Dairo Vargas is a Colombian-born, London based painter whose work explores memory, trauma, and the transformative power of the past, how what we have lived shapes, distorts, and ultimately defines who we become.
Working in dialogue with the European Baroque tradition, particularly Rubens and Velázquez, Vargas builds his paintings through layers, accumulating, obscuring, and revealing in a process that mirrors memory itself. His work holds the tension between abstraction and figuration, between the weight of history and the fluid nature of the self. Works are held in private collections worldwide. Represented by Maddox Gallery, London.
"If our memories give us a sense of moving through time, which of them truly define who we are — and what it means to be alive?" — Dairo Vargas
Education
2008 HNC Fine Art, Kensington and Chelsea College
2014 Metal and Sculpture Summer Course Central Saint Martins
2004 BA Graphic Design, Unitec University, Bogota, Colombia
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Maddox Gallery, London, UK
2023 Maddox Gallery, London, UK
Canali, London, UK
2022 Signet Gallery, London, UK
2021 Signet Gallery, London, UK
2018 In Spaces, London, UK
Barclays Bank, London, UK
2017 Ambassadeur Gallery, Bournemouth, UK
2016 Mindcollision Coya, London, UK
Group Exhibitions
2025 Maddox Gallery, London, UK
2024 Maddox Gallery, London, UK
2023 Maddox Gallery, London, UK
Eclectic Gallery, London, UK
2022 The Royal Academy of Art, Summer Exhibition, London, UK
Signet Gallery, London, UK
The Light Box Gallery, Surrey, UK
Eclectic Gallery, London, UK
2020 Dogtooth Fine Art Gallery, Cheshire, UK
The Royal Academy of Art, Summer Exhibition, London, UK
Via Art Prize, London, UK
2019 Consciousness, Community project, Museum del Marletto, Italy
Black Water Gallery, Cardiff, London, UK
Moniker Art Fair, London, UK
Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong
2018 M1 Fine Art Gallery, London, UK
Kensington and Chelsea college, London, UK
Affordable Art Fair, London, UK
LA Modern + Contemporary, USA
2017 David Bowie Tribute, Monica Colussi (motor village, London, UK)
The VIA Arts Prize, Brazilian embassy, London, UK
Cloud Gallery, London, UK
Underdog Gallery, London, UK
Cambridge Art Fair, London, UK
Collections
Alfardan Group
World Health Organisation WHO
Wish Foundation - Qatar
Liverpool Football Club
Faithless - Maxi Jazz
Baroness Gloria Hooper
Michael Portillo
Vargas is also the founder of The Art Listens, a global initiative exploring art as a tool for trauma and mental health.