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Melanie Ubaldo (b. 1992, Philippines) is an Icelandic artist based in Reykjavik.
Ubaldo creates monuments to unbelonging. Her works are an exercise in linguistic vulnerability where image and text are inextricably linked, among others, through deconstructionist paintings incorporating text with graffiti like vandalism oftentimes of her own crude experiences of others preconceptions, thus exposing the power of immediate unreflected judgment.The point of departure in her work is how identity is constructed, transformed and expressed through language and in doing so attempts to break down and question socially transfixed roles and the process of social integration/marginalization of difference.
Alongside her solo practice, Ubaldo is a co-founder of Lucky 3, a collective of Icelandic artists of Filipino origins.
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CV
Education:
2020-2022 MA Fine Arts, Iceland University of the Arts
2013-2016 BA Fine Arts, Iceland University of the Arts
2015 Universität der Künste Berlin, Erasmus exchange, Germany
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Solo Exhibitions:
Ongoing August 2023 - March 2024, Afar ósmekklegt, Listasafnið á Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland
2023 TRAPO, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavík, Iceland
2023 Don't Come Crying To Me, Gallery Gudmundsdottir, Berlin, Germany
2022 Almost Perfect, Þula, Reykjavik, Iceland
2022 Talk Dirty to Me, Rýmd, Reykjavík, Iceland
2021 En þú ert samt hvítasta dökka manneskja sem ég þekki, Gallerí Skilti / Gallery Sign, Reykjavik, Iceland
2020 What are you doing in Iceland with your face? Inclusive Public Space - Reykjavik City Library, Iceland
2015 litla sæta asíska stelpan, Kubburinn, Iceland Academy of the Arts
2015 roll a week, Gallerí Tukt, Hitt Húsið, Reykjavik
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Group Exhibitions/Activities:
Upcoming November 2023, LOS PRIMXS - Lucky 3 x Hugo Llanes, Local-Taller, Xalapa, Mexico
2023 Opnun, Y Gallery, Kópavogur, Iceland
2022 Lucky 3 presents Kamayan, Goethe Morphe Iceland, The Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland
2022 Við getum talað saman/We can talk, Gerðarsafn - Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland
2022 Undið af veruleikum/Unraveling realities - MA Graduation Show, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland
2022 Ertu héðan? KFUM & K, Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland
2021-2022, Abrakadra - töfrar samtímalistar/ Abrakadabra - The Magic of Contemporary Art, Reykjavik Art Museum - Hafnarhús, Reykjavik, Iceland
2021 PUTI - Lucky 3 for Sequences X, Open, Sequences Real Time Art Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland
2021 Samfélag skynjandi vera/Community of Sentient Beings, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
2021 Ertu búið að borða? Did you eat already? Nikaon na ka?, Lucky 3 for LungA Art Festival, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2021 GERÐUResque, Gerðarsafn - Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland
2021 Berskjölduð/Unarmed, Listasafn Reykjanesbæjar, Reykjanesbær, Iceland
2020 Hæ, can you hear me?, Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland
2020 Ég læt ekki spila með mig/I won't let them fool me, Verksmiðjan á Hjalteyri, Hjalteyri, Iceland
2020 Vestur í bláinn, Mjódd, Reykjavik, Iceland
2019-2020 Lucky Me? Kling og Bang, Marshall House, Reykjavik Iceland
2019 Reacción A Islandia, Pavilion Nordico, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2018-19 Inclusively Exclusive - Cycle Music and Arts Festival, Gerðarsafn - Kópavogur Art Museum, Iceland
2018 Cryptopian States - Cycle Music and Arts Festival, Residence of the Ambassador of Iceland to Germany, Berlin, Germany
2017 Málverk- ekki miðill/Painting- Not a Medium, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
2017 Slæmur félagsskapur / Bad Company, Kling & Bang, Marshall House, Reykjavik, Iceland
2016 Ytri Höfnin, BA Graduation Show, Reykjavik Art Museum - Hafnarhús, Reykjavik, Iceland
2016 NO SOLO, Skaftfell Center of Visual Arts, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
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Grants/Awards
2023 Listamannalaun, Artist salary, Artists' Salary Fund
2022 Myndlistarsjóður/The Icelandic Visual Arts Fund, Project grant
2022 Lucky 3 - Motivational Award, Icelandic Art Prize, The Icelandic Visual Arts Council
2021 Svavar Guðnasson and Ásta Eiríksdóttir Memorial Fund, Grant
2020 Myndstef/The Icelandic Visual Art Copyright Association, Project grant
2020 Myndlistarsjóður/The Icelandic Visual Arts Fund, Project grant
2020 Listamannalaun, Artist salary, Artists' Salary Fund
2019 Myndlistarsjóður/The Icelandic Visual Arts Fund, Project grant
2019 Myndstef/The Icelandic Visual Art Copyright Association, Project grant
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Other
2022 Friends of Nýló Artist of the Year 20222020- Board member of the artists run gallery Kling & Bang, Reykjavik
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