Natalia Ortega Gamez First artist for the New Davidoff Art Residency in Bogotá, Colombia

The Davidoff Art Initiative (DAI) is pleased to announce Dominican artist Natalia Ortega Gamez as the first artist selected for the new residency program at FLORA ars+natura in Bogotá, Colombia.

Ortega Gamez will be in residency from June 1 to August 31, 2016. The Escuela FLORA Residency in Bogotá is the fifth international residency of the Davidoff Art Initiative and will take place annually at FLORA ars+natura. The program provides emerging and mid-career artists from the Caribbean region access to cutting-edge facilities and the opportunity to develop their practice while living and working in Bogotá. The program will also include workshops, site visits and seminars, as well as studio visits conducted for each participant by a roster of esteemed international and local art world professionals.

During her residency at FLORA ars+natura, Ortega Gamez will expand upon her current project, Los Tejedores, an investigation into traditional weaving patterns in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Ortega Gamez’s work focuses on artisanal processes and materials that bear a direct relationship to culture, such as clay, bamboo and fibers.
“Working with diverse techniques has allowed my pieces to seemingly come to life as they coexist within nature,” Ortega Gamez says. “I want to create objects inspired in nature, objects that resonate with it, but that at the same time express my personal and cultural experience as a Dominican artist. I look forward to the opportunity to build upon this work during my time in Bogotá.”

The addition of FLORA ars+natura to the Davidoff Art Initiative’s residency partnership program is a significant and defining step for the organization, which has supported Caribbean artists since 2013 by providing internationally recognized residency opportunities in Basel, Beijing, Berlin and Brooklyn.
“The Davidoff Art Initiative’s residency program is a foundational part of our programming, reflecting our commitment to forging creative relationships between the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic and the rest of the world,” said Paloma Szathmáry, SVP Corporate Communications of Oettinger Davidoff AG. “We are delighted to welcome Natalia Ortega Gamez as our first resident at FLORA ars+natura, where she will have the opportunity to continue to develop her work on the international stage.”