Art Portfolio
Welcome to Gabriela (Gaby) Torres Vanegas’ Art portfolio!
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Gaby is a multidisciplinary artist mainly working in digital media and painting. Through her paintings, GIFs, and AR experiences, she hopes to elicit a childlike wonder while also stimulating critical thinking.
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" My work examines and questions the different systems we live by that shape our social life, while also limiting it. It aims to elicit meaningful and uncomfortable conversations that bring art at the political, social, economic, and intellectual levels of discussion. I aim to expose our shared existence by drawing inspiration from fairy tales, artistic figures - like Van Gogh, DalÃ, and Toulouse Lautrec -, human psychology, fiction books, the dense diversity of existing human circles, and the complexity of our societal constructs. The thematic in my art is a dialogue between similarities and differences, the real and the unreal chains that brings us together, but paradoxically pushes us apart. My goal is to make even the most sadistic and apathetic person stop, look at my work, and be willing to open the room for uncomfortable conversations that should happen."
Selected work
*AR installation piece for the 2024 NEXTCOMIC Festival
This is an AR installation piece narrates the modern everyday. When was the last time you watch a flower bloom? Accompanied with the Orchestra of Anton Bruckner, the work brings the viewer to an infinite cycle of the modern every day where every day is the same day
AR with Trigger image
Everyday is the Same Day
For this Augmented Reality (AR) piece, Gaby worked with nostalgia and the inevitable distance to her culture as she resides in Canada. The work brings the viewer into a virtual dinner table composed of 2d images that showcases all the food and iconic items of her city, Cali. As It references Gaby's reality, it can only be accessed through a screen
AR Installation with Anchor Image
My Colombian Dinner Table
This painting is a self portrait of Gaby that aims to answer the question "what does it means to meet new people?" The viewer is invited to see and explore the areas within the space. Some of these areas are wide open while others have limited visibility
36" x 48", Acrylic on canvas
El Latir de un Lugar Desconocido
All Work
30" x 48" Acrylic on Canvas
La Vida, El Latir, La Esperanza
Artist Bio
Gabriela (Gaby), born in Cali, Colombia, is a multidisciplinary artist whose main mediums are digital media and painting, particularly in oil and acrylic. Her work provokes mindful reflection on cultural norms, barriers, and societal issues. A self-taught artist, Gaby discovered her passion for the arts at a later age and has pursued it passionately. Holding an undergraduate degree in Visual Arts with a minor in Psychology from the University of Victoria, her academic journey provided a foundation for her exploration of the human psyche through artistic expression. Notably, she was awarded the 2022/23 Takao Tanabe Undergraduate Award in Visual Arts, a testament to her dedication. Her work has been on exhibitions such as "YOU ARE WELCOME" at the Pat Martin Bates Gallery in Victoria, BC, and "NEXTCOMIC 2024" in Linz, Austria. A central staple in her practice is the incorporation of the primary colors (yellow, blue, and red) as Easter eggs to honor her Colombian roots and symbolize everything, as colors originate from the three primaries.