Osvaldo Budet

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Growing up in a country that is still a colony has made me conscious and curious of the relationships between figures of authority and the powerless. My role as an art maker is both a de-colonizing force and a non-objective observer of the political theater. Coupled with my fascination with political conflict, I have an insatiable obsession with documentary films, data, and the struggles for liberation from white supremacy, colonization, and climate catastrophe. In my work, I create spaces for dialogue and contemplation about these issues and possible solutions. In my series of paintings and drawings titled Political Landscapes, I use data to create images that portray the "reality" of a situation, and the titles of the pieces serve as essays to support viewers to engage with the images.

Osvaldo Budet (b.1979), San Juan, Puerto Rico. In his art practice, he explores the complexities of colonization and post-colonization. Completing his Masters in Fine Arts under Grace Hartigan (2008), he has resided in Australia since 2020. A recipient of esteemed awards and residencies, including the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg fellowship and the Leipzig International Art Program, Budet served as the pilot artist for the German Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Arctic residency. His work has been exhibited in museums like MAC-Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, Museo Arte de Puerto Rico, Me Collectors Room Berlin, Umweltbundesamt, Dessau, Germany, Institute of Puerto Rican Arts, Culture Museum, Chicago, USA, Museum of the art of Fort Lauderdale, and MOLAA Museum, Long Beach California. His work has also been included in gallery exhibitions at LAB Eigen+Art and MOMENTUM, Berlin, Germany; kunstwerk-spinnerei, Leipzig, Germany; Black and White Gallery, New York, USA; Walter Otero Gallery, Puerto Rico and the De la Cruz collection, USA.