Romeo Galdámez

"My work evolves through exploration, territorial re-appropriations,
recomposing fragments of identity and memory..."

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Art as a path to a better world

Art for a better world / Arte para un mundo mejor / Art for a better world

LATIN ALLEGORY

Time and life. The becoming of the history of the days not only imposes on us a socially defined measure of time, but also constitutes the personal archeology of the account of what we have lived; Alegoría Latina invites us to create a close link with the particular elements of our existence through the narration of our stories, the warmest and most emotional, but also to reconstruct the collective memory of the peoples of Latin America, roots and presence in our Latin American and Caribbean journey. Enjoy this calendar, a meeting of images, nostalgia and promising future in the 12 pages of illusionary glances.

CAREER STORY

He creates and compiles images and objects that he takes from the history and social life of Latin American and international contexts. In his process of iconographic reappropriation, he produces a work, like a contemporary altarpiece, that registers the collage, where signs of national identities coexist with those of the vertiginous rhythm of globalization, testifying to the hybrid, which evidences the fragmentation and cultural transformation.

Art for a better world / Arte para un mundo mejor / Art for a better world

Jesus Romeo Galdámez

(Cinquera, Cabañas, El Salvador, 1956)

From 1972 to 1974, he studied the Bachelor of Arts at the National Arts Center of El Salvador. In 1975 he obtained a scholarship to study at the Institute of Arts of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where he obtained a degree in Plastic Arts in 1979. Between 1976 and 1977 he studied engraving at the Taller Libre de la Prefeitura de Porto Alegre. 

In 1979 he returned to El Salvador, where he taught art and became director of the Directorate of Publications and Printed Materials of the Ministry of Education, which he directed until January 1981, then emigrated to Mexico, where he lived from March 1981 to July 2003.

In Mexico, he settled in Mexico City, then worked at the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, in the city of Puebla and later in 1986 he moved to the cities of Patzcuaro and Morelia in the state of Michoacán, where he founded his production studio-workshop and developed a platform for promotion and distribution of his work nationally and internationally, venturing into circuits of galleries and exhibition spaces in Mexico, Canada, the United States of America and Europe. Along with his artistic production, he teaches art, graphic design and communication sciences at the middle and high school levels. Throughout this period he attends various courses, workshops, art seminars and is invited to lecture in various countries around the world.   

In 2003, he returns definitively to El Salvador. He establishes his studio in San Salvador and assumes positions as Coordinator of Visual Arts in the National Council for Culture and Art - CONCULTURA, the National Directorate of Arts in the Secretariat of Culture of the Presidency of the Republic and the Director of Cultural Promotion in the Directorate of Cultural Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until October 2022. He is currently retired and is dedicated to the production of his work as an author and as a consultant and manager in art and culture at national and international level.

EXHIBITIONS

He has presented his work as a solo artist in more than 40 exhibitions in Brazil, El Salvador, Uruguay, Canada, the United States and Mexico. Since 1976 he has participated in more than 120 international group exhibitions in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States of America, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

2024. POSTSCRIPT: TERRITORIES OF MEMORY. Hotel San Salvador Hyatt Centric.

2019. IDENTITY AND GLOBALITY. Cultural Space, El Salvador International Airport.

2018. CON(CERTO) COLLAGE: Identity in globality. Cultural Space, Embassy of Mexico. San Salvador.  

2008. POSDATA: IDENTIDADES COM(PARTIDAS) Centro Cultural de España. San Salvador, El Salvador.

2004. PAGES UNITED IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. Simultaneous exhibitions: El Atrio, La Ventana and Photo-Café. San Salvador. 

1998. CO(RAZÓN) COLLAGE. Museum of Contemporary Art "Alfredo Zalce", Morelia, Michoacán. Mexico.

1997. FRAGMENTS OF IDENTITY. Durham Art Guild, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

1995. FRAGMENTS OF IDENTIT . Open Studio Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada.

1992. LATIN AMERICA: 500 Years. Fifty Six Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

1989. Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Vancouver, BC, Canada.

1981. VISUAL RECORDS. Museo Universitario del Chopo, Universidad Autónoma de México. Mexico City. 

1978. TURMA GALLERY. Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. 

2024. SEM METAFORA. Sala Dos Pomares, Vera Chaves Barcellos Foundation, Viamao, RS. Brazil.

2024. WORK, FAITH AND JOY. MARTE Museum. San Salvador, El Salvador.

2024. THE EIGHTY-FIVE, VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION . Museum of National Identity . Tegucigalpa,        

           Honduras.

2021. REFLECTIONS OF THE REGRES0. Forma Museum. San Salvador, El Salvador.

2018. INFLUENCIAS DA ARTE POP EM ACERVOS DE PORTO ALEGRE. Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, RS. Brasil. 

2017-2022 / DIALOGUE IN SALVADORAN ART. Museum of Art of El Salvador- MARTE. San Salvador.   

2016. UN OLHAR DE BERLIM SOBRE A ARTE IMPRESSA EM PORTO ALEGRE DE 1960 A 2015.

Museum of Art of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, RS. Brazil. 

2016. HORROR VACUI Art of the postwar period. National Exhibition Hall "Salarrué". San Salvador, El Salvador.

2015. DESTINATION OF OBJECTS, VERA CHAVEZ BARCELOS COLLECTION. Viamao, Rio Grande do Sul. Brazil.

2012/2013. LOSING THE HUMAN FORM. A seismic image of the Latin American eighties

          Museo Nacional Centro Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain. 

2011-2016/ AL COMPÁS DEL TIEMPO Processes and influences in Salvadoran art. Museum of Art of El Salvador. 

           MARS.

2010/2011. CULTURAL CORRIDOR. Rozas-Botrán Foundation. Public spaces in Guatemala and San Salvador. 

2009. TERRITORIES /Art in the urban network. Public squares of San Salvador and Santa Tecla, El Salvador, C.A.

2009.TERRITORIES / Somarts Main Gallery La Fabri-K Collective. San Francisco, CA. USA. 

2008-2009. IR Y VENIR Migración e identidades en El Salvador. MUNA, San Salvador, El Salvador. 

2007-2010. REVIEWS Encounter with Salvadoran art. Museum of Art of El Salvador- MARTE.

2006. CONTEMPORARY ART OF EL SALVADOR. Somart Bay Gallery. San Francisco, CA. USA.  

2004. COLLAGE HEART. Cultural Center of Spain, San Salvador. El Salvador.

2002. THE EGO OF THE ARTIST. Alfredo Zalce Museum of Contemporary Art", Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico.

1997. Osaka Triennale-Print 8th-International Contemporary Art Competition. Osaka, Japan.

1994. Osaka Triennale-Print 5th- International Contemporary Art Competition.Osaka, Japan.
1994. 9th- Seol International Print Biennale,Il Min Center, Seoul, South Korea.

1992. VIII Iberoamerican Art Biennial, INBA, Instituto Cultural Domecq, Mexico, DF.
1990-1992.3 in 3- Three artists in three fields. Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru.

1987. La Joven Estampa Award. Haydeé Santamaría Gallery, Casa de Las Américas, Havana, Cuba . 

1985. ALTERNATIVE SPACES SECTION. Gallery of the National Auditorium. Mexico, D.F.Mexico.

1984. I Havana Biennial. Havana, Cuba. 

1979. IV Biennial of Latin American Engraving, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

1979. Triennial of Latin American Engraving, International Association of Art Critics - Argentine Section, 

            Buenos Aires. 

1978. 35th Paranaense Salon, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. 

1978. I American Biennial of Engraving, Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Mendoza, Argentina. 

1977. I SALON OF DRAWING OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL, MARGS, Porto Alegre, RS. Brazil.

1976. MANIFESTO EXHIBITION, Grupo Nervo Óptico, Museo de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS Brazil. 

2014. Mural The Glance of Monsignor RomeroMinistry of Foreign Affairs. Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador.

2011. Series of 12 works for the pictorial collection of the First Headquarters of Ciudad Mujer in Lourdes, La Libertad. 

2001. Collaborates in the elaboration of stained glass windows for the Templo La Inmaculada, Morelia, Michoacán. Mexico. 

1997. Serial mural for twelve buildings of the Banco de Construcción y Ahorro- BANCASA, El Salvador. 

1992. Mural for Multivideo Mexicano, S.A de C.V. building in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico.  

He has been a precursor and active member for fifty years of the international art network Correo, through which he participates in multiple events and exhibitions in different countries around the world.

COLLECTIONS

His work is part of public and private collections in Latin America and the Caribbean, USA, Canada, European Community, Japan and Australia, including: Museo de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul-MARGS and Museo de Arte Contemporánea do Rio Grande do Sul-MACRS of Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, Museo de Arte de El Salvador- MARTE, Colección Casa de Las Américas, Havana, Cuba, Colección Leticia and Stanislas Poniatowski, Paris, France, Fundación Rozas-Botran, Guatemala and Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca, Mexico.

ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT

In the academic field, he has taught at the Centro Nacional de Artes in San Salvador, El Salvador. CA. 1979. Instructor of free workshops of Plastic Expression at the Museo Universitario del Chopo of the Universidad Autónoma de México- UNAM, Mexico. 1981. Michoacán School of Design, Morelia, Michoacán (1986-1996). Professor of Communication Sciences at the Universidad Latina de América, Morelia, Michoacán (1996-1997) and at the Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico (2002-2003). Mexico (2002-2003). 

He has been curator and jury member for three decades of various visual arts exhibitions, both public and private, in Mexico and El Salvador; he has also been editor, artistic producer and consultant.

He has participated in several congresses, seminars, meetings, round tables and given international conferences on art, culture and communication in different countries, including Brazil, Cuba, El Salvador, Canada, USA, Mexico and the Russian Federation: Brazil, Cuba, El Salvador, Canada, USA, Mexico and Russian Federation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First Bachelor of Fine Arts, El Salvador in 1974. 

Honorable Mention at the First Drawing Salon of Rio Grande Do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 1977. 

Acquisition Prize at the 35th Salon Paranaense, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil in 1978. 

Special Mention at the I Biennial of Havana, Havana, Cuba, 1984. 

Ingenio Award 2008, as a member of La FábriK.. Collective. National Registration Center. El Salvador.

BIBLIOGRAPHY .

2024. Art of social content in El Salvador by Mario Castrillo. 2015. SALVADORAN ART Chronology of the visual arts 1821-2015 by Jorge Palomo. Edition Museo de Arte de El Salvador.2011. Processes of art in El Salvador by. Astrid Bahamond. Directorate of Publications and Printed Matter. Secretariat of Culture. El Salvador. 1998. CO(RAZON) COLLAGE. Book-object. GraficAArte Editions. Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico. 

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

  1. Documentary IDENTITY AND GLOBALITY, THE ART OF ROMEO GALDAMEZ. Director Edson Amaya, Producer ARTV. El Salvador. 
  2. Documentary CO(REASON) COLLAGE ROMEO GALDAMEZ. Director Norman Douglas. El Salvador.

TAGS

Visual artist, artists from El Salvador, mail art, Latin American art, global culture, postmodern, photography, collage, mixed media.

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