Edgard Camacho (Venezuelan, b. 1979)Edgard Camacho was born in Montelimar, France to Venezuelan parents and moved to Venezuela at a very early age where he lived until adulthood. During childhood he developed an interest in anatomical drawing and landscape painting, but his parents denied his request for formal training as they came from a family with no artistic traditions. He instead attended the Universidad de Oriente for Industrial Engineering, but after a couple of years found himself more inclined than ever to study art. He decided to attend Escuela de Arte Armando Reverón as an Independent Artist Researcher, which would allow him to study stone sculpture with nationally renowned artist, Valentín Malaver. After the communist regime took over Venezuela, he changed course to pursue a major in Journalism from the Universidad Santa Maria. His work turned into a series of portraits characterizing a displaced, long history of democratic society, victimized by its new repressive government. The depiction of a mass murder seen by the artist on National TV (En la Mira No.11,2002) rapidly caught the interest of the Venezuelan National Cultural Center. He was called to be part of La Megaexposición: The Best of Venezuelan Art of the 21st Century. By the time this touring national art show took place, he had already been exiled to the United States due to political discrepancies. As many immigrants, he first moved to the booming city of Miami, FL.During his time in South Florida, he made friends with many influential contemporary artists by showing his work at the heart of the Wynwood Art District at Artformz, a Co-Op Gallery which was founded by local artist, Allete Simmons-Jimenez. He was given the opportunity to study at the New World School of the Arts shortly after, where he attended a contemporary art class with sculptor and renowned art dealer, Frederick Snitzer. After several years in Miami, he decided to relocate to Iowa and pursue a BFA under the direction of Professor James Shrosbee, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient artist, at Maharishi International University who helped him to see art from a transformative perspective. It was during this time, that his work began to focus on the relationship between rigid structures and organic shapes. His adjustment in perspective gave him the foundation he needed to reimagine his relationship with the act of painting and drawing...to transform it into a visual language that could provide answers to questions about power, beauty, peace, war, and the strangeness of reality. The socio-political struggles from his past and the cultural legacy that informs his identity continue to define themselves in new ways...new abstractions...through his use of intense hues, the pulling/pushing forces deployed in his paint strokes, and the deep silence created by large swaths of solid colored backgrounds.After graduation, Camacho´s artwork caught the attention of Iowa's major universities. He has done several solo shows, including shows at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, where his work was acquired as part of their private collections. He is also exhibited amongst the few local artists on a regional juried exhibition “Into the Blue” at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art in 2019.He moved to Des Moines where he currently lives and works, and now forms a part of the roster as an established local artist of Midwest Private Contemporary Art galleries. He joined Steven Vail Fine Arts + Projects in 2019 where he is currently positioned as a Resident Artist and Collection Consultant.