Mónica Mays
*1990, lives and works in Madrid and Zurich
Mónica Mays’ sculptural practice combines autobiography, material process, and historical archive. Her pieces consist of assemblages of anachronistic domestic and industrial waste, which she reconfigures and appropriates through the incorporation of raw materials. Drawing from Baroque logic, Mays explores excess, blurry edges, and dramatic movement, focusing on the complex layering of meaning embedded in the objects she uses and revealing the violence and fragility they oscillate between.
Having studied Cultural Anthropology at the University of New Orleans, she graduated from the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg in 2015 and received an MA from the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam in 2017. She has developed projects in artistic residencies such as Rupert (Vilnius), Matadero (Madrid) or Cemeti Institut for Art and Society (Yogyakarta, Indonesia). Her works have been exhibited in spaces such as Arti et Amicitiae (Amsterdam), Tallinn Art Hall (Tallinn), KUBUS (Hannover), Goethe Institut (Bucarest), Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen (Netherlands) or La Casa Encendida (Madrid). This year she was awarded the Arco Art Prize and her work was acquired by notable institutions such as Reina Sofia Museum, CA2M or Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo. Other awards include the 3PD prize bestowed by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts 2022, the Mondriaan Fonds Young Talent 2023, and the Generation 2022 prize from the Montemadrid Foundation.
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Education
2015-2017 MIA / MA Studio for Immediate Spaces, Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam NL
2011-2015 BFA Cum Laude, HEAR / École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg FR
2010-2011 Liberal Arts, La Sorbonne, Paris FR
2008-2010 Anthropology, University of New Orleans USA
Selected solo exhibitions
2026 Statements solo booth, Blue Velvet, Art Basel, Basel CH (upcoming)
2026 Gratin, New York USA (upcoming)
2026 Pedro Cera, Lisbon PT (upcoming)
2026 Pulgar, Matadero, Madrid ES
2025 ridden, Blue Velvet, Zurich CH
2024 Fueled, Oasis, Fueled, Pedro Cera, Madrid ES
2024 Eventually, Eden, Cibrián, Donostia-San Sebastián ES
2024 Si plou així que, no escampi!, Fabra i Coats, Barcelona ES
2023 Buttermilk, Blue Velvet Projects, Zurich CH
2023 Old sky, old dirt, new grass, Travesía Cuatro, Madrid ES
2023 Dones per l’art, DKV collection, Atarazanas del Grau, Valencia ES
2023 If we remain silent, collaboration with Ana Bravo, Casco Art Institute, Utrecht NL
2023 The Serpent Bearer, duo, curated by Pina Benfeld, Lucas Hirsch, Düsseldorf DE
2023 Desengaño, curated by YCRP Sandretto Foundation, Ateneo, Madrid ES
2023 Cardados, De Appel Arts Center, Amsterdam NL
2022 Tallo que Clavo, Twin Gallery, Madrid ES
2021 Bucolic Gang, Virgin Maria Church, Rupert, Vilnius LT
2021 Sand Shine, Aparador Monteleón, Madrid ES
2020 Unsayings, Industra Gallery, Brno CZ
2019 Homies, Corridor PS, Amsterdam NL
2018 Auricula, Amsterdam Open Tuinen Dag / Music for Plants, Amsterdam NL
2018 w.i.l.l.i.a.m., Bologna.cc, Amsterdam NL
2016 ooo.ooo, A Place Beyond Desire, Rietveld Pavilion, Amsterdam NL
Selected group exhibitions
2025 Chi Esce Entra, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Roma IT
2025 Fragment and Form, Henry Moore Institue, Leeds UK
2025 On immanence, Pedro Cera, Lisbon PT
2025 Tout sera oublié et rien ne sera réparé, Dvir, Paris FR
2024 Calling things that don't have names, Copperfield, London UK
2024 If only we could master miracles, Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, Vijfhuizen NL
2024 Carpenter’s Gothic, Someday Gallery, New York USA
2024 Residency 2024, Cemeti Institut for Art and Society, Yogyakarta Indonesia
2024 SMA7, Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam NL
2023 Old sky, old dirt, new grass, Travesía Cuatro, Madrid ES
2023 Bodies of Resistance, Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon PT
2022 How long is an echo?, Städtische Galerie KUBUS, Hannover DE
2022 Her Legs, an Egg, Her Toil(e) and Blankets, curated by Keiu Krikmann, Linnagalerii, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia EE
2022 fundamental ocurrences, Brussels Art Week, Nosbaum Reding, Brussels BE
2022 Reina Sofia Museum, ARCO, Madrid ES
2022 Getting Lost In the Woods, curated by Cristina Anglada, Twin Gallery, Madrid ES
2021 Forest and Shade, Museum of Segovia, Museum Segovia, Palacio Butron Valladolid (itinerant) ES
2020 I’m not your territory, Atelier Chiffonier, Dijon FR
2019 Hypnequinomagia, Combo & Microlima, Venice IT
2018 Conversations w/ Figaro, Museum Nacht, Museum Willet-Holthuysen, Amsterdam NL
2017 Art-Cure. Activating the Potential, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amsterdam NL
2016 Instant Composition, Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerpen BE
2016 Bienal Arte Contemporaneo Emergente, Eve-Maria Zimmerman, Tenerife ES
Awards / Honors / Residencies
2024 Cemeti Institute for Art and Society Residency, Yogyakarta ID
2023 Selected Premi Miquel Casablancas, ES
2023 Ceramicres Co-net Residency, Alcora, ES
2023 Nebrija Art Prize, CC Galileo, Madrid ES
2022 Awarded Mondriaan Fonds, Young Artist Stipendium, NL
2021 Awarded 3PD-Amsterdam Fonds voor den Kunst with De Appel Arts Center, Amsterdam NL
2021 Residency Landscape, Sicily IT
2021 Winner Generacion 2022, Fundación Montemadrid, ES
2021 Awarded Mondriaan Fonds for Appendix Songs, NL
2020 First Prize Yount Talent Castilla y León, ES
2019 Awarded Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst for Homies, Amsterdam NL
2022 Residency DOGO, Lichtensteig CH
2016 Residency Material Gesture with Anne Holtrop, Gujarat IND
2010 Residency Greater New Orleans Art House, New Orlean USA
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Versus, 2023 Silk, wood, brass, flowers, Bombyx Moris 166 x 135 x 4 cm
She Had Brushed, Powdered and Burnt Oil, 2024 Stoneware, palm trees, iron, wood, miscellaneous pieces from abandoned factories, collagen 167 x 188 x 40 cm
Breeding value, 2023 Wood, glass, vellum, wool, feathers, cocoons, aluminium, brass 59.5 x 146 x 184.5 cm
Cultivos / Cultures I, 2022 wood, silk, flowers, leaves, brass, bombyx more 66 x 49 x 4 cm
Cardados III, 2022 wood, linen, brass, flowers, leaves 140 x 140 cm
Short Limbs Tread Softly Lubricated Dumbbells, 2024 Stoneware, palm trees, iron, wood, miscellaneous pieces from abandoned factories, collagen 209 x 16 x 20 cm