Rafael E. Vera received his BFA and MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he was a recipient of the Edward L. Ryerson Fellowship Award and the George L. and Roman Siegel Fellowship Award. He currently teaches at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Northeastern Illinois University. Recent exhibitions and publications include New American Paintings, issue 107; Pillow Talk: New Sculptures by Rafael E. Vera, Seerveld Gallery, Palos Heights, IL; Nothing Concrete, Bert Green Fine Art, Chicago; Voids, The Franklin, Chicago; 21st Evanston and Vicinity Biennial, Evanston, IL; On Making Things Matter: Strategies for Preservation, SHOP, Chicago; and Double Tangent, and Cara and Cabezas, Kansas City, MO - in collaboration with Mara Baker.
His work is commonly installation-based as well as two and three-dimensional and oftentimes collaborative. His latest drawings and sculptures, directly based on his own house, search for those in-between spaces where void and the dividing line interact and coexist. They reference a limbo space that investigates his constant interest for the transition.
Recently, he curated the group show "Bad Editions" about alternative methods to printmaking with an emphasis in autobiographical themes. The exhibition runs from Septebmer 8 - October 8, 2016 at Loyola University's Ralph Arnold Gallery.
Rafael E. Vera was born and raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and presently lives with his wife and two kids, in a house with a front porch, in the city of Chicago.
