About
Catalina Restrepo's professional profile is unique. She has been a promoter, manager, curator, editor, teacher and art dealer. She has founded many successful projects in several different sectors; commercial, academic, independent and alternative. It is rare to find an advisor who understands the art market from the perspective of an artist and producer; just as rare is for artists to find a promoter who knows so closely the processes and protocols behind a selection, whether from the perspective of a collector or a curator. Catalina knows the medium of art from all angles. She understands the interests of each professional profile in the media and is always in search of the common good, streamlining processes, optimizing efforts and generating community. Throughout her extensive career, all these traits have continued to converge in a large number of projects founded and developed by her.
Catalina Restrepo (Bogotá, Colombia, 1982) is an independent curator, art advisor, writer, and cultural strategist. She is the author of "Portafolio de Artista. Una herramienta clave para una promoción exitosa" for the PUNTAL collection (with a foreword by Felipe Ehrenberg), published by the Javier Marín Foundation. She holds a degree in Visual Arts from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá (2007). In 2023, she contributed a regular column on the art market for Forbes Mexico. In 2024, she was Curator-in-Residence at Residency Unlimited (New York), and in 2025, she was invited to speak by the Secretaría de Cultura de Tijuana and the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ). Since 2023, she has co-hosted the podcast Bendito After School with curator Gonzalo Ortega, where they explore professional development in the arts. Through her consultancy, Catalina Restrepo Art Office, she develops curatorial projects, offers strategic advisory services, and designs training and networking programs for artists and cultural agents across Latin America. Restrepo is the founder of LivingArtRoom (2006), a platform focused on portfolio development for emerging and mid-career artists, and the creator of LARMAGAZINE (2010), an interactive bilingual magazine dedicated to contemporary art, presented at major international art fairs such as ARCOmadrid, Zona MACO, ARTBO, ArtBasel, and arteBA. In 2020, she co-founded ArtWorks, a hybrid gallery and artist incubator based in Monterrey. Her previous initiatives include LARSCHOOL (2015), an educational platform for artist professionalization and community-building, and FOCUS (2014), a development and networking program featuring two international conference series at Escuela Adolfo Prieto (CONARTE). That same year, she was selected for the Young Curators Workshop at the 8th Berlin Biennale. From 2013 to 2015, she taught at LCI Monterrey, and has led professionalization workshops at institutions such as the Amparo Museum (Puebla), MARCO Museum of Contemporary Art (Monterrey), Casa Vecina (Mexico City), and CONARTE (Monterrey). Her curatorial work has been presented in Bogotá, Mexico City, and Monterrey.
CV
EDUCACTION
2001-2007 Bachelor of Visual Arts, with emphasis in audiovisual expression. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá.
PUBLISHED BOOKS
2017
Portafolio de artista. Una herramienta clave para una promoción exitosa, prólogo por
Felipe Ehrenberg, colección PUNTAL, editorial Fundación Javier Marín. Ciudad de
México.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
2020-2022
Co-founder of ArtWorks, an alternative model of gallery, advisory and artists
incubator. Monterrey, México.
2010-2020
Director and founder of LARMAGAZINE Interactive magazine in app format about
international contemporary art . Present at contemporary art fairs such as Art Basel Miami
Beach, ARCOmadrid, ARTBO, ArteBA, Zona Maco, among others. With covers of artists such as Santiago Sierra, Olafur Eliasson, María José Arjona, Beatriz González, Stelarc,
Andres Serrano, Nick Cave, teamLab, Alfredo Jaar, Urs Fischer, Janet Echelman,
Eduardo Kac, Björn Melhus, Amalia Ulman, to name just a few.
2015-2022
Director and founder of LARSCHOOL. Platform for linking and training professional
field of contemporary art in which several of the most outstanding projects of the local art
scene have been gestated, such as Still Life Monterrey, Deadline, the alternative space
TIMBA, FAMA Mexican accessible art fair, between others. Monterrey Mexico.
2017
PrestoMiCasa,artist talks hosted in different locations in the city. Monterey, Mexico.
2006-2014
Director and founder of the LivingArtRoom project. Website that promoted artists
through complete portfolios. This platform shown portfolios from well known artists at the beginning of their careers, as for example: Miler Lagos, Rochelle Costi, Mauricio Limóm, Julia Carrillo Escalera, Maria Garcia-Ibanez, Tania Ximena, Rodrigo Facundo, Saul Sanchez, Carlos Castro, Adriana Salazar, to name just a few
2008
Executive Producer and Director of the programs Fine Arts Review and Perfiles, dedicated to the diffusion of artists and exhibitions, Xclusive TV channel. Mexico City
2007-2008
Founding member of the alternative space YAUTEPEC 103. Mexico City
2006-2007
Director of the Rococó gallery. Bogota, Colombia
CURATORIAL ACTIVITY
2021
LAR-LOCAL. In collaboration with Paola Livas. Exhibition Space in San Pedro Garza Garcia, N,L.Mexico
2016- 2021
PrestoMiCasa Artist Talks. Event organizer where artists and promoters from the local Monterrey art scene presented their work. Monterrey, N.L, Mexico
2014
FOCUS, what are we talking about? Collective exhibition Casa dela Cultura de Nuevo León, from the National Council for Culture and the Arts of Nuevo León (CONARTE). Monterrey Mexico
The House in the Air. Solo exhibition by María Fernanda Barrero. Casa de la Cultura de Nuevo León, Consejo Nacional Para La Cultura y Las Artes de Nuevo León (CONARTE). Monterrey, México
2013
50 Artists, One Impulse. Exhibition for the benefit of Andares A.C. San Pedro Garza García. N.L, México.
Selección Natural. Solo exhibition by Ernesto Walker. Casa de la Cultura de Nuevo León, CONARTE. Monterrey, México.
2012
I, Primate. Collective exhibition. BORDER Cultural Center. Mexico City.
2011
The Garden of Earthly Delights. Collective exhibition. Parada 54 Gallery. Mexico City.
LivingArtRoom stand. La Otra, Contemporary art fair. Bogota Colombia.
2007
Nada Igual, Sofía Reyes Guevara, Santiago Monge y Juan Pablo Echeverri. Rococó gallery. Bogotá, Colombia
JURY AND CONFERENCES
2020
Panelist next to Pablo Helguera and Franklin Aguirre in the talk Live Dialogue! Museums and new paradigms in Education. Museum of Modern Art of Bogota (MAMBO). Bogota , Colombia
Jury for FAMA Accessible Mexican Art Fair. Monterrey Mexico.
2019
Jury of the Nuevo León Architecture Biennial. Monterrey Mexico.
Silex. Discussion table: online editorials, electronic literature and webcomics. Digital Culture Center. Mexico City.
Guest speaker on Practices and resonances between Colombia and Mexico, Centro Roberto Garza Sada CRGS. University of Monterrey UDEM. Monterrey, Mexico.
2018
Member of the Technical Committee ruling on the call for Fiscal Stimulus to the Artistic
creation, National Council for Culture and the Arts of Nuevo León (CONTATE). Monterrey, Mexico.
Conference on the Art Market, Accessible Contemporary Art Fair (FAMA). San Pedro Garza Garcia, N.L, Mexico
2017
Participation in the Curriculum Consultation Forum of the School of Plastic Arts "Prof. Rubén Herrera” from the Autonomous University of Coahuila. Saltillo, Mexico.
2016 Conversation with Miguel Fernandez and Bruno Bresani; XIV Photography Meeting. CONARTE, N.L, Mexico.
Conversation with the photographer Yvonne Vanegas, Heartego gallery. San Pedro Garza Garcia, N.L, Mexico.
2014
Invited to the Young Curators Workshop program; 8th Berlin Biennale; Berlin Germany.
2013
Conference Speaker: Contemporary or Non-Contemporary. XI Forum of Photography. Myths and realities of Photography. WITH YOU. Monterrey Mexico.
Jury for the PIDAC stimulus of the National Council for Culture and the Arts of Nuevo Leon (CONARTE). Monterrey Mexico.
2012
Speaker at Art as a Device Conference. Faculty of Visual Arts.UANL, Monterrey Mexico.
Panelist in the talk with Maria Fernanda Barrero about her exhibition. Facultad Libre de Derecho. Monterrey, México.
Conference speaker: Self-promotion and Management for Artists. MARCO Museum of Monterrey. Monterrey, Mexico.
2005
Development of the "Connect with art" program, carried out within the framework of the
program Javerian connection. Pontifical Javeriana University. Bogota Colombia.
TEACHING, COURSES AND WORKSHOPS
2020
Course on Art Market. Javier Marin Foundation. Mexico City.
Laboratory of Business and Profitable Cultural Projects. LARSCHOOL, Monterrey, Mexico.
2019
Contemporary Art Market, LARSCHOOL. Monterrey Mexico.
Portfolio and Self-management Workshop, Leunun. Monterrey Mexico.
Form and Content. Development and presentation of projects for calls. Leunun, Monterrey Mexico.
2018
Workshop on Self-promotion and Management, Javier Marín Foundation. Mexico City.
Contemporary Art Market, LARSCHOOL. Monterrey Mexico.
Laboratory on Creation of Editorial Platforms. LARSCHOOL. Monterrey Mexico.
2017
Participation in the Curriculum Consultation Forum of the School of Plastic Arts "Prof. Rubén Herrera” from the Autonomous University of Coahuila. Saltillo, Mexico.
2016
PANORAMA workshop on the international art scene, LARSCHOOL. Monterrey Mexico.
2012- 2015
Professor in the Photography degree, Universidad LCI Monterrey in the subjects: Portfolio; Final Project of Exhibition and Contemporary Photography. Monterrey Mexico
2015
Workshop on Art Criticism. Autonomous University of Coahuila. Saltillo, Mexico
2014
Contemporary Art Appreciation Course. Advertising agency, La Sociedad. Monterrey Mexico.
Self-promotion and Self-management Workshop for Artists. Adolfo Prieto School of the Council National for Culture and the Arts of Nuevo León (CONARTE). Monterey, Mexico.
2013
Self-promotion and Self-management Workshop for Artists. Casa Vecina. Mexico City
Self-promotion and Management Workshop for Artists. Amparo museum. Puebla, Mexico
Self-promotion and Management Workshop for Artists. Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey (MARCO). Monterrey Mexico.