 1995-1999. Xunta de Galicia, itinerant.
– Gives visibility to read the world. Casa da Parra, Santiago de Compostela. Galician Council
1999
– Finisterrae?, Galician art proposals. House of Galicia in León.
– Habitat, Carmen de la Guerra Art Gallery, Madrid.
– Back and forth. The past lives in the present. Fonsagrada Museum, Lugo.
– IV Lalín Biennial, Ramón Mº Aller Ulloa Municipal Museum.
– New Walkers, Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions of Pontevedra.
– VI Salón Unión Fenosa, Maritime Station, A Coruña.
– IV Atlantic Forum of Contemporary Art, SCQ Gallery.
1998
– Fissures in perception. XXV Pontevedra Art Biennial.
1997
–III Lalín Biennial, Ramón Mº Aller Ulloa Municipal Museum.
Galicia Today, 1990-1997, Barrié de la Maza Foundation, A Coruña.
1996
–Novos Valores plastic arts contest, Provincial Council of Pontevedra.
-Sala dos Peiraos, Vigo.
–XII Exhibition of Young Art (Youth Institute). Rooms of the old MEAC, Madrid.
1995
– Room “Young Art”, Ourense.
–Novos Valores plastic arts contest, Provincial Council of Pontevedra.
–IX Galician Contest of Plastic Arts, Xuve 95. Casa da Xuventude de Carballo. A Coruña
1994
Access City of Salamanca Public Sculpture Projects Contest 1994. City History Museum.
2020
Research: Spatial and chromatic perception in students of the University Campus of Ourense. Exhibition We are all unics.
2018
Research: Chromatic perception in women from different cultures. Application to different social and cultural groups in the city of Lugo. Provincial Network of Museums of the Provincial Council of Lugo.
2015-2016.
Project: Yellow Cell Cor Carne Viva: 5 cases of confession art. Museum of Fine Arts of A Coruña.
2015
Research: Spatial and chromatic perception in Mexican culture. Residence La Quiñonera Mexico D.F. Granted by the Government of Mexico.
2013
Research: Spatial and chromatic perception in Arab culture. Residence The Townhouse Gallery Cairo.
20008-2010.
Hospital room therapy. Association Without Frame. Santiago University Clinical Hospital. Galician Center for Contemporary Art.
2009
Chromatic intervention project in the Maceda Day Center, Ourense. Collaboration with the Trespés Arquitectos studio.
2007
Sculptural piece for the I Prize for Women and Science “María Josefa Wonenburger Planells”
2004
Museographic design of the exhibition The Word of Painting, Galician Center for Contemporary Art, Santiago de Compostela.
Road Home Project, Munich.
2002
NEXT 8 Mostra Internazionale di Architettura, La Biennale di Venezia, Spanish Pavilion. Collaborating artist of the Green+Blue Communities project.
2001
Media House Project, The house is the computer, The structure is the network. Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Metapolis Institute for Advanced Architecture, Polytechnic Foundation of Catalonia, Mercat de les Flores, Barcelona.
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneo.
Museo Provincial de Lugo.
Museo de Teruel.
Museo Esteban Rosa Bergondo, A Coruña.
Museo da Fonsagrada, Lugo.
Fundación Caja del Mediterraneo
Fundación Endesa.
Fundación Caja Madrid.
Collection from Abanca
Collection from Unión FENOS collections.
Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores.
Instituto de la Juventud, Madrid.
Diputación de Salamanca.
Deputación da Coruña.
Concello da Fonsagrada.
Private collections
“The chosen work. Galician artists of the last 30 years”, MIHL Museum, Lugo. “Colmeiro Color and Feeling”. Luis Seoane Foundation, A Coruña, 2021-22