Embassy Exhibition - Madrid, Spain

In July of 2019 Simon alongside Wolf & Nomad Gallery were honored to participate in an exclusive exhibition at the Colombian Embassy in Madrid, Spain.

The Embassy selected Simon to showcase over 25 new pieces during a celebratory event honoring Colombian Independence Day.

The grand event took place in the Cultural Center of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a fitting setting for Simon’s magical-realism centric works. There were over 500 prestigious guests in attendance all treated to musical numbers, speeches, and plenty of Colombian delicacies and flowers everywhere!

A portrait from Simon’s series Mujeres de Providencia that had been purchased by a Spanish art collector was loaned out for the event, bringing together a well balanced exhibition of new and older pieces.

Simon and the gallery were fortunate to nearly sell out over the course of the first two days with enthusiastic clients and several prospective future projects in the works.

It was an honor for Simon to exhibit with success in an event honoring his two home countries of Colombia and Spain all under one roof!

El Tucan Miami : Restaurant Mural Commission

Following Art Basel and winter vacations Simon began work on a series of commissioned large scale hand painted murals in Miami’s restaurant/lounge hotspot “El Tucan.”

The restaurant has been around for many years and locals and tourists alike know it for their elaborate cabaret performances. The owners decided to do a full remodel of the massive space, including decor, menu, and nightly entertainment. Simon was contracted to bring his touch of jungle magic realism to 5 walls in the enormous space in bustling Brickell.

After over a month and a half of extra long days and nights the murals were completed and the rest of the renovations along with them.

The restaurant re-opened in March with several extravagant opening events to much fanfare and success. The walls and detailed bar area that Simon worked on were applauded by all who attended.

This was Simon’s largest commission project to date and included an entrance “instagram wall” with cheetah, toucan, and a neon feature. He also completed an impressive lush chinoiserie inspired bar area with 18 ft ceilings that included dozens of toucans perched in treetops surrounding the gigantic rococo crystal chandelier.

The last mural was the largest of the group measuring over 20ft long and depicting an entire jungle scene complete with a white monkey, a crouching jaguar, as well as elaborate vegetation and floral components throughout.

The project was a huge success and has lead to more commissioned murals for Simon and Wolf&Nomad Gallery in the near future.

AAF NYC - Spring 2019

At the end of March of 2019 Simon exhibited with Wolf&Nomad Gallery back where it all began in NYC at the incredible and vibrant Affordable Art Fair NYC spring edition. The fair was an immense success with works selling quickly to an enthusiastic audience full of discerning New York and international clients.

Simon exhibited new works and showcased a beautiful large scale oil painting from his series “Mujeres de Providencia.”

It was wonderful to be back in New York City alongside friends and family in such an exuberant and successful moment for the artist and gallery.

We look forward to attending the fair again in Spring 2020!

New Miami Restaurant & Lounge Mural Commission

We are pleased to announce that Wolf and Nomad has secured yet another important large scale mural commission for our highly sought after artist Simon Vargas. Although details are still top secret we are excited for this extremely influential project and cannot wait for the final outcome.

The space is located in the heart of Brickell and is a frequent hot spot for dinner and late night entertainment. Simon has been contracted to do a selection of large walls and spaces throughout the building including a glamorous bar area, the VIP section of the lounge/club and the highly anticipated entrance wall when you first walk into the grand space. The job will take place over the course of February and March with several VIP openings slated for Middle of March 2019.

We can’t wait to share more updates as they are released.

Keep an eye out for more to come!

Cartagena - New Years Exhibition - 2018/2019

Simon and the Wolf & Nomad team had an extremely successful week in Colombia during the last week of 2018 ringing in the new year in style with an incredibly beautiful show of works on paper at the Galeria Arzobispado in the charming old town of Cartagena, Colombia.

The show was widely attended by the movers and shakers of Colombia, as well as foreigners from all over the world during Cartagena’s highest season of the year. The show took place over the course of 7 days with multiple exciting VIP opening events.

Within the first two days the gallery had sold 75% of the works available, and by the end of the show all works had sold to enthusiastic collectors, foreigners and locals alike. The show was attended by local press as well as many domestic and foreign people of interest including the newly appointed Vice President of Colombia and her family.

A big thank you to the entire gallery team at Wolf&Nomad and Galeria Arzobispado, this was an incredible collaborative effort in one of the most magical cities ever. A perfect location to receive these pieces which are so enveloped in magic realism.

Miami Art Basel Recap 2018

After an immensely busy and successful week at Art Basel Miami 2018 we are so thrilled to announce some updates about Simon’s incredible solo exhibition!

One wall of the exhibition space: shown left to right: Sabina, Kaina, and Kelsi

The show took place over the course of five days at the fresh and trendy Aqua Art Miami fair in the heart of Miami Beach. The fair was located just steps away from the Basel convention center and drew immense international crowds throughout the entire duration of the fair.

During the VIP preview we received extensive press coverage from local news sources, as well as international art magazines, photo journalists, and many well known guests. It was an incredibly exciting week and we are proud to report that more than half the works in the show sold to an enthusiastic crowd. All 20 works on paper sold out completely. Several of the large scale portraits from “Mujeres de Providencia” also sold to discerning collectors with several additional sales of the remaining pieces currently in the works.

VIP Preview ambiance - with coverage by ABC News

The exhibition was proclaimed by all who organized the fair as one of the most prominent and exciting shows to watch throughout all of Art Basel, and we received incredible feedback from attendees from all walks of life.

The emotional roller coaster ride for Simon and our team was beautiful as visitors could not help proclaiming their adoration for the powerful and expressive painted portraits. Our audience applauded, wept, laughed, danced, and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, making it that much more special for Simon and the rest of the team who put countless hours into this labor of love.

Fair atmosphere

We could not be more proud or appreciative to our incredible support network and the fantastic collectors, friends, visitors, and press that attended this memorable occasion.

A big thank you to all who came by!

For more information on the show or the pieces that sold please contact our gallery team.

A second wall in the space - left to right: Maczeene, Yearly, & Katya

Her Name Was Carmen - SoHo, Manhattan

In November of 2018 Simon completed his much anticipated project at Soho’s newest popular and chic watering hole “Her Name Was Carmen.” The restaurant and lounge club has been a huge hit bringing in a well heeled crowd from around the globe.

The food is delicious and creative, drinks tropical and strong, while all the while SImon’s hand painted jungle mural brings life to the space in a most intriguing and delightful way. The huge painted mural entices diners from the upstairs level to descend into “Carmen’s World” bringing on nights of endless dancing and debauchery!

Come check it out at 527 Broome St New York, NY 10013!

Art Basel Miami 2018

As The fair quickly approaches we are in crunch mode over at Wolf & Nomad. In the process of sending out press packets, save the dates, VIP passes and more. We are so excited to welcome the international art community to Miami to visit this incredibly powerful solo show by Simon Vargas. Please contact our gallery team if you need invites or press kits. See you in Miami Beach!

NYC Restaurant Mural Commission

Wolf & Nomad has signed off on a large scale commissioned project to take place in November 2018 in New York City. The project will include a large scale hand painted mural by featured artist Simon Vargas. The mural will span over two large walls in a brand new high end Latin American restaurant and bar space located in SoHo, Manhattan.

The mural is inspired by Simon’s recent collage works, but instead of paper the artist will go all out with high quality oil paints and gold metallic elements. The artist will accomplish an enormous custom piece for the restaurant/lounge club over the course of several weeks this fall in NYC.

This is a developing project/story…

EXCLAMA Article : NATURALEZA HUMANA

Artist Simon Vargas was just featured in Revista Exclama’s summer edition of their publication. The article discusses Simon’s recent collage work and the process he uses to locate inspiration for these unique pieces. The article highlights several interesting components of the series topics and themes. Exclama features a beautiful selection of Simon’s work and provides the reader with some context about works on paper and collage pieces as an art form.

The article can be accessed here

Introductory Statement for Collage Series

Simon Vargas: Art Fair Introductory Excerpt 2018

These collage pieces are one of a kind works that are sourced from scientific illustrations, vintage fashion editorials, and combined with hand made illustrated components. Through these collages Simon invites the audience into a world of his own creation. A world of fantasy, enticing objects, diverse flora and fauna and unique ambiguous human forms. The concept is to draw attention to our magical connection with mother nature and to showcase a fantastical realm of humans and nature coexisting in harmony. The majority of the human forms in this series are shown as being racially ambiguous and often gender fluid. This gives the viewer a chance to take in the piece without any social constructs or preconceptions.

This collage series has already been widely successful for Simon, selling out during his first solo exhibition in Bogota, Colombia in May and with increasing placement in international fairs and boutique shops in Miami and other major US cities. These pieces are for meant for everyone and instantly bring light and livelihood to any room or space.

Follow Simon on Instagram: @Saivargas

Check out his site: https://simonvargasart.com/