Manny Vega

Manny Vega
Manny Vega
Born	February 10, 1956 Bronx, New York
Nationality	American
Alma mater	High School of Art and Design
Website	www.artbyMannyVega.com

Manny Vega is an American painter, illustrator, printmaker, muralist, mosaicist, and set and costume designer. His work portrays the history and traditions of the African Diaspora that exist in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Early life

Manny Vega joined the artist collective Taller Boricua in 1979 where he studied through 1986. While there he was also a pupil of Harlem printmaker Robert Blackburn at his Printmaking Workshop from 1980-1990.

Works

Among Vega's public art projects are a mosaic mural at the Pregones Theater in the Bronx, a mosaic mural portrait of Julia De Burgos in East Harlem, a series of mosaic panels for the 110 street train station, also in East Harlem, as well as a series of painted murals throughout New York City.

For many years, Vega has been teaching visual arts for organizations such as El Museo del Barrio, Arts Connection, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Caribbean Cultural Center. He has exhibited extensively in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Brazil.

Vega has created set designs and costumes for DanceBrazil and The American Place Theater.

Since 1984, Manny has been traveling to Salvador, Bahia in Brazil, where he has been initiated into the Afro Brazilian temple known as "Ile Iya Omi Ase Iya Masse". As a member of the temple, his creative talents have been utilized to create some of the most elaborate ritual costumes and accessories. His work in this medium has been documented by the Fowler Museum of UCLA, the Smithsonian, as well as Dartmouth College. This body of work has been documented in the book, Beads, Body, and Soul: Art and Light in the Yoruba Universe,^[1] as well as the book, The Yoruba Artist.^[2]

His current focus is to create a series of mosaic projects, based on study of classic Byzantine mosaic fabrication, to adopt this style to modern day imagery, which he calls "Byzantine Hip Hop".

Perspective

For the last 25 years, Manny has been intentionally building a bridge between his life in urban New York City and Salvador, Bahia, where he has been able to recognize cultural and spiritual facets of his life in both locations. He has a deep commitment to the preservation of our historical existence as well as innovation to reflect present day influences. His devotion to craftsmanship, together with his appreciation for history have created a unique and important body of work that portray the humanity and dignity of a people in these times.

Notes

1. Drewal, Henry John; Mason, John: "Beads, Body and Soul: Art and Light In the Yoruba Universe." University of California, Los Angeles, 1997. ISBN 0-930741-63-3
2. Abiodun, Roland. Drewal, Henry. Pemberton, John III: "The Yoruba Artist: New Theoretical Perspectives on African Arts." Smithsonian, 1994. ISBN 1-56098-340-X