Tomás Rivas (b. 1975, Santiago de Chile) earned a BFA and a post-baccalaureate degree from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. As an undergraduate, he received a Università degli Studi di Genova Scholarship to pursue Italian studies; while in Italy, he worked in Milan as a printmaking apprentice. He later attended the University of Notre Dame where he completed his MFA in sculpture. Rivas currently lives and work in Santiago de Chile.
Rivas has obtained several academic grants and scholarships. In 1995 and 2001 he received from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Santiago two scholarships to complete his Bachelor and post-baccalaureate degree. In 2002 he receives from University of Notre Dame a Graduate Fellowship Teaching Assistantship to pursue his Master degree. In 2004, Rivas received the 1984 Foundation Fellowship for his participation in “Project for the Study and Publication of the Greek Architecture at Corinth,” directed by Professor Robin F. Rhodes. His 2005 MFA thesis exhibit received two prestigious awards: the Outstanding Student Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture of the International Sculpture Center, publishers of Sculpture magazine; and the Snite Museum of Art’s Walter R. Beardsley Award for Best in Show. In 2006, Rivas was the recipient of a Scope Emerging Artist Grant from the Scope Foundation in New York. In 2008, he was the recipient of Beca AMA, Santiago, Chile and Fondart for the group exhibition project titled Material Ligero.
His work has appeared in numerous group exhibits, including most recently; Slash, Paper under the knife, Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY; Material Ligero, VCA (Victorian College of the Arts) Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; Flujo, Museo de Artes Visuales, Santiago, Chile; Pessoal, Dibujos Romances, Zavaleta Lab, Buenos Aires Argentina; Boyscraft, Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel; Sonotube Forms, Contemporary Art and Transportation, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Santa Barbara, CA; Abre-alas 2007, Galería A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Feedback, Matucana 100, Santiago; Alegoría barroca en el arte contemporáneo, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago; Conversions, Ellipse Arts Center, Arlington, VA.
Rivas’s work explores the historic tension between two-dimensional and three-dimensional representation. His ongoing investigation of the representation of space addresses the complexity of art production today, where the center and the periphery vie for political clout within the mainstream. Playing with linear perspective, ornamentation, and unorthodox materials, Rivas’s work also investigates how the viewer’s cultural expectations frame perception.
[Text via the artist's website]
For additional information about this artist, visit Mutual Art
