Javier Calvo (San José, Costa Rica, 1981) is a visual artist based in San José, Costa Rica. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art and Visual Communication with a specialization in printmaking from the National University of Costa Rica.
According to the curator Thiago Sant’ana, Calvo’s work investigates how nation-building projects were constructed in Latin America, specifically in Costa Rica. Questioning the myth of white supremacy and the idea of racial superiority, Calvo delves into how monuments were thought of as a strategy to establish an official narrative of the State. Through performative actions, which unfold at times into videos and photographs, the artist weaves, through visual rebellion –a crossing between conceptions of identity, cultural heritage, and institutional policies– pointing out how these factors permeate individual and collective bodies with the aim of generating a conformation in the face of the power discourses and discipline of the State.
Calvo has exhibited his work individually at MADC, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, San José; National Gallery, San José; Kiosko Gallery, Santa Cruz de la Sierra; Reunión, San José; Sol del Río, Guatemala City. His work has also been shown at LAXART, Los Angeles; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf; Despacio, San José; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam Havana; Teor/éTica, San José; Bienal de Curitiba, Curitiba; Bienal de Pontevedra, Pontevedra; Central American Biennial, Limón; and Bienal Internacional de Asunción, Asunción.
He is the recipient of numerous accolades, among them the Salón Nacional art prize at the Costa Rican Art Museum, the National Award J. Aquileo Echeverría, and Inquieta Imagen Award, 7th Edition, MADC, Museum of Contemporary Art and Design.
Finally, Calvo has participated in various residency programmes, such as PIVO residency program, São Paulo, Brazil; Iberoamerican Artists, FONCA-AECID, Mexico; Kiosko Residency Program, Bolivia; and was selected by La Espira/la Espora to represent Costa Rica in Fase 2, Fase 3 and Fase 4.
