Biography
Diego Ramirez (b.1989, Mexico) currently practices as an artist and writer in Melbourne, Australia. His mixed media work negotiates the production and consumption of difference in popular culture by mis-reading or reconstructing popular texts. Ramirez's work puts forward the notion that consumers and audiences are active readers that appropriate the signs of popular and consumer culture to construct their identities. Remixing mass media with the everyday or the personal to articulate their aspirations and socio-cultural realities. More importantly, the artist aligns this strategy with postcolonial politics, arguing that this mode of engagement with dominant culture is common in colonial environments, where the colonized appropriates the vocabulary of the colonizer to disguise the practice of unofficial cultures. In casual conversation the artist describes his work as somewhere in between a monster movie, shopping mall aesthetics and a Mexican ‘thing’. His favourite hashtags are #pop, #trash and #freak. Ramirez is represented by [MARS] Gallery.
His work has been included in local, interstate and international group exhibitions. Recent group shows include the touring exhibition Forever Now (MONAFOMA Festival, Tasmania and Trilogies at The Substation), Paramor Prize (Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, NSW). In the past he participated in South curated by David Corbet (Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney), Unco curated by Ian Haig (Torrance Museum, LA and NCCA, Darwin), The Return of Ghosts (Hong-Gah Museum, Taiwan), The Substation Contemporary Art Prize (The Substation, Melbourne) and The Incinerator Art Award (The Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne). In 2013, he was part of the WRO 15th Media Arts Biennale (Wroclaw, PL), Currents Santa Fe New Media Festival (New Mexico, USA), The Substation Art Prize (The Substation, Melbourne) and the Redlands Konica Minolta Art Prize (Sydney).
His video work is regularly shown in international screenings that take place in galleries, museums, artist run and alternative spaces. Recent screenings include Currents New Media Festival (USA), Festival Internacional de la Imagen (Colombia), and Les Irrecuperables (Galerie du Genie de la Bastille a Paris (Frnace). In the past he participated in FILE 2014 (Sao Paulo, Br), Nervous Tensions curated by Anabelle Lacroix (Careof, Milan), Festival Miden (Kalamata, Greece), Stuttgarter Filmwinter (Stuttgart,De), MADATAC 05 (Madrid,Sp), Videoholica (Varna, Bg), International Video Art Review (22 cities, PL), Antimatter (Victoria, Ca), 25th Festival Les Instants Video (France, Italy and Argentina), and Channels: The Australian Video Art Festival (Melbourne, Aus).
In parallel to his art practice he writes catalogue essays and contributes to journals including Runway Australian Experimental Art (Australia) and Critical Contemporary Culture (London). His writing has accompanied exhibitions for shows exhibited at Seventh Gallery, Kings ARI, The Substation, BLINDSIDE, Rubicon ARI and Archive ARI.
