Overview

Javier Téllez is a New York based artist born in Venezuela. His work reflects a sustained interest in bringing peripheral communities and invisible situations to the fore of contemporary art addressing institutional dynamics, disabilities and mental illness as marginalizing conditions.

Tellez’s projects have often involved working in collaboration with people diagnosed with mental illness to produce film installations that question the notions of the normal and the pathological. Combining different approaches to filmmaking, Téllez opens a dialogue that provides a fresh interpretation of classical myths, private and collective memories, and historical references.
 
Tellez has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester (2018); the San Francisco Art Institute (2014); Kunsthaus Zürich (2014); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent (2013); Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (2011); Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (2005); and Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City (2004). He has participated in group exhibitions at SITE Santa Fe, NM; MoMA PS1, Long Island City; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas; Castello di Rivoli, Torino; Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and Renaissance Society, Chicago, as well as documenta, Kassel, Germany (2012); Manifesta, Trento, Italy; Sydney Biennial; and the Whitney Biennial, New York (all 2008); Venice Biennale (2001 and 2003); and Yokohama Triennial (2001). He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1999, and in 2016 the Global Mental Health Award for Innovation in the Arts from Columbia University, New York. 
Selected works
  • Javier Téllez, AMERIKA, 2024
    AMERIKA, 2024
  • Javier Téllez, Das Narrenschiff, 2022
    Das Narrenschiff, 2022
  • Javier Téllez, NOSFERATU (The Undead), 2018
    NOSFERATU (The Undead), 2018
  • Javier Téllez, Shadow Play (Zurich 0 km), 2015
    Shadow Play (Zurich 0 km), 2015
  • Javier Téllez, Bourbaki Panorama, 2014
    Bourbaki Panorama, 2014
  • Javier Téllez, Shadow Play, 2014
    Shadow Play, 2014
  • Javier Téllez, La Conquista De México, 2012
    La Conquista De México, 2012
  • Javier Téllez, Rotations (Prometheus and Zwitter), 2011
    Rotations (Prometheus and Zwitter), 2011
  • Javier Téllez, O Rinoceronte de Dürer (Dürer's Rhinoceros), 2010
    O Rinoceronte de Dürer (Dürer's Rhinoceros), 2010
  • Javier Téllez, The Elephant and the Blind Men [Nathon, Khaled, Denise, Steve, Chris and Brandt], 2008
    The Elephant and the Blind Men [Nathon, Khaled, Denise, Steve, Chris and Brandt], 2008
  • Javier Téllez, Caligari und der Schlafwandler (Caligari and the Sleepwalker), 2008
    Caligari und der Schlafwandler (Caligari and the Sleepwalker), 2008
  • Javier Téllez, The Elephant and the Blind Men [Chris], 2008
    The Elephant and the Blind Men [Chris], 2008
  • Javier Téllez, Oedipus Marshal, 2006
    Oedipus Marshal, 2006
Selected exhibitions
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