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My name is Edén Barrena and I am a visual artist working with drawing and print. I was born in 1991 in Badajoz, a city in the southwest of Spain. I currently live between my hometown and Bucharest. 
Contact:
eden.barrena@gmail.com 
@eden.barrena


Artist statement

I am interested in the relationship between the self and the other, and in the estrangement and conflicts caused by this encounter. I reflect on the edges of subjectivity, travel, discovery and representation of the unknown through the exercise of drawing and the action of repetition (seriality, copy, insistence, reproduction, obsession, tradition, study).

The outcome of my practice is a register of small/invisible gestures we found embedded in specific cultural frames: these customs, superstitions or forms of heritage that are on theverge of disappearance. And yet, they have made all the

way to our present, like a miraculous long thread, to bond us with who inhabited the world before we got here. 

A preference for humble materials and portable formats allows me to generate a sense of intimacy within my work, while enabling my production despite not owning a studio, or when I am on the move. Travelling is a key element of my creative process because it positions me in the roles of the outsider and the other, experimenting first-hand the displacement of the foreigner.



EDUCATION

 Master in Fine Arts in Printmaking
Erasmus exchange program
Bachelor in Fine Arts Royal College of Art
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Suttgart
Universidad Complutense de Madrid United Kingdom
Germany
Spain 2013-2015
2012-2013
2009-2013

ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Sounds Like a Book
Chaander Haat
A. Farm
Bananafish Books
Swatch Art Peace Hotel
Fundación Antonio Gala Șona
Kolkata
Ho Chi Minh City
Shanghai
Shanghai
Cordoba Romania
India
Vietnam
China
China
Spain 2022
2020
2019
2018
2017
2015-2016

Other prizes and fellowships
Ayudas a Artistas Visuales
Open Portfolio FIG 2016
Graduate Prints Awards
Villiers David Travel Award
Royal College of Art Bursary
 Junta de Extremadura
Festival Internacional de Grabado, Bilbao
People of Print, London
The Villiers David Foundation
Royal College of Art
Spain
Spain
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
2023
2016
2015
2014
2013-2015


SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Muestrario
Evidence of Magic
I Draw with My Hands
Like a Precious Vein Deep in the Mine
What I Have Done: Open Studio
Inventar al otro
La colonia
 Sala Europa
TM Studio Art Space (The West Bund Artistic Center)
de Pot
Swatch Art Peace Hotel
Swatch Art Peace Hotel
Espacio Joven
Limbo 0 gallery Badajoz, Spain
Shanghai, China
Shanghai, China
Shanghai, China
Shanghai, China
Valladolid, Spain
Cordoba, Spain 2025
2019
2018
2018
2017
2016
2016

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Arte pulsante. Madrid Welcomes Shanghai
Diez artistas por los derechos humanos
Threads Exhibition
White Cubes’ Project
Contemporary Spanish Graphics
Premio Internacional de Arte Gráfico Jesús Núñez
Asia Independent Publishing
Aprender a perderse
Contemporary Perspectives on Printmaking
11e Biennale de Gravure de Liège
Open Portfolio FIG
XIV promoción
Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize
Haptic and Optic Portfolio Exhibition

IMPACT9
PR!NT: Impressions & Expressions
HIX Award
Human Nature
RCA Degree Show
Lean-to
Stewarts Law RCA Secret
Objects of
Hong Kong Graphic Art Fiesta
Hoarding
Skin/Cells
Indie-vision
PopArtCube
Stewarts Law RCA Secret
Yesterday’s Wrong Thinking
WIP Show
Rundgang
ZigZag
Serrería Belga
Galería Ángeles Baños
Galeria Posibilă
Bagpota Village
San Stephano Gallery
Fundación CIEC (itinerant exhibition)
Seoul International Book Fair, Coex
Instituto Cervantes
Mall Galleries
La Boverie
Edificio Ensanche
Fundación Antonio Gala
Bank Street Arts
Yantai Modern Gallery
Shenzhen Baotu Library Gallery 
Yuquanshan Art Gallery
The China Academy of Arts
La Cambre Galerie 425
CNB Gallery
The Archive Gallery
Royal College of Art
Tenderbooks
Dyson Gallery
Cafe Gallery
Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre
City Gallery
Fringe! Festival
Metal Culture
ArtCube Gallery
Dyson Gallery
Café Gallery
Royal College of Art
ABK-Stuttgart
ABK-StuttgartMadrid, Spain
Badajoz, Spain
Bucharest, Romania
Kolkota, India
Sofia, Bulgaria
Galicia, Spain
Seoul, South Korea
Shanghai, China
London, United Kingdom
Liege, Belgium
Bilbao, Spain
Cordoba, Spain
Sheffield, United Kingdom
Yantai, China
Shenzhen, China
Beijing, China
Hangzhou, China
Brussels, Belgium
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
Hong Kong
Peterborough, UK
London, United Kingdom
Peterborough, UK
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
Stuttgart, Germany
Stuttgart, Germany2024
2022
2022
2020
2019
2019
2019
2019
2017
2017
2016
2016
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2015
2014
2014
2014
2014
2014
2014
2014
2014
2013
2013


ART FAIRSPolycopies
Shanghai abC Art Book Fair
Tokyo Art Book Fair
Beijing abC Art Book Fair
UNFOLD Shanghai Art Book Fair
Shanghai abC Art Book Fair
Picnic Art Festival
Festival Internacional de Grabado
GRAF Barcelona 2017
Festival Internacional de Grabado
Multiplied Art Fair 2015
Offprint London
East London Comic Arts Festival
Turn the Page
 Concorde-Atlantique boat
Modern Art Museum 
Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
Times Art Museum
M50
Modern Art Museum
Qiao Space
Palacio Euskalduna
La Fàbrica de la Creació Fabra i Coats
Palacio Euskalduna
Christie’s South Kensington
Turbine Hall, TATE Modern
The Laundry
The ForumParis, France
Shanghai, China
Tokyo, Japan
Beijing, China
Shanghai, China
Shanghai, China
Shanghai, China
Bilbao, Spain
Barcelona, Spain
Bilbao, Spain
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
London, United Kingdom
Norwich, United Kingdom2022
2019
2019
2019
2019
2018
2018
2017
2017
2016
2015
2015
2015
2015

PUBLICATIONS > all available at my online shop 
Un baúl con ropa blanca
Some Notes on the Use of Textiles in Șona
The Promise of Blooming
Un niño siempre distinto
The Other
Cinematic Drawings Self-edited
Self-edited
Bananafish Books
Chucherías de Arte
Self-edited
Self-editedWith funding from: Ayudas a Artistas Visuales de la Junta de Extremadura
With funding from: Ștefan Câlția Foundation


Done during my internship at Hato Press, London
With funding from: Villiers David Travel Award
2024
2022
2018
2016
2015
2014





© Edén Barrena 2025