Jose M. Ramirez

My photographic work addresses the ways in which we assimilate the world around us and human communication mechanisms, through conceptual portraits and semantic landscapes; I am interested in the use of the landscape approach to the study of social phenomena and portraiture as a strategy for understanding human nature.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela. Artist, Teacher, Researcher, and Consultant based in the USA. His work has been shown in multiple collective exhibitions: among them the Art Hall of Aragua, the Arturo Michelena Room, the Velada Santa Lucia. He has exhibited individually in the National Library of Venezuela, the Alejandro Otero Museum and in prestigious national and international galleries. In 2008 he won the first prize (Henrique Avril) of the national Biennial of Photography.

His portfolios are included in public and private collections, and in the audiovisual archive of the National Library of Venezuela. In 2013 he was the coordinator of FotoEspaña portfolio viewing in Caracas. From 2011 to 2020 he was director of the Center for Research and Photographic Studies - CiEF (ciefve.com). Between 2016 and 2018 he was a guest professor at the Altos de Chavón design school. In 2017 developed an artistic residence in Altos de Chavón of which the project "East or West?" Winner of the 2018 Chris Brown Scholarship at Santa Fe Workshops.

Member of the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts (VAEA).

Member of the Society for Photographic Education (SPE).

Professor of the College of Arts and Letters of the University of Tampa.

Books

Liquido Propicio - Poemas - Caracas

Este u Oeste? - A Photographic project - Dominican Republic

Group shows

Salón de arte de Aragua 2008 y 2010 (mención honorífica), Venezuela.

Bienal Nacional de Fotografia 2008 (ganador del premio Henrique Avril), Venezuela.

Salón Juan Lovera 2007 y 2008, Venezuela.

Salón Dycvensa 2009, Venezuela.

Salón de arte Arturo Michelena 2010, Venezuela.

Velada Santa Lucia 2012, Camara oscura, Venezuela.

Velada Santa Lucia 2013, Tortura de la luz, Venezuela.

SlideLuck Caracas 2014, Haciéndonos cola, Venezuela.

Realidades Instantaneas 2015, Sala TAC, Venezuela.

Absent Portraits 2019, ARTLima, Peru.

Utopias y distopias en el paisaje contemporaneo 2019-2020, BienalSur, Ecuador.

SAINT PETERSBURG MONTH OF PHOTOGRAPHY, Photo Laureate Finalist, Morean Arts Center, St Petersburg, Florida 2024.

Individual shows

Re-visiones (Fotografias intervenidas por Cynthia Bustillos), Photomatón Caracas, 2009, Venezuela.

Presencias reales, Galeria RMTF, 2010, Venezuela.

Paraguana, Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela, 2010, Venezuela.

Paraguana, dilemas luminiscentes, Museo Alejandro Otero, 2011, Venezuela.

No-Ávila, Sala 1 Fundalamas, 2013, Venezuela.

Todo incluido, Centro de Artes Integradas, 2014, Venezuela

Ligeras variaciones, El anexo arte contemporaneo, 2014, Venezuela.

XVI, Teatro Baralt de Maracaibo, 2015, Venezuela.

XVI, Alianza francesa de Mérida, 2016, Venezuela.

¿Este u Oeste?, 2017, Estudios Davidoff, Altos de Chavón, Republica Dominicana.