Federico Herrero

(Costa Rican, born 1978)

Federico Herrero is a contemporary Costa Rican painter best known for his bright and playful abstractions. Throughout his practice, each work vacillates between Color Field-inspired painting and street art, using patches of color to create anthropomorphic forms and imaginary landscapes. “I am fascinated by the way people, who need to communicate something in a very direct way without the barrier of language, use paint,” he has explained. “Looking at streets signs, advertisements, billboards and all other pictorial, non-language-based forms of communication has influenced me a lot.” Born in San José, Costa Rica in 1978, Herrero received his formal training at the Pratt Institute in New York, NY. In 2001, Herrero won the Special Prize for a Young Artist at the Venice Biennale. His work has been exhibited by Galeria Luisa Strina in São Paulo, Sies + Höke in Düsseldorf, and Gallery Koyanagi in Tokyo, among others. He currently lives and works in San José, Costa Rica.