30+1
YEARS OF ART
1991 - 2022
Text introducing the 30 years section.
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1991 - 2000
León Tovar made his incursion into the art world as an art gallerist in the early 90s.
He founded his own gallery Tovar & Tovar in Bogotá, Colombia, back in 1991 with a presentation of works by Sol LeWitt and Bernar Venet. He continued creating exhibitions on renowned artists like Josef Albers, Carlos Rojas, Luis Camnitzer, Dennis Oppenheim, and Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar.
First gallery Tovar & Tovar in Bogotá, Colombia
2001 - 2010
16 East 71st Street, New York, NY 10021
In 2002, León Tovar decided to move his business to New York City, opening an exhibition space on the Upper East Side, on East 71st St., named Leon Tovar Gallery.
His gallery was one of the first spaces to exhibit the geometric, kinetic, mathematical, and minimal art concepts (known today as geometrical abstraction) practiced by Latin American artists at the time.
His relationship with many artists, like Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jesús Rafael Soto, Marisol, Carlos Rojas, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, and Latin American art exhibits in renowned museums in New York City helped Leon Tovar create a global interest in Latin American art and modernism.
2011 - 2020
In 2015, Leon Tovar opened a second gallery space on West 25TH St. with Cristina Grajales, which presented collective and individual exhibitions of several Latin American artists like Edgar Negret, Fanny Sanin, Carmelo Arden Quin, Omar Rayo, Francisco Salazar, Jesús Rafael Soto, and Agustín Fernández, among others. Later, in the spring of 2019 this location was moved to the Upper East Side.
In addition to curating exhibitions regularly, Leon Tovar Gallery has also been actively participating in panels, tours, and art discussions. Leon Tovar has been a member of the ADAA since 2019 and has been present in major international art fairs around the world.
In 2019, León Tovar Gallery moved its second location to East 75th St., where he carefully curated collective and solo shows on important artists such as Carmelo Arden Quin, Sergio Camargo, Omar Rayo, Jesús Rafael Soto, Feliza Bursztyn, Marcelo Bonevardi, and Francisco Salazar.
152 W 25th Street, New York, NY 10001