Santiago Montoya
Colombian, b. 1974
Santiago Montoya’s work follows a multidisciplinary approach that embraces traditional painting practice in tandem with found objects and video documentary. In carefully structured series, he combines the organised aesthetics of materials and mediums loaded with cultural meaning, resulting in collections where appearance and concept bear equal weight. Montoya comments on a broad swathe of political and social issues, from conservation and dispossession to the transmission of information. He aims to probe questions at assumed – or learned – narratives and bring to light the victory of human endeavour in the face of adversity.
Montoya was born in 1974 in Bogotá, Columbia. He began painting at the age of 8 and by 10 he was taking classes with a local artist. Moving back to Bogotá, Montoya attended high school and undertook a mandatory year of military service. He then enrolled on a Master of Fine Arts at the Universidad de los Andes and studied with the multimedia artist Luis Roldán, receiving training in a wide range of artistic disciplines. In 1999 he took part in group exhibitions in Colombia and Germany, holding his first solo show, Camila.
Montoya’s first major sequence of works was Target (2003), a set of circle paintings based on geometric abstraction, which marked his first major experimentation. Following this, a chance viewing of an exhibition in New York introduced him to the work of the American conceptual sculptor Tom Friedman. Influenced by Friedman’s subtle humour and use of ready-mades, Montoya began to incorporate found materials into his own work. The resulting Digital File series (2004–2007) comprises a collection of square compositions constructed from previously painted canvases, referencing modern methods of storing information.
Taking Andy Warhol’s statement ‘I like money on the wall’ as a literal starting point, Montoya turned to paper currency as a medium. The Great Swindle (2007–2012) considers money as a platform of political propaganda, exploiting iconic subjects to bolster power and embed imagery in the national consciousness. The series journeys through history, exploring iconography and idealism across a cultural spectrum, from model planes and boats inspired by Communist China’s food coupons of the 1950s and 1960s, to portraits of fallen dictators. On a formal level, Montoya perfects his fabrication process, using artworks meticulously constructed of banknotes as aesthetic representations of his research. In 2012 The Great Swindle series was exhibited at 星空传媒果冻国产入口, marking Montoya’s first solo show with the gallery.
Improbable Landscapes, the artist’s second solo show at 星空传媒果冻国产入口 in 2014, launched his series of large tapestries, followed by Tally Sticks Project: a large site-specific installation created by Montoya for presentation in the main gallery. In October 2015, 星空传媒果冻国产入口 presented Unfinished Business, a continuation of the artist’s dialogue spotlighting society’s contemporaneous relationships with money and economics. Following on from this success, 2017 marked Surfin’ USA, a solo exhibition which explored culture, currency and political issues in America.
2017 saw Montoya experimenting further by introducing chocolate as a medium. His exhibition Missteps and other paths at the Somerville Museum, Massachusetts, celebrated the riches of Colombia’s land, while shedding light on its exploitation. The series references El Dorado, the mythical lost city of gold. Supposedly hidden somewhere in South America, the myth became a symbol for 16th and 17th century colonial expeditions and the endless European impulse to exploit these lands. The exhibition saw visitors reinterpreting the dubious path to riches through installation and immersion.
Montoya has exhibited at many art fairs and has shown widely in South America, Europe, and the United States. His works are held in several international public and private collections including the Embassy of Colombia in London, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Massachusetts, Dell Children’s Medical Centre, Austin, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington D.C, Jill & Peter Kraus, and Estrellita & Daniel Brodsky, amongst others. In 2024, Montoya’s work Names in the Sand was acquired by the Banco de la República in Colombia, joining its prestigious permanent collection. This work comprises six handcrafted hourglasses filled with sand and gold that celebrate Colombian identity via artisanal practice and continued awareness of Colombia’s immense natural wealth and abundant resources.
In 2024, a site-specific installation, The White House, was presented at Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington D.C. Montoya’s installation consists of twelve houses of various sizes, dispersed across the museum gardens, 11 of which are made of coal bound with resin. The titular ‘white house’ is made of white chocolate, and rests on a coal plinth within the museum. In this piece, Montoya posits a relationship between his houses and other cultural artifacts at Dumbarton Oaks, which also have been lifted out of their places of origin and juxtaposed with objects from different cultural contexts. As a historic property which houses an extensive library and a world-renowned collection of Pre-Columbian artifacts, Dumbarton Oaks also serves as a humanities research institute affiliated with Harvard University. Also in 2024, Montoya’s Pac-Man series was featured in the 星空传媒果冻国产入口 group show POP!, focusing on the legacy of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring to the present day.
In 2025, Montoya’s work has featured in 星空传媒果冻国产入口’s group exhibition Sacred and Profane, a show which examined how contemporary artists address modern issues through religious iconography, as well as 星空传媒果冻国产入口’s Summer Exhibition, which examines the power of colour and its perception.
TRAINING
2000 MA Fine Arts, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Columbia
AWARDS
2006 Shortlisted for IV Uniandinos (Alumni Association of the University of Los Andes) Arts Prize, Galería Espacio Alterno, Bogotá, Colombia
COLLECTIONS
Museo Banco de la Repulica, Bogotá, Colombia
Espacio El Dorado, Bogotá, Columbia
Rose Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA
Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA
Dell Children's Medical Centre, Texas, USA
Jill & Peter Kraus Collection
Estrellita & Daniel Brodsky Collection
Hugo Quinto Collection, Guatemala
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, USA
AMA|Art Museum of the Americas, OAS, Washington, D.C., USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
Embassy of Colombia, London, UK
The Farm Group Collection, London, UK
Shikumen Capital Collection, Hong Kong, China
Universidad de los Andes Art Collection, Bogotá, Colombia
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 The White House, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington D.C, USA
2022 Let's Do The Number, Context Art Miami, Miami, FL, USA
2022 Se Va el Caiman, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
2022 The Original’s Inn, Somervile Museum, Somerville, MA, USA
2021 Santiago Montoya - Quinine Dissecting Series, Context Art Miami, Miami, FL, USA
2019 (Fool's) Gold Digging, Solo Project with Espacio El Dorado, UNTITLED Art Fair, Miami, FL, USA
2018 If So What? Art Fair, San Francisco, California, USA
2017 Mal Paso (y Otros Senderos), Espacio El Dorado, Bogotá, Colombia, USA
2017 Surfin' USA, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2016-2017 The Great Swindle, AMA | Art Museum of the Americas, OAS Washington D.C, MD, USA
2016 Money Talks, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2015 Unfinished Business, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2015 Embassy of Colombia, London, UK
2014 Tally Sticks Project, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2014 Improbable Landscapes, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2012 The Great Swindle, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2009 The Great Swindle, B-146 Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
2008 News from Africa, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2002 Circle, 108 Fine Art, Miami, FL, USA
2001 Recent Works, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
1999 Camila, Galería Espacio, Bogotá, Colombia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Summer Exhibition, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2025 Sacred and Profane, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2024 2024 Nación Vorágine, Univerisdad de los Andres, Bogotá, Colombia
2024 POP!, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2023 Infidels, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2023 El Dorado, The American Society, New York, USA
2023 El Dorado, Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2021 Soft Focus, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2021 Elsewhere(s), curated by Estrellita Brodsky & Jose Falconi, Untitled Art Fair, Miami, FL, USA
2020 Seeds of Resistance, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI, USA
2020 US NOW, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2018 Comfortably Numb: A Critical Investigation into the Culture of Drugs and Narcotics, Another Space, New York, , USA
2018 Dulce Tumaco: Una Mirada Desde el Arte y las Historias Locales, Espacio Flora, Bogotá, Colombia
2018 El Tiempo Del Fin, ICPNA (Peruvian North American Cultural Institute), Lima, Peru
2017 Pelé: Art Life Football, National Football Museum, Manchester, UK
2017 Origins, Colby Art Museum, Waterville, ME, USA
2016 Summer Exhibition, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2015 Pelé: Art, Life, Football, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2015 Repeat to Change, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
2015 The Art of Creating, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2014 Conscientia: Latin American Consciousness, Lloyds Club, London, UK
2013 Iconic: Warhol, Montoya, Perucchetti, 星空传媒果冻国产入口, London, UK
2013 Innner Journeys, Maison Particulière, Brussels, Belgium
2011 Solemn, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2009 Tina b. [This Is Not Another Biennial] Contemporary Art Festival, Prague, Czech Republic
2009 Formarte, Fundación Corazón Verde, Bogotá, Colombia
2008 Art Exchange, B-146 Gallery, Zürich, Switzerland
2008 Certain Things, True Things, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2008 Sintonizar, Galería Entrearte, Bogotá, Columbia
2008 El Totazo, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2008 Colombian Art, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2008 Crosscurrents, Contemporary Paintings, Luz Botero Fine Arts, Panama City, Panama
2008 Cuestión de Corazón, Galería El Museo, Bogotá, Colombia
2008 Documentan, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2007 Documentan, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2007 Te, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2007 Equus Arte, Fundación Corazón Verde, Bogotá, Colombia
2007 The New Colombian Painting, Tseretelli Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2007 Popular Pop, Galería Entrearte, Bogotá, Colombia
2007 Diversity, VI National Art Salon, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2006 Recent Works, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2004 Pintura Fresca, Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá, Colombia
2004 The New Colombian Painting, Parc de l'Orangerie, Strasbourg, France
2004 Animarte, Fundación Corazón Verde, Bogotá, Colombia
2003 Solidarte, Galería El Museo, Bogotá, Colombia
2003 Navidarte, Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia
2003 Group Exhibition, Kleiner Prinz Gallery, Baden-Baden, Germany
2003 Mixed Exhibition, Contemporary Art Gallery ‘Am Tunnel’, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
2003 The New Colombian Painting, Colombian Embassy, Warsaw, Poland
2003 The New Colombian Painting, Penderecki Museum, Warsaw, Poland
2003 Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui, Espace Auteuil, Paris, France
2003 Young Painters, Galería El Museo, Bogotá, Colombia
2003 Recent Works Abstractions, Galería Proyecta, Bogotá, Colombia
2003 Grupo Arte, Bogotá, Colombia
2003 Aliento, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Bogotá, Colombia
2002 In Centimetres, Galería El Museo, Bogotá, Colombia
2002 The New Colombian Painting, Etaj 3/4 Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
2002 The New Colombian Painting, Constanta Museum of Art, Constanta, Romania
2002 The New Colombian Painting, Municipality of Athens Cultural Centre, Athens, Greece
2002 The New Colombian Painting, Szombathely Art Gallery, Szombathely, Hungary
2002 Galería Casa Cuadrada, Zürich, Switzerland
2002 Color, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2001 Arborizarte, Fundación Corazón Verde, Bogotá, Colombia
2001 Admirarte, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2001 The New Colombian Painting, UNESCO, Paris, France
2001 Four New Artists, Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
2000 Santiago Montoya, Arte Consultores, Bogotá, Colombia
2000 Alternatives in Process, Galería El Museo, Bogotá, Colombia
2000 Figure and Colour, Galería Fenalco, Bogotá, Colombia
1999 Colombian Worlds, Frankfurt, Germany
1999 Casa de Risaralda, Bogotá, Colombia
1999 Galería Casa Cuadrada, Bogotá, Colombia
