Carlos Vega Faúndez

“Museums are fountains of knowledge, reflection, and education. They are a place where painters around the world have found their inspiration. I am no stranger to this.”

Carlos Vega (B. 1972) in Constitución, Chile. With innate abilities, Carlos Vega Faúndez started drawing at a very early age and actively participated in drawing and painting contests, displaying a talent that quickly made him stand out in his school and his city.

His first exposure to oil painting was thanks to a teacher from his school who gave him a paint set as a gift. This material, plus some Chilean painting books, engendered in him an inclination for painting, in particular, for realism. (Read More)

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At 15 years old, he met the painter Oscar Hernández Romero, who at that time was spending his summers in Constitución. Hernández Romero instilled in him the value of the craft, academic learning, replacing the printed image with observation of nature and, most importantly: being able to come up with his own themes.

He discovered the pastel, a technique that he was passionate about and that he mastered perfectly, producing high-quality works. 

Rural landscapes, still lives and his familiar surroundings would be his sources of inspiration in his early period in Chile.

He immediately started to stand out among the painters in his milieu, winning recognition and prizes. 

He started giving classes, which would help him acquire painting material and achieve financial independence.

Wishing to complete his education, he planned to go to college and at age 24 he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts of the University of Chile in Santiago.

He combined workshops and college classes (which were not entirely to his liking) with pictorial works. He exhibited in galleries and cultural centers and won first prize at the 12th Autumn Show of the National Fine Arts Society in Santiago (1998). This prize had consequences for him: his painting professor at the university advised him to abandon his pictorial line (realism) since it was not compatible with the university’s curricula. In the middle of his second year of school, he left his studies and returned to Constitución.

After a few months, he got a call from Pedro Emilio Zamorano, an Art History Professor, encouraging him to participate in the scholarship contest held by the Contemporary Art and Authors Foundation (Arauco) of Madrid, headed by the painter Guillermo Muñoz Vera and the University of Talca.

The scholarship was awarded by unanimous vote, and in March of 1999 he arrived in Madrid and was transferred to the Foundation’s workshops in Chinchón.

In Chinchón, the Foundation directed by Muñoz Vera, which would later be known in artistic circles as the School of Chinchón, comprised of young painters of different nationalities, provided the environment and tools necessary for him to continue his education.

At the School, his learning accelerated, acquiring a great command of the oil painting technique. He continued to paint still lives, landscapes, as well as his surroundings, and he discovered a new theme: courtyards and gardens.

For a time, he worked as Muñoz Vera’s adjunct professor and later as a painting professor at the Academy.

In Spain he won a prize at the 66th Autumn Show of Madrid and was selected as the winner in several painting contests and participated with the School of Chinchón in expositions in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

As Muñoz Vera would say in a written text on the occasion of Carlos Vega’s first individual exposition at Madrid’s Ansorena Gallery (2003): “It’s praiseworthy that this artist, born in the city of Constitución, with barely 50,000 inhabitants, far from the great cultural centers and isolated from Museums and Galleries, was educated as a painter by pure intuition and as a result of determination and hard work.”

In the search for something that would identify and define his work, at his second individual show at the Ansorena Gallery (2007) he displayed the works from the Museums Series. 

The Museums are sources in which many painters have found, aside from knowledge, inspiration, either by studying the great masters, copying their works or making new versions of them.

Carlos Vega is not oblivious to this influence and this series also incorporates information from the museums, perhaps in a more modest and straightforward manner but, at the same time, more contemporary.

He currently resides in Chinchón, a town of 5,000 inhabitants 45 kilometers [28 miles] from Madrid. 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2019      Carlos Vega. 2019 Ansorena Gallery Madrid. Spain

2013      Carlos Vega “Volver a Mirar” [Looking Again]. Embassy of Chile in Madrid. Spain.

2012       Carlos Vega. Bocetos de Museo [Museum Sketches]. Legacy Fine Art. Panama.

2011      Carlos Vega. 2011 Ansorena Gallery Madrid. Spain.

2007      Carlos Vega Faúndez. Ansorena Gallery. Madrid, Spain.

2006      Carlos Vega. Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY

               Carlos Vega. Ansorena Gallery. Madrid, Spain

2003     Carlos Vega. “Classicità e atmosfera” [Classicism and Atmosphere], Galleria Marieschi [Marieschi Gallery]. Milan, Italy.

              Carlos Vega. Ansorena Gallery. Madrid, Spain.

1998     Art Room of the Ministry of Education. Talca, Chile

1997     Galería de Arte Fabrics [Fabrics Art Gallery] Santiago, Chile.

1994     Cultural Extension Center, Universidad Católica del Maule. [Catholic University of Maule]. Talca, Chile.  

2019     Kiaf Art Seoul. Art Fair. Ansorena Gallery. Korea.

2012      ArtMadrid ‘12. 7th Contemporary Art Fair of Madrid.

2011     ArtMadrid ‘11. 6th Contemporary Art Fair of Madrid.

2010     “Réalistes espagnols” [Spanish Realists]. Galerie Taménaga [Taménaga Galerie]. Paris, France.

2009     Collective. Galería Mada Primavesi. Madrid.

             ARTEFAIM 2009. Palacio de Congresos [Congressional Palace]. Madrid.

             “Siete pintores realistas” [Seven Realist Painters]. Ansorena Gallery. Madrid.

2007     “La Scuola di Chinchón” [The School of Chinchón], Galleria 44, Turin, Italy.

             “Lenguajes pictoricos III” [Pictorial Languages III], Galería Espacio de Arte [Art Space Gallery], Olías del Rey, Toledo. Spain.

             “The School of Chinchón School,” Centro Cultural Villa de Móstoles [Villa de Móstoles Cultural Center] Madrid. Spain.

             1st Prize, Teraike International Realist Painting Contest. Pintando la Patagonia. [Painting Patagonia] Museo Regional de Magallanes.

             [Magallanes Regional Museum] Punta Arenas. Chile.

             Centro Cultural Estación de Puerto Varas [Estación de Puerto Varas Cultural Center], Chile.

             Museo de Artes Visuales Surazo, [Surazo Visual Arts Museum] Osorno, Chile

             Corporación Cultural de Las Condes [Las Condes Cultural Board], Santiago, Chile.

             Centro Cultural Borges [Borges Cultural Center] of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

 2006     Christmas Exposition, Sala de Exposiciones de La Academia [Academy Expo Hall]. Fundación ARAUCO

             [Contemporary Art and Authors Foundation],Chinchón, Madrid, Spain.

             “La Escuela de Chinchón”, Sala Amárica. [Chinchón School, Amárica Hall] Vitoria-Gasteiz. Spain.

2005     Christmas Exposition, Sala de Exposiciones de La Academia [Academy Expo Hall]. Fundación ARAUCO, Chinchón, Madrid, Spain.

             “Realismos” [Realisms], Galería de Arte Nova [Nova Art Gallery]. Malaga. Spain.

             “Realismos”, Cartel Gallery Mine Art, Granada. Spain.

             “Winter Group Exhibition”, Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY.

             Art Miami. Art Fair. Ansorena Gallery. United States.

             Tetralogia della Natura:[Tetralogy of Nature:] Terra” [Earth], Galleria Marieschi, Milan, Italy.

             “Hispanidad” [Spanish-speaking World], Galleria 44, Turin. Italy

 2004     Arte Fiera [Art Fair] 2004, Fair in Bologna, Italy.

             “Tetralogia della Natura: [Tetralogy of Nature:] Fuoco” [Fire], Galleria Marieschi, Milan, Italy.“Realismos” [Realisms], Castellana Art Gallery,

             “Les réalistes espagnols. [The Spanish Realists]. Une autre réalité [Another Reality]” Galerie Taménaga. Paris, France.

             ”La Escuela de Chinchón”. Ansorena Gallery. Madrid, Spain.

 2003     Arte Fiera [Art Fair] 2003, Fair in Bologna, Italy.

             “Tetralogia della Natura: [Tetralogy of Nature:] Acqua” [Water], Galleria Marieschi, Milan, Italy.

             “El vino en la pintura” [Wine in Painting], Cultural Extension Center, University of Talca, Chile.

             “73rd Anniversary of the Chilean Air Force.” Hotel Meliá Castilla. Madrid. Spain.

             “La Academia” [The Academy], Centro Cultural Moncloa [Moncloa Cultural Center]. Madrid City Council and Fundación ARAUCO, Madrid, Spain.

             “Patios y Jardines” [Courtyards and Gardens], Galeria P.E.A., Madrid, Spain.

             “Muñoz Vera y la Escuela de Chinchón: el paradigma constructivista”, [Muñoz Vera and the Chinchón School: the constructivist paradigm,

             ” Kur Gallery, San Sebastian, Spain.

             “Muñoz Vera and the School of Chinchón,” Plus One Plus Two Galleries, London, United Kingdom.

2002     “Muñoz Vera y la Escuela de Chinchón 2002” [Muñoz Vera and the School of Chinchón 2002], Fundación Arauco and Ansorena Gallery, Chinchon, Spain.

             “Muñoz Vera y la Escuela de Chinchón 2.002” [[Muñoz Vera and the School of Chinchón 2002], Ansorena Gallery, Madrid, Spain.

             “Muñoz Vera e la Scuola di Chinchón” [Muñoz Vera and the School of Chinchón], Galeria Marieschi, Milan, Italy.

2001     “El agua” [Water], Ansorena Gallery, Madrid, Spain.

             “Oleos y pequeños estudios de taller” [Oils and Small Workshop Studies], Fundación Arauco, Chinchón, Spain.

2000     “Realismos” [Realisms], Galería de Arte Nova [Nova Art Gallery]. Malaga, Spain.

             “Realismos” [Realisms], Cartel Gallery [Mine Art, Sign Gallery] Granada, Spain.

             14th National Ulpiano Checa Contest. First Prize.

             Colmenar de Oreja, Madrid, Spain.

             “El Bodegón en la Pintura Chilena” [The Still Life in Chilean Painting], Cultural Extension Center.

             University of Talca. Chile.

             “Muñoz Vera: Cinco miradas realistas y un punto de encuentro” [Five realist looks and a meeting point],

             Ansorena Gallery, Madrid, Spain.

1999     “Entorno al Prado” [Meadow Setting], Galería de Arte Victoria Hidalgo [Victoria Hidalgo Art Gallery]. Madrid, Spain.

             11th National “Parque del Buen Retiro” Contest, Casa de Vacas Cultural Center, Madrid, Spain

             “66th Autumn Show”, Casa de Vacas Cultural Center. Madrid, Spain.

             Eduardo Chicharro Painting Medal.

1991     Autumn Show, National Fine Arts Society, Santiago, Chile.