Bubi Canal is a Spanish-American artist based in New York whose photography, video art, and sculpture playfully address ideas around hybrid mythology, identity, and personal history. After earning a BFA at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, he went on to study at the Complutense University of Madrid, before moving to New York in 2011. Canal’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at galleries and institutions worldwide, including the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati; Digitaliseum in Malmö, Sweden; and Munch Gallery in New York. He has also shown work in numerous group exhibitions, in venues including the Galicia Contemporary Art Center in Spain, Aperture Foundation in New York, NOW Gallery in London, Museum and Contemporary Art Center of Malaga, and the Benaki Museum in Athens.
Canal’s work was featured in The British Journal of Photography and contributed to New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. He was selected for the 2016 issue of Foam Talent, and included in the Foam Talent group exhibitions at Red Hook Labs in New York City and Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall in London. Canal was an artist-in-residence at Silver Art Projects in the World Trade Center in New York.
Education
2005 University of the Basque Country, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Bilbao, Spain
Awards & Residencies
2021 Silver Art Projects, Artist Residency, World Trade Center, New York, NY
1854 Fast Track, British Journal of Photography, London, United Kingdom
2020 SPD Awards, Photography Gold Medal, New York, NY
ADC Awards, Photography Merit Honor, New York, NY
2019 Prix Pictet, Nominated, London, United Kingdom
2016 Foam Talent, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2011 Archivo de Creadores de Madrid, Matadero, Madrid, Spain
2010 Visual Arts Fellowship, Government of Cantabria, Santander, Spain
2009 Óptica Award, Best Gallery Video, Madrid, Spain
2004 SICUE-Seneca, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Solo Exhibitions
2023 "Horizon," Nave Sotoliva, Santander, Spain
2019 "Into the Gloaming," Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
2016 "Hologram," Digitaliseum, Malmö, Sweden
2015 "Magic Garden," Munch Gallery, New York, NY
2013 "Special Moment," Munch Gallery, New York, NY
2011 "Supercolor," Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Santander, Spain
2010 "Supercolor," La Fresh Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 “Truck Art Project,” PHotoESPAÑA 2024, Santander, Spain
“Arte Peatonal”, Edmund, Santander, Spain
“Oinezkoen Artea,” El Ensanche, Bilbao, Spain
2023 “I Don’t Know How To Respond To That,” Archiginnasio, Bologna, Italy
“Paisajes Vacíos III,” Arte Peatonal, Santander, Spain
2022 "Human Stories,” NOW Gallery, London, United Kingdom
“Anthem X,” Malin Gallery, Miami, FL
“Colección 2022,” La Caverna de la Luz, Santander, Spain
2020 “New Horizons,” Digitaliseum, Malmö, Sweden
“Arqueo Santander”, Cine Los Ángeles, Santander, Spain
2019 “Athens Photo Festival,” Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
2018 “Off The Wall,” Arts + Literature Laboratory, Madison, WI
“In·spire,” Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
“Identidad y Máscara,” La Encartada Fabrika-Museoa, Balmaseda, Spain
2017 “Still Searching,” Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
“Foam Talent,” Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall, London, United Kingdom
“Mujheroes,” Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City, Mexico
“Foam Talent,” Red Hook Labs, New York, NY
2016 “Photography is Magic,” Aperture Foundation, New York, NY
“Rencontres Internationales,” Gaîté Lyrique, Paris, France
“2 Years of Looking,” New Art Projects, London, United Kingdom
“Rituals and Performance,” Lagos Photo Festival, Lagos, Nigeria
“Athens Photo Festival,” Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
“Foam Talent 2016”, Gallery Mercatorplain, Amsterdam, Netherlands
“OFFF by Night”, Stitch, Antwerp, Belgium
2015 “Non Objective,” Circuit 12 Contemporary, Dallas, TX
“Interface,” Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY
“Art After Dark,” Art Museum of the Americas, Washington, DC
“H30/003,” The Drift, Veterans Bridge, Pittsburgh, PA
“Art Up!,” Samuel Maenhoudt Gallery, Lille, France
“Invisible Colors”, Interference 2015, Breda, Netherlands
“Proyecto Género 5”, Franco de Toledo Art Projects, Barcelona, Spain
2014 “Unseen Photo Fair,” Galería Tagomago, Amsterdam, Netherlands
“P2P,” PHotoESPAÑA 2014, Fernán Gómez, Madrid, Spain
“Turismo Efímero,” Centro Cultural Pachano Lalama, Ambato, Ecuador
“Turismo Efímero,” ADDAYA Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Mallorca, Spain
2013 “Trust In Me,” Field Projects Gallery, New York, NY
“Video Dumbo,” Eyebeam Art+Technology Center, New York, NY
“Turismo Efímero,” Galería Anomalía, Mexico City, Mexico
“Illustrative Berlin,” Direktorenhaus Gallery, Berlin, Germany
“Don't Look at My Camera,” Museu da Imagem, Braga, Portugal
“Last Night,” Galería 6mas1, Madrid, Spain
“Trans Fashion Lab”, Franco de Toledo Art Projects, Barcelona, Spain
“ANTIFASHION_3:, Hartmann LaSanta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2012 “Psychopomp 2.0,” Munch Gallery, New York, NY
“Rencontres Internationales,” Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
“It’s a Small, Small World,” Family Business Gallery, New York, NY
“Dandi,” Galeria Mad is Mad Gallery, Madrid, Spain
“Fonlad,” Galeria Santa Clara, Coimbra, Portugal
“Proyector Festival”, Visual Container, Milan, Italy
“Bideoart Night”, Espacio Plano B, Madrid, Spain
“Arte Liérganes”, Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Lierganes, Cantabria, Spain
2011 “Rencontres Internationales,” Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
“Skeletor Saves,” Headquarters Studios, New York, NY
“Bring Your Own Beamer,” Matadero Madrid, Madrid, Spain
“La música es la respuesta (a tus problemas),” La Fresh Gallery, Madrid, Spain
“Proyecto Género 4”, Espace Ample, Barcelona, Spain
“BAC Festival”, Galeria Valid Foto, Barcelona, Spain
“Óptica”, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
“7+1”, South 36.32N, New Fashion Latitude, Cadiz, Spain
2010 “Arte Lisboa,” Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
“Videomusichat Generation,” Espace Ample, Barcelona, Spain
“MutaVideo,” MID_E Studio, Arteleku, San Sebastián, Spain
“ARTESANTANDER 2010,” Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Santander, Spain
“Óptica,” La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
“El Tiempo Encapsulado,” BAC, H2O Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
“Foro Sur”, Del Sol St Art Gallery, Cáceres, Spain
“Libro”, Galeria Mad is Mad, Madrid, Spain
2009 “Hot Art Fair,” Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
“MEM,” Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, NY
“At This Time”, Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Santander, Spain
“Autorretrato”, Galería Mad Is Mad, Madrid, Spain
“Óptica,” La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
“Foro Sur”, Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Cáceres, Spain
“ARTESANTANDER 2009”, Del Sol St. Art Gallery, Santander, Spain
Exhibition Catalogues, Artist Books, and Monographs
2024 “Portrait of Humanity”, British Journal of Photography, Bluecoat Press, 2024
“Perpetuum Mobile”, PHotoESPAÑA, La Fabrica, 2024
2023 “Bubi Canal: Horizon”, Monograph, Nave Sotoliva, Puerto de Santander, 2023
2022 “The Art Collection”, Odyssey of the Seas, 2022
2019 “Hope”, Prix Pictet, Te Neues Publishing Company, 2019
2017 “American A B C D”, Paripe Books, 2017
“Athens Photo Festival,” Hellenic Centre for Photography, 2017
2016 “Bubi Canal: Jorge Clar”, Monograph, Pupa Press, 2016
2015 “Interface,” Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, 2015
2014 “Bubi Canal: Dreamtime”, Monograph, ACDOS Actividad Contemporánea, 2014
2013 “Bubi Canal: Manual”, Monograph, RV.Papers, 2013
“Don’t Look at My Camera”, Museu da Imagem, 2013
2010 “Bubi Canal: CANAL”, Monograph, RV.Papers, 2010
“Videomusichat Generation,” Espace Ample, 2010
“Óptica’10”, La Casa Encendida, 2010
2007 “Cuestión Xeracional”, Galician Contemporary Art Center, 2007
Lectures and Artist Talks
2024 “Walk-Through of Bubi Canal’s Horizon”, Nave Sotoliva, Santander, Spain
2020 “Artist Talk: Bubi Canal”, Two Pages Project, London, United Kingdom
2019 “Chat with Bubi Canal”, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
“Lecture Series: Bubi Canal”, DAAP, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
2018 “Diálogos de artistas en español”, NYFA, New York, NY
2017 “Docent tour for Parsons students”, Red Hook Labs, New York, NY
2016 “Artist Talk: Bubi Canal”, Digitaliseum, Malmö, Sweden
“Panel Discussion: Foam Talent”, Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2015 “Artist Walk-Through: Interface”, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York
2012 “Creators of Matadero”, Matadero Madrid, Madrid, Spain
2010 “Artes Plásticas Santander 2016”, Palacio de la Magdalena, Santander, Spain
Teaching and Curatorial Projects
2021 “Howl High Arts Educational Program”, Howl! Happening, New York, NY
2020 “Color: Material + Light”, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
“Learning Lab”, TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, Yerevan, Armenia
“MasterClass”, Cesine University, Santander, Spain
2018 “Bubi Canal Workshop”, Wix Design Playground, New York, NY
2012 “Workshop”, ICI Independent Curators International, New York, NY
2008 “Kaleidoscope”, Espacio Menosuno, Madrid, Spain
2004 “Postales Catódicas”, Catálogo General, Bilbao, Spain