"I cannot help but think and feel that the processes through which a society conceives of, reaffirms, or questions its identity resonate with the very same processes experienced by an individual when confronted with the urgency of their own identity. Despite all the unimaginable differences between them, these are processes that interest me, from the individual to the collective.”

1. BIOGRAPHY

Encompassing photography and video, Alexander Apóstol’s practice has revealed the different codes of gender, race and identity that accompany the ideologies of Latin America, incorporating the colorful, optimistic imaginary of modernization as well as the catalog of corporeal, sexualized fantasies of the continent’s nationalisms and populisms.
His work oscillates between Venezuela’s dichotomous traditional visuals: on the one hand, the historicist, nativist vision developed by realist painters—patronized by the Marcos Pérez Jiménez dictatorship—which has been prolonged by the tragicomic staging of the current Bolivarian regime, and on the other, constructivism’s utopia of energetic, corporeal reinvention during the oil boom, from 1960 to 1970. Alexander Apóstol’s work has been subject to solo exhibitions, including at MAMBO, Bogotá (2024); MUAC, Mexico City (2023); Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires (2023); CA2M, Madrid (2022); MALBA, Buenos Aires (2017); Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City (2015); Centro de la Imagen, Lima (2011); MUSAC, León, Spain (2010); and Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami (2006).

He was also invited to many collective international shows such as the Cuenca Biennial (2004, 2023); EVA International, Ireland (2018); the 12th Shanghai Biennial (2018); the 12th Gwangju Biennial (2018); BIENALSUR (2017); Les Rencontres d’Arles (2017); Manifesta 9, Genk (2013); the 16th Mercosul Biennial, Brazil (2010); the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); the Prague Biennial (2003, 2005); the 8th Istanbul Biennial (2003); Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse, France (2003); the São Paulo Biennial (2002); PhotoEspaña, Madrid (2003); FotoFest, Houston (2002); the Havana Biennial (1997).

He participated to numerous exhibitions in international institutions such as Les Abattoirs, Toulouse (2024); CAAC, Sevilla (2024); Institute for Cotemporary Art, Virginia (2023); Musée du Quai Branly, Paris (2020); Sala Alcala 31, Madrid (2019); Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014); MUAC, Mexico City (2014); JUMEX Foundation, Mexico City (2011); MOCA, Toronto (2011); Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (2007), and more.

Apóstol’s works are part of important public and private collections, such as the Tate Modern, London; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid; Perez Art Museum, Miami; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation CIFO, Miami; Museo Banco de la República, Bogotá; Fundación ARCO, Madrid; MUSAC, León; Museo del Barrio, New York; MNBA, Buenos Aires; among others.