I work in a multidisciplinary manner moving fluently across media and disciplines to illuminate untold histories and events of the natural world. My work is conceptually inspired by scientific discovery, the fluidity of history, epistemology and the fascinating mechanics of the cosmos.
Through photography, installation, video, found and created objects, writing/storytelling and interaction/collaboration, I create works that playfully examine the veracity of photography, science and recorded history and invite the viewer into an experience sometimes referred to as ecstatic or poetic truth. Some of these investigations are collected into a quixotic archive by the name Society for Nebulous Knowledge.
Ms. Tres has received numerous awards, including a unique artist residency at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, grants from the Oregon Arts Commission and Regional Arts and Culture Council, and residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Caldera. Her work has been exhibited nationally at venues such as PS122 Gallery in New York and the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon. She has also been active as an educator at the college/university level for more than a decade teaching Introductory Photography, Advanced Strategies in Photography, Performance, Installation and Photography, Video, Creativity and Concept, Historical and Alternative Photographic Methods, Photography Theory, Social Practice, History of Photography and Cross-disciplinary Seminars. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute and received her M.F.A. in Visual Arts from Portland State University. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon, where she continues her investigations.
PRESS
Mariana Tres at Chambers Gallery showing Celestial Clockwork. KBOO Radio – Interview on Art Focus with Joseph Gallivan
Fictive Art: World-Making, Narrative and Play, Antoinette LaFarge (online and upcoming publication)
"It's rare that shows which spring from such conceptual origins blossom into exhibitions of this visual fortitude." The Portland Mercury, Chas Bowie
Reframing Photography: Theory and Practice (online)
Portland Modern, Curator's Statement by Pat Boas
"Mariana Tres at the Portland Building has put on the tightest and most conceptually challenging non-painting show by a Portland artist in years." NW Drizzle, Jeff Jahn
"Mariana Tres, an artist from Portland, Ore., whose work has been inspired by an array of astronomical imagery and phenomena, has been invited to be the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics' first artist in residence." Harvard Gazette
CV available upon request.
© Mariana Tres 2021 All rights reserved.
All content and images on this site and the site of the Society for Nebulous Knowledge are the intellectual property of Mariana Tres and may not be copied, reproduced, distributed or displayed without the written permission of the artist.
“everyday play with the light of the universe” is inspired by, and in homage to, the poet Pablo Neruda.
Made possible through the support of the Regional Arts & Culture Council.