Education
1992 School of the Art Institute of Chicago
major studies in fine art
1989-91 Daley College, Chicago
general studies
1988 Columbia College, Chicago
major studies in film and video
Art Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2005 - Polvo Art Studio, Chicago
2001 - Café Jumping Bean, Chicago
2000 - Teocalli Cafe Gallery, Chicago
1998 - "Cuando estaba joven..." Ñandu, Chicago
1998 - "Vesica Piscis" Prospectus Art Gallery, Chicago
1997 - 500 Nations Cultural Café, Chicago
1997 - Casa de Arte y Cultura, Chicago

Group Shows
2005 - State University of New York, Oswego, NY
2004 - Function Variable, Barcelona, Spain
2004 - Artists Respond to War, Aldo Castillo Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004 - Orleans Gallery, St. Charles, IL
2004 - Stray Show, Chicago, IL
2004 - Corosh, Chicago, IL
2004 - Theft, Galeria Tinta Roja, Chicago, IL
2004 - Tu casa es mi casa: artists respond to gentrification, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, IL
2004 - Around the Coyote, Chicago, IL
2003 - Stuff my stocking, Fleur Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003 - Winter festival, Chicago Arts District, Chicago, IL
2003 - Galeria El Puente, Juchitan, Oaxaca, Mex.
2003 - Fall festival, Chicago Arts District, Chicago, IL
2003 - XI Art Solidari(Art Against AIDS), Casa Can Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
2003 - Malcolm X College, Chicago, IL
2003 - Chicago Athletic Club, Chicago, IL
2003 - Butcher Shop, Chicago, IL
2003 - ArtBoat 2003, Chicago, IL
2003 - Terrorrist Art: Protesting War, Polvo Art Studio, Chicago, IL
2002 - Elements "earth", Centro Civico de Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain
2002 - X Art Solidari(Art Against AIDS), Casa Elizalde, Barcelona, Spain
2002 - Around the Coyote, Collage Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 - ATL group, Arte de Mexico Gallery, Chicago, IL
2001 - IX Art Solidari(Arte contra el SIDA), Casa Elizalde, Barcelona, Spain
2001 - Day of the Dead, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago
2001 - MIRA art exhibit, Athenaeum Museum, Schamburg, IL
2001 - Day of the Dead, Café Jumping Bean, Chicago
2001 - Group Show, Triton College, Melrose Park, IL
2001 - Fragments, Café Sol, Chicago
2001 - Latino Art, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
2000 - two person show with Edgar Serrano, Teocalli, Chicago
2000 - "group show", Casa de la Cultura, Juchitán, Oaxaca
2000 - "Un origen...diversos caminos", Galeria Arte de Mexico
2000 - "caras de la vida y la muerte", Athenaeum Museum, Schamburg, IL
1999 - "arte de Chicago", Chicago State University
1999 - "art of memory", Aldo Castillo Gallery
1999 - "Cristos" Galeria Arte Mexicano
1999 - "art for the next millennium", Polvo Multimedia Art Space
1999 - "mariposa oscura", Columbia College
1998 - "1968-1998", Taller Mestizarte
1998 - "Reflections", Triton College
1998 - "Tribute", Prospectus Art Gallery
1997 - "O' Maker",Casa de Arte y Cultura
1997 - "History of Pilsen", Chicago Historical Society
1996 - "Beans and White Rice", Near Northwest Arts Council
1996 - "Hasta que se me prendio el foco",Casa de Arte y Cultura
1995 - "The Other Side of Lunacy", Casa de Arte y Cultura
1995 - "187 - With or Without you ", Roberto Lopez Gallery
1995 - "187 - With or Without you", Malcolm X College
1995 - "Christmas show", Byron Roche Gallery
1994 - "Unknown Chicago", Gallery 312
1994 - "Group Show", Art Windows Gallery
1994 - "Offerings",Bertoncini Gallery
1993 - "The Other Side of Lunacy", Calles y Sueños
1992 - "500 years of Anti- Colonial resistance",Galeria FridaKhalo, Mex.
1992 - "Group Show", Galeria Municipal, Aguascalientes, Mex.
1992 - "Variations on a theme",Near Nortwest Arts Council
1992 - "Endangered Art", MWMWM Gallery
Publications
2003 featured artist - Contratiempo Literary Magazine
2001 "Generacion " - Art magazine from Mexico
2000 "La Bamba " - Book on art published by the Mexican Consulate in Chicago
1999 "Frontera Literary Review " - Book on art and poetry
1998 "Zorros y Erizos " - designed art and literature magazine
1996-2003 "POLVO " - published magazine on art and literature
1996 Inphobia Magazine - magazine cover illustration

Professional Affiliations
1996-present Polvo - founded and run art/web magazine and alternative space
1997-2000 Taller Mestizarte - graphic art workshop member
Web Site Publications
http://www.espectro.com
artist of the month Dec 2001
http://www.espectro.com
artist of the month Dec 1999

ARTIST BIO
Miguel Cortez is an artist living in Chicago and born in Guanajuato, Mexico in 1970. He has studied filmaking at Columbia College and fine arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited his work for more than a decade in Chicago, Mexico, and Spain. Recent exhibitions include a two person show in Juchitan, Oaxaca and several group shows in Barcelona, Spain at Casa Elizalde and Centre Civic de Barceloneta.

STATEMENT
My current abstract work is about the minute events/patterns that occur in our lives, they are close-ups of something larger, fragments of our existence, in one way similar to the computer term "fragmentation" which refers to a disk drive in which files are divided into pieces scattered around the disk. The computer separates a file into smaller files throughout many areas of its hard drive. When you try to access a file, the disk drive must search through different parts of the disk in order to put together a single file. These scattered files are part of the larger file being accessed. In my work, each painting seems to be a close up of something larger, and even though they are fragments of a whole, each becomes an individual entity.