Miguel Arzabe

View colorful paper weavings by Miguel Arzabe as you climb the museum stairs.

Miguel Arzabe transforms discarded paper into colorful weavings. Honoring his Andean heritage, Miguel’s patterns celebrate cultures that preceded and continue to survive colonization. He uses promotional materials from contemporary art exhibits and fairs. By collecting, cutting, and remixing images of artworks that are not his own, Miguel questions authorship and how value is created in contemporary art.

Miguel Arzabe is a San Francisco-based visual artist who works across media, including painting, video, and paper weaving. Arzabe’s work has been featured in such festivals as Hors Pistes (Centre Pompidou, Paris) and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal); and in museums and galleries including RM Projects (Auckland), FIFI Projects (Mexico City), Marylhurst University (Oregon), Berkeley Art Museum, Albuquerque Museum of Art, the de Young Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He has held many residencies including Headlands Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, and Santa Fe Art Institute. He holds a BS from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS from Arizona State University, and an MFA from UC Berkeley.