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, and the Benaki Museum in Athens.
Canal’s work was featured on the cover of The British Journal of Photography. 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. He has contributed to New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. 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
Projects and Collaborations
2023 “Le Velo Machine”, EP, Magnus Imperial Club, Hotel Records
2021 “Imagetanz 2021”, Emotional Support Festival, Brut Wien, Vienna, Austria
“Jarre Michelle Jean”, EP, Magnus Imperial Club, Hotel Records
2020 “How Come U Know”, Single, Captain Mustache, Electronic Emergencies
“Art Where You Are”, Benefit Auction 2020, Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, OH
2017 “Bubi Canal - Non Répertoriée”, POSCA, Paris, France
2016 “Security (Catz’n Dogz 2016 Edit)”, Single, Dj Tonka, Pets Edits
“Strangelove”, Het Bos, Antwerp, Belgium
2015 “10 New York”, Two Pages Project, London, United Kingdom
2014 “Bubi Canal for Spain Fresh”, 355A Bowery, New York, NY
2013 “MAD-LIB[RARY]”, ICI Independent Curators International, New York, NY
“MAD-LIB[RARY]”, New York Art Book Fair, MoMA PS1, New York, NY
2012 “PopRally presents CHERYL”, MoMA, New York, NY
“Archivomobile”, Matadero Madrid, TEMP Art Space, New York, NY
2011 “Put Our Face on Your Face, CHERYL, Off Limits, Madrid, Spain
“Bubi Canal en FRAGIL”, FRAGIL, Madrid, Spain
“Fast Gallery n.5”, CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Móstoles, Spain
“MyBlockNYC”, MoMA, New York, NY
“Behind the Mask Project”, Michael Jackson Video, Sony
2009 “Bubi Canal en Carlos Diez Diez”, Diez Diez, Madrid, Spain
“Desvelarte”, Asociacion ACAI, Santander, Spain
“Polavision + Fabuland”, Candi Studio, Bilbao, Spain
Articles and Reviews
2024 Desatados, “302 Bubi Canal”, Radio 3, January 12, 2024
Guillermo Balbona, “Encuentro-visita a la muestra Horizon de Bubi Canal”, El Diario Montañes, January 5, 2024
Guillermo Balbona, “Santander y PhotoEspaña, arte sobre ruedas”, El Diario Montañés, June 16, 2024
2023 Shirin Neshat, “Common Love”, Der Greif, November 12, 2023
Guillermo Balbona, “El horizonte alternativo e imaginativo de Bubi Canal”, El Diario Montañés, October 29, 2023
2022 Darius Himes, “The Oneness of Humanity”, Der Greif - Guest Room, December 22, 2022
Guillermo Balbona, “El Santanderino Bubi Canal", El Diario Montañes, August 4, 2022
Michelle Duncan, “Prime Space, Visibility, and Community”, Metropolis, July 28, 2022
Elissaveta M.Brandon, “You’re on top of the world”, Fast Company, June 29, 2022
Andres Senra, “Bubi Canal: Geometría, Color y Fábula”, Clavoardiendo, May 10, 2022
Liz Sales, “Playing through Portraiture” LensCulture, March 7, 2022
Artist Feature Bubi Canal “Into the Gloaming” Der Greif, February 9, 2022
2021 Joanna Cresswell, “Introducing 1854's FastTrack winners: Bubi Canal”, British Journal of Photography, June 25, 2021
Silvie Fleury, “Yes to All”, Der Greif 14, November 2, 2021
Marta Mantecon, “Este es el lugar del que te hablé”, Hop, June 2, 2021
Sema D’Acosta, “En un mundo que tiende a lo incorpóreo”, Fundació Foto Colectania, January 21, 2021
2020 Maria Seda-Reeder, “Into the Gloaming”, END, Empirical Nonsense, October 1, 2020
2019 Marc Feustel, “Bubi Canal's playful, constructed portraits”, British Journal of Photography, July 2, 2019
Ted Malawer, “The Escape”, T, The New York Times Style Magazine, April 10, 2019
Guillermo Balbona, “El artista cántabro Bubi Canal”, El Diario Montañes, July 2, 2019
Jude Noel, “The Contemporary Arts Center”, City Beat, July 8, 2019
Kala Barba, “Quirky characters and twilight backdrops”, PLAIN Magazine, December 16, 2019
2018 Maria Seda-Reeder, “Bubi Canal”, CAC Season Preview, January 2018
Diane Pernet, “Hologram by Bubi Canal”, ASVOF, June 6, 2018
2017 What’s New?, “Bubi Canal”, Foam Magazine, August 15, 2017
Jessica Schezckenfuchs-Vallent, “Childhood Dreams”, Ooom Magazine, July 17, 2017
Sebastien P, “L’Excentrique Bubi Canal”, POSCA, January 10, 2017
2016 Gumrah Sengün, “Karanlik Zamanlarin en Renkli Manifestosu”, Calling Magazine, October 25, 2016
Marcel Feil, “Dreamtime”, Foam Magazine, September 6, 2016
Charlotte Cotton, “Aperture Summer Open”, Aperture, July 13, 2016
Ana Belén, “Dreamtime: Bubi Canal” Stitch, April 13, 2016
Fleur Pierets, “Bubi Canal”, Et Alors?, March 28, 2016
2015 Kiriakos Spirou, “The Bright, Magical Universe of Bubi Canal”, Yatzer, October 25, 2015
Nasta Voynovskaya, “Preview: Bubi Canal’s Magic Garden”, Hi-Fructose Magazine, February 27, 2015
Winter Mendelson, “Dive in to the magical realm of Bubi Canal”, Posture, July 6, 2015
Mada Martinez, “A Beautiful Mystery, El Diario Montañes, February 20, 2015
Jorge Clar, “Bubi Canal”, Divo Magazine, February 2, 2015
Ajia Hunter, “Bubi Canal: Magic Garden”, The New York Photo Review, January 10, 2015
Alanna Martinez, “Welcome to Bubi Canal's World”, Observer, April 2, 2015
Beatriz López Miguel, “Bubi Canal @ Munch Galley”, NEO2, March 2, 2015
Ramy Zabarah, “The Many Colors of Bubi Canal”, Quiet Lunch Magazine, February 11, 2015
2014 Belen Prieto, “Dreams, Magic and Love”, METAL Magazine, July 5, 2014
Simon Bainbridge, “Viva España”, British Journal of Photography, July 2, 2014
Walt Cessna, “No. 1”, Vaczine, July 24, 2014
Carlo McCormick, “11 Books for Subculture Vultures”, Artnews, June 10, 2014
Stephen Kosloff, “Bubi Canal”, HAUSFRAU, Issue 3, September 10, 2014
Carmen Quijano, “Bubi Canal ve publicado un libro sobre su obra”, El Mundo, July 1, 2014
2013 Kim Aran, “Bubi Canal”, Blink Magazine, August 9, 2013
Patricia Sainz, “Donde habita el arte”, L-ink Magazine, June 11, 2013
Katy MacLaughlin, “Spanish Artist Flock to the U.S.”, The Wall Street Journal, April 5, 2013
Jesse Dorris, “Bubi Canal Makes Art with Geometry", Interior Design, February 13, 2013
Richard Kalisher, “On View Bubi Canal”, NY Centric Magazine, January 25, 2013
Sofia Dos Santos, “Special Moment de Bubi Canal”, NEO2, January 22, 2013
Katha, “Being Bubi”, Ladies & Gents Magazine, June 18, 2013
2012 Veronica Santi, “Bubi Canal”, Tunica Magazine, November 15, 2012
Issue 5, “Monográfico Bubi Canal”, Recamier, July 13, 2012
2011 Javier Díaz Guardiola, “Es vital que el pop sobreviva”, ABC, January 29, 2011
Luis Horcajo, “A House is Not a Home Colorful”, Tendencias Magazine, July 2, 2011
Mike Enders, “Artist Bubi Canal’s Wacky & Colorful Art Splashes Over New York City”, Accidental Bear, November 20, 2011
Guillermo Balbona, “El Supercolor de Bubi Canal invade Del Sol St”, El Diario Montañes, January 20, 2011
2010 Angeles Garcia, “Las infinitas posibilidades del papel”, EL PAIS, October 3, 2010
Franco de Toledo, “Un mundo metafórico y en permanente reconstrucción”, 21 Le Mag, July 16, 2010
Beatriz Ramos, “Rojo, verde, amarillo, azul, rojo, verde…”, PullTheMetal, February 10, 2010
Stephen Lucas, “La obra de Bubi Canal en La Fresh Gallery”, NEO2 Magazine, January 4, 2010