Federico Herrero’s work (San José, Costa Rica, 1978) stems from close observation of both the urban and natural landscapes of Costa Rica, creating chromatic compositions that transcend the traditional boundaries of painting. His connection to his home country is key: it was upon returning to Costa Rica after studying in the United States that he consolidated a local artistic community and discovered a more rooted, organic way of producing art, independent of the fluctuations of the international market.
With a process-based and intuitive approach, and a vibrant palette attuned to the layers of the landscape, his painting evokes the greens, blues, and earthy tones of tropical nature, in dialogue with the signs and visual stimuli of the city. Herrero understands color as sound, rhythm, and living matter, capable of occupying both canvas and architectural space, expanding into murals, installations, and public interventions. This rhythmic, almost musical dynamic runs through his entire practice, manifesting both in studio work and in urban interventions, where pigments seem to float or gravitate through space. For Herrero, painting is a way of creating mental and emotional landscapes that invite contemplation and sensory connection.
Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Young Artist at the 49th Venice Biennale in 2001, Herrero lives and works in San José, where he also develops initiatives that use art as an educational and social tool.
Solo exhibitions include: Luisa Strina, São Paulo (2025); A Piece of Waterfall in the Sound of Crickets, The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, Florida (2024); James Cohan, New York (2023); Táctiles, Kunsthalle Lissabon, Lisbon (2022); The sun and the moon, Mendes Wood DM, Brussels; Night Blue, Sies + Höke Gallery, Düsseldorf (2021); Museo Nacional de Costa Rica (2020); Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (2019); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2018); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2018); Sies + Höke Galerie, Düsseldorf (2017).
Group exhibitions include: All About 25, James Cohan, New York, USA (2025); Light Is Therefore Colour, Galerie Tschudi, Zuoz, Switzerland (2023); Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2022); Thailand Biennale, Korat (2021); Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2019); Geometries, Onassis Cultural Center, Athens (2018); X Biennial of Central America (2018); South London Gallery, London (2016); MOCAD Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (2015); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014).
His work is included in the collections of: CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art, San Francisco, USA; Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, Miami, USA; Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan; ME Collectors Room, Berlin, Germany; MUDAM, Luxembourg; MUSAC, Castilla y León, Spain; Museo de Santander, Spain; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; MUAC Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City; Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA; Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection, USA; Tate Collection, UK; 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan.