Marcus Venegas
Marcus Venegas (b. 2001, Laredo, TX) earned a BFA in Studio Art at The University of Texas at Austin, and is currently earning his MFA at the New York Academy of Art. His work has been featured in Artistcloseup Contemporary Art Magazine, Volume 18 of Friend of the Artist art book, Issue #102 of International Art Market Magazine, Issue 13 of the online & printed publication of Divide Magazine, Issue 7 of the online & printed Artsin Square Magazine, Artsin Square personal artbook/interview, and the 6th edition online & printed Spring publication of Apricity Magazine, where the work was exhibited in the Sinclair Suite at the Texas Union, Austin (2022). His work has also appeared at the Art and Identity Showcase in the WCP Ballroom, Austin (2023), and the #8 Artsin Square Virtual Exhibition (2024). Venegas participated in the Tribeca Ball Hallway Exhibition, New York, (2025); the group exhibitions “Somos Recuerdos,” Austin, (2024); “By NYC,” New York, (2023); “The Last Minute Show,” Austin, (2022); “With All the Desperation of a Starving Dog,” Austin, (2022); “The Armageddon Show,” Austin, (2022); “Print Extravaganza,” Austin (2023); “I’ll Call you Back,” Austin, (2023); and “Reimaging Health: Aesthetics of Health,” an exhibition displayed in the Health Discovery building in Del Medical School as well as in the Visual Arts Center, Austin, (2022). Venegas has been awarded the President’s Scholar Award (2024-2025), as well as the SURP Academy Scholar Award, and attended the Summer Undergraduate Residency Program at the New York Academy of Art (2023-2024). He also has been awarded the Roy Crane Award, Austin, TX (2022); a Gold Seal Medal for the VASE competition, San Marcos, TX (2019); as well as a Gold Key for Arts and Writing Scholastic event in New York, NY (2019).
Artist Statement
Marcus Venegas: The Remembering Self
I am a storyteller. As a gay Mexican-American artist, I find myself in a challenging position to share with others the hardships of being queer, specifically when it comes to the subject of romance. My creations are centered around the concept of autobiographical memory and 'remembering self,' a term coined by the renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman. This notion emphasizes how people reflect on past experiences, characterizing them by their peak intensity and their end, while disregarding their duration or average emotions. I apply this psychological concept to my personal trauma involving my love life and my identity as a gay man. By using material symbols such as cannabis/cigarette ash, and by performing the burning of my pieces, I am able to create an emotional motif that is authentic and sincere to my history. The fading softness of each piece alludes to a memory that is either fading out or reemerging, further referencing the impetuous actions that come with youth while highlighting its impermanence. The black-and-white nature of my drawings convey honesty and truth. By including lyrical compositions, I am able to immerse myself in a universe of pictorial poetry and the overall theatrical nature of romance. Collecting these pieces over time results in building accurate archival documentation of the various experiences that not only shaped me into who I am today but also sheds light on the significance of what a queer man experiences in modern times. It is through artistic activism that I have found my purpose.