Johansson Projects presents Sin Contar Cincuenta, an exhibition of new weavings by Miguel Arzabe. 

Finding what he terms a 'productive confrontation' between Andean weaving traditions and mid-century gestural abstraction, his woven paintings unify his Bolivian heritage with modern and contemporary art. His process begins by painting two separate canvases reminiscent of abstract expressionist works, then cutting them into strips to form the warp and weft of intricate, hand-woven compositions that draw from ancient Andean symbology and techniques of the oldest active textile tradition in the world. Arzabe capitalizes on the aesthetic synergies between Andean iconography and modern abstraction to create dynamic, often sprawling works that lack clear delineation between figure and ground, form and pattern. Within his work, contradiction becomes complementary, as Arzabe navigates the complex interactions of culture, family, and inheritance while maintaining a deep care for indigenous practices. 

Miguel Arzabe holds a BS from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS from Arizona State University, and an MFA from UC Berkeley. His work has been presented in museums and galleries, including MAC Lyon, France; MARS Milan, Italy; RM Projects Auckland, New Zealand; FIFI Projects Mexico City, Mexico; Marylhurst University, Oregon; Johansson Projects, Oakland, California; Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, California; Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California;  Albuquerque Museum of Art, New Mexico; the Tucson Museum of Art; the de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; the Jewish Contemporary Museum, San Francisco; Marin Museum of Contemporary Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the ICA SF; and the Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville. He has held many residencies, including Facebook AIR, Headlands Center for the Arts, Montalvo Arts Center, and Santa Fe Art Institute. He has been featured in such festivals as Hors Pistes at Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Festival du Nouveau Cinéma Montréal, Canada; and the Geumgang Nature Art Biennale in Gongju, South Korea.

In 2022, Miguel received the Artadia Award, and his work “Te Quiero Inti” was acquired into the permanent collection at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, California. In 2023, Miguel was a Pollock-Krasner award recipient and received a Golden Foundation Residency and a Google Artist in Residence. In 2024 Arzabe was in a group show at The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, featured in a Made in Paint exhibition at Golden Artist foundation in New Berlin, NY, had a Public Art Commission for the International Airport in Houston, TX, was featured in the New York Percent for Art in Queens, NY, was selected as a finalist for SFMOMA’s SECA award, featured at FOG Fair and EXPO Chicago/Frieze Fair and Untitled with Johansson Projects, selected for a group exhibition at ICA SF in “The Poetics of Dimensions” curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, and was featured at the deYoung Museum’s exhibition, Bay Area Artists from the Svane Gift.