Born in Paramaribo, Suriname, 1990
Lives and works between Berlin and Paramaribo
email: xavierdrdm [at] gmail [dot] com
Xavier Robles de Medina is an artist working at the intersection of visual art and research-based approaches. Informed by his creolized queer subjectivity, he explores linkages between personal history and broader contexts, often deliberately disrupting linear readings. Rooted in a process of collecting existing images and texts, these materials, laden with historical and cultural resonance, are re-contextualized and collaged to create meticulously crafted works that are mathematically precise yet imbued with lyrical depth, straddling the poetic and the political.
Recent solo exhibitions include Tetris Effect with Catinca Tabacaru Gallery at Art Basel Paris [2024]; Love is not a maybe thing …, Efremidis, Berlin [2024]; I will go away into the wild wood, and never come home again, Alice Amati, London [2023]; What if the tongue is cut out? with Catinca Tabacaru Gallery at Art Basel, Hong Kong [2022]; Faya Lobi, Praz-Delavallade, Paris [2020]; and Wan Destination Wanhoop, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia [2020]. In 2024 he published his first monograph, Pengel (coy koi books, Berlin), detailing the creation of a three and a half meter tall bronze sculpture of Surinamese politician Johan Adolf Pengel by his grandfather, the Surinamese visual artist Stuart Robles de Medina. He is the recipient of the 2025 Krull Arbeitsstipendium.
EDUCATION
2023–2024
BPA// Berlin program for artists, DE
2017–2019
MFA in Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
2008–2012
BFA in Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design, US
BFA in Animation, Savannah College of Art and Design, US
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2026
Estimate [forthcoming], Galerie Noah Klink, Berlin, DE
All the Rage [forthcoming], Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Bucharest, RO
2024
Tetris Effect, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Art Basel Paris, FR
Love is not a maybe thing ..., Efremidis, Berlin, DE
2023
I will go away into the wild wood, and never come home again., Alice Amati, London, UK [catalogue]
2022
What if the tongue is cut out?, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Art Basel Hong Kong, CN [catalogue]
2020
Ți-a ieșit iepurele în cale, Another Mobile Gallery, Grădina Verona, Pictor Arthur Verona 13–15, Bucharest, RO
Wan Destination Wanhoop, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, US
Faya Lobi, Praz-Delavallade, Paris, FR [catalogue]
2019
Opportunity Cost, Praz-Delavallade, UNIT 5, Los Angeles, US
2018
Als het hele lichaam oor zou zijn, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, SR
The future looms dark and that we can scarcely, Barbé Urbain Gallery, Ghent, BE [catalogue]
2017
If you dream of your tongue, beware, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York City, US [catalogue]
GROUP
2026
Projections Onto the East [forthcoming], Neuer Berliner Kunstverein in cooperation with the Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, DE [conceived by Fabian Bechtle and Leon Kahane]
Aria Notturna, ZERO..., Milan, IT [organised by Neue Alte Brücke, MattWilliams, Zero...]
Access All Areas, Galerie Xippas, Geneva, CH [curated by Matthias Sohr]
May I Give You a Hand?, Galerie Noah Klink, Berlin, DE
2025
Srefidensi – Suriname Vrij! Symbols of 50 Years of Surinamese Independence, Framer Framed, Amsterdam, NL [curated by Vincent van Velsen]
Wi Sranan. Surinamese Art in Transition., Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, NL [curated by Noukhey Forster]
Tomorrow is a Different Day. Collection 1980 – Now, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
The Third Space, Institut Français Timişoara, RO [curated by 2ND World]
Bảy nổi Ba chìm – Seven up Three down, CCS Bard Hessel Museum, US [curated by Đỗ Tường Linh]
2024
BPA// Exhibition 2024: Half-Light, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE [curated by Linda Franken and Sophia Yvette Scherer; catalogue]
Veils of Impermanence, Gossamer Fog, London, UK [curated by Samuel Capps]
Currency Exchange, BPA// Raum, Berlin, DE [curated by Zhiyuan Yang]
2023
State of Emergence, NADA East Broadway, New York City, US [curated by Lesia Kulchynska]
No Remedy for Memory, Efremidis, Seoul, KR
Biographicality, Efremidis, Berlin, DE [curated by Dominic Eichler]
Capture Change, nouveaux deuxdeux, Munich, DE
Party in the Blitz, Mamoth, London, UK
2022
Manifestatie 1980–1989: Surinaamse verhalen van vreugde en verdriet, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, SR [co-curated w/ Miguel Keerveld]
Trust in Mortals, Brigade, Copenhagen, DK
NADA Curated: Reduction to Satire (Reductio ad Satura), Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, The New Art Dealers Alliance [curated by Fatoş Üstek; online]
The Palliative Turn, Künstlerhaus Bremen, DE [curated by Nadja Quante in close collaboration with Kasia Fudakowski and Olav Westphalen]
Ĩ’NDAFFA FORGER / OUT OF THE FIRE, 14th Dakar Biennale, Dakar, SN [curated by Dr El Hadji Malick Ndiaye, Delphine Buysse, and Anna Karima Wane]
An Evening On The Palliative Turn hosted by Kasia Fudakowski, Pogo Bar, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, DE [curated by Sofie Krogh Christensen]
2021
Udubaki, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, SR
Dionysia, No Man’s Art Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, UK
The Palliative Turn, Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam, DE [curated by Olav Westphalen]
Flux and Reflux, Portikus, Frankfurt, DE [curated by Willem de Rooij in the framework of his exhibition Pierre Verger in Suriname; online]
Dreams Made Flesh, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Bucharest, RO [curated by Luís Manuel Araújo]
Group exhibition, M. LeBlanc, Chicago, US
Alakondre, Wi Tru Fesi, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, SR [curated by Alida Neslo]
2020
The Berry Eaters, CTG Harlem, New York City, US
2019
General Meeting, Freehouse, London, UK [curated by Darren Flook and Nancy Hatcher]
The Sound of Silence, Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles, US
ZWRT, Barbé Urbain Gallery, Ghent, BE
Metabolic Museum University, 33rd Ljubliana Biennial of Graphic Arts, Ljubliana, SI [devised by Clémentine Deliss]
2018
CTG-R: Zimbabwe, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Harare, ZI
Material, Cob Gallery, London, UK
From Shape to Form, Yale Divinity School, New Haven, US [curated by Jon Seals]
Jubileum Expo: 25 Jaar Readytex Art Gallery, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, SR
2017
While Meditating on War, CBK Zuidoost, Amsterdam, NL [curated by Renske de Jong]
2016
Zig Zag Zim, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, ZI [catalogue]
Zig Zag Zim part II, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York City, US
25 Years Contemporary Art in Suriname, Readytex Art Gallery, Paramaribo, SR [curated by Sasha Dees]
2015
Fictions and Constructions, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York City, US
2014
It Begins on Paper, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York City, US [catalogue]
AWARDS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2025
Artist Project grant, Mondriaan Fonds, Amsterdam, NL
Krull Arbeitsstipendium honoree, Hans und Charlotte Krull Stiftung, Berlin, DE
2023
DucatoPrize for Contemporary Art finalist, Piacenza, IT
2021
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize finalist, London, UK
2016
Royal Award for Modern Painting shortlist, Royal Palace Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2015
Prix de Rome Visual Arts nominee, The Mondriaan Fund, the Netherlands
2008–2012
Artistic Honors Scholarship, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, US
RESIDENCIES
2026
SCAD Alumni Atelier Program, Savannah College of Art and Design, Lacoste, FR
2025
Open Studio Program, Fonderia Artistica Battaglia, Milan, IT
The Residency Program, Art Encounters Foundation, Timişoara, RO
2020
CTGR: Bucharest, RO
2019
CTGR at the Serlachius Residency, Mänttä, FI
2018
CTGR-Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions Residency Collaboration, Harare, ZI
2017
CTGR-Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions Residency Collaboration, Harare, ZI
2015–2017
WOW Amsterdam, NL
2015
Catinca Tabacaru Gallery-Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions Residency Collaboration, Harare, ZI
SELECTED WRITING
2024
Review, Swimming Upstream. The Way of the Water, Tangente St. Pölten, Passe-Avant [online]
Essay, Forging a path in the place where the mountain once stood, in: Future Mobility and Other Ghosts from the Past, ed. Mathias Lempart and Sascia Reibel, Pforzheim Galerie, Pforzheim, DE
Monograph, Stuart Robles de Medina: Pengel, coy koi books, Berlin, DE
Review, Hidden in plain sight. Daniel Moldoveanu at GROTTO, Berlin, Passe-Avant [online]
2021
Review, response to Henrike Naumann“Einstürzende Reichsbauten” at Kunsthaus Dahlem, Berlin, in: Art Exhibition Reviews 2021, ed. Lene Volhardt, London, UK
SELECTED PRESS
Vermeulen, Joost, “Drie Nederlandse musea belichten Surinaamse kunstenaars: ‘Ze laten pijn zien, maar ook vreugde en trots’,” NRC [24 November 2025]
Gilothwest, Beryl, “Xavier Robles de Medina’s Pengel,” The Brooklyn Rail [February 2025]
Acha, Gabriela, “The Visual Atlas: Xavier Robles de Medina,” Mousse 87 [Spring 2024]
Khan, Tabish, “The top 5 exhibitions to see in London before and during Frieze week,” FAD Magazine [30 September 2023]
Tudor Pole, Henry, “Epistemelogical diazepam,” 500 Review [22 September 2023]
Headley, Kevin; Kenswil, Vincent, “Gesprek met Xavier Robles de Medina,” Vrijblijvende Gesprekken [29 December 2022]
Villefort, Wisrah, “In the Studio #200,” Daily Lazy [24 November 2022]
Keerveld, Miguel, “Contributing to Magic in Visual Conversation,” Africanah.org [6 July 2022]
Chung, Stephy, “Art Basel returns to Hong Kong, scaled-back but playing the long game,” CNN [31 May 2022]
Dijksterhuis, Edo, “Nieuwe locatie No Man’s Art Gallery oogt als een theatrale etalage,” Het Parool [18 November 2021]
“SCAD Museums: Diversity in Voices and Views,” Whitewall Magazine [5 March 2020]
Flora, Rachael, “5 Questions with Xavier Robles de Medina,” Connect Savannah [12 February 2020]
Cahill, Timothy, “In YDS exhibit, curator Jon Seals ’15 M.A.R. takes viewers ‘From Shape to Form’,” Yale Divinity School Department Website [9 May 2018]
Janssens, Mieke, “The Future Looms Dark and That We Can Scarcely,” The Art Couch [26 March 2018]
Salmeron, François, “Cinq jeunes artistes de moins de 35 ans” (five young artists under 35), Le Quotidien de l’Art [22 March 2018]
Tabacaru, Catinca, “#TheLIST: Up-and-Coming Artists You Need to Know,” Harper’s Bazaar [15 February 2018]
Wajwakana, Audry, “Xavier Robles de Medina 'signeert' met snelportretten,” De Ware Tijd, p. 8A [30 June 2017]
Dees, Sasha, “Nederland Represents: Xavier Robles de Medina & Remy Jungerman,” Trendbeheer [23 February 2017]
“If you dream of your tongue, Beware,” Wall Street International Magazine [14 February 2017]
McVey, Kurt, “Surinamese Artist Xavier Robles de Medina Mixes Dream Theory And Politics in First Solo Exhibition,” Forbes [31 January 2017]
Ronner, Abby, “Photorealistic Drawings Explore the Trippy Dreamscape of Cultural Identity,” The Creators Project, VICE [28 January 2017]
Perrée, Rob, “The could-be-reality of Xavier Robles de Medina,” AFRICANAH [9 May 2016]
Steins, Edward, “Xavier Robles de Medina streeft naar perfectie,” De Ware Tijd, Mens en Maatschappij, p. C4 [31 January 2016]
Goredema, Baynham, “Surinamese artist Xavier Robles de Medina in Zimbabwe,” POVO Journal 2015, Issue 07, p. 33–35 [September 2015]
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
Fondation Francès, Paris, FR
Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, US
Fondation L’Art Est Vivant, Paris, FR
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, ZI
GALLERY AFFILIATION
Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, Bucharest
info [at] catincatabacaru [dot] com
This website and its content is copyright of Xavier Robles de Medina, unless stated otherwise. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following: you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only, you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material. You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.
Last updated 2.2025; Website design: Sascia Reibel and Mathias Lempart for Shortnotice.studio