About me

When I’m on a train you can call me Lord Margarita

Hola! I’m Margarita Vásquez Cárdenas, a Colombian artist based in Dublin, Ireland. My practice explores stillness, beauty, and quiet moments drawn from everyday life. Through painting and drawing, I seek to express the subtle interplay of light, shapes, and feeling—offering viewers a space for reflection and connection.

With a background in Fine Arts from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Ohio University (USA) through a Fulbright Scholarship, I’ve exhibited nationally and internationally, across disciplines including drawing, painting, photography, and video.

Over the past two decades, I’ve also worked in arts and project management, leading collective and public engagement projects, always driven by my belief in art as a way to bring people closer to themselves and one another. Also I’m a huge fan of Blues music and dancing.

Steadily, I’ve been coming back to my artistic practice. This website is both a creative home and a space to share what I see in the world. Take a look around, perhaps something here will speak to you. And if it does, do get in touch.

Have any questions? Get in touch

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Artist Statement

Through my creative practice, which often begins from walks within cities, I primarily use digital photography to record images of light, shadow, and repetition, found in architecture and nature. By working this way I document the unpredictable and hold onto tiny moments that would otherwise disappear.

I create layered images that combine these collected moments, on the surface of a canvas. While my process is not about recreating what was seen precisely, it is about revealing the invisible threads between experiences. Through painting I translate these impressions and give them form. Each painting becomes a visual story guided by intuition and emotions, rather than logic. Observing, copying and translating imagery is a release for my busy mind. The repetition of shapes, across a flat surface, provides solace, calm and structure, while light and shadows invite play.

Through my paintings, I invite others into this space of stillness and observation. My practice is where I return to myself, where creativity becomes a space of refuge and reflection. I create to quiet the mind, to listen inwardly and to understand what surrounds me and how we are connected.

Go ahead, check out my CV

  • 2014 MA Cultural Policy & Arts Management, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

    2008 MFA Painting - Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA.

    2002 BFA Studio Arts - Universidad de los Andes. Bogotá, Colombia

  • 2017 RHA School – Access Programme Scholarship, Foundation Painting Term 1, Dublin.

    2009 Best in Video. Image Ohio 9. Roy G. Biv Gallery. Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery Columbus, USA.

    2005 - 2008 Fulbright & Ministry of Culture (Colombia) Scholarship. MFA Painting. Ohio University, Athens, USA.

    2004 Juror’s Prize. III Photography Salon El Municipal. Centro Cultural Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Bogota, Colombia

  • 2010‍ Unfolding Narratives. Centro Colombo Americano. Pereira, Colombia.

    2010‍ Telling Objects. Galería Humberto Hernández. Centro Cultural Colombo Americano. Cali, Colombia.

    2009‍ Recollecting. Centro Colombo Americano - Sede Centro. Bogotá, Colombia.

    2009‍ Erinnerung. Das Weisse Haus. Porter’s Lodge. Vienna, Austria.

    2008‍ Recognition. Majestic Galleries. Nelsonville, Ohio, USA.

  • 2024‍ More than this. Ranelagh Arts, Dublin, Ireland.

    2014‍ Love Letters. Centre for Creative Practices. Dublin, Ireland.

    2013‍ konnektor #21 “Überbleibsel”. konnektor - Forum für Künste. Hannover, Germany.

    2012 XIV Salon Regional de Artistas – Zona Centro. La Cooperativa. El Parqueadero. Museo del Banco de la Republica. Bogotá, Colombia.

    2009 Yolanda or Magdalena. La Oreja Roja. XIII Salon Regional de Artistas. Zona Centro. Colectivo Paramus. Sogamoso Train Station. Sogamoso, Colombia.

    2009 Image Ohio 9. Roy G. Biv Gallery. Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery. Columbus, USA.

    2008‍ Manifest International Drawing Annual 2008. With work by the Aspect Collective. Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center. Cincinnati, USA.

    2006‍ Salon Prize Fernando Botero 2006. Fundacion Jovenes Artistas Colombianos. Bogota, Colombia.

    2004‍ III Photography Salon El Municipal. Centro Cultural Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. Bogota, Colombia.

    2003‍ V Neighborhood Biennale. Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño. Bogota, Colombia

    2003‍ August Salon 2003. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo. Bogota, Colombia.

    2003‍ VIII Rotary in the Arts Salon. Atheneum World Trade Center Club. Bogota, Colombia.

    2001‍ Analog. Asterisk 5 Magazine. Galeria Espacio Vacio. Bogota, Colombia.

    2000‍ Instructions for Provoking. Asterisk 4 Magazine. Galeria Sextante. Bogota, Colombia.

    2000‍ Alternatives in Process 5. Galeria El Museo. Bogota, Colombia.

    2000‍ III Local Salons of Fine Arts. Biblioteca Francisco Jose de Caldas. Bogota, Colombia.

    1999‍ Erotic in Printmaking. Universidad de Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano. Bogota, Colombia.

  • 2025 B.Y.O.A.A.S. Hen’s Teeth. Dublin, Ireland.

    2025 Archive Within Us. Richmond Barracks. The National Neighbourhood, Dublin City Council Culture Company, Dublin, Ireland.

    2023 Archive Within Us. Charleville Mall Library. The National Neighbourhood, Dublin City Council Culture Company, Dublin, Ireland.

    2021‍ Pluid – The National Comfort Blanket. The Cowshed Gallery, Farmleigh, Dublin, Ireland.

    2015 The Talking Petals Project. A collaboration with Heidi Bender. Dublin, Ireland – Chillicothe, United States.

    2012‍ XIV Salon Regional de Artistas – Zona Centro. La Cooperativa. El Parqueadero. Museo del Banco de la Republica. Bogotá, Colombia.

    2012‍ Elegía a Jaime Molina. LA Galeria. Bogota, Colombia.

    2011‍ Workshop Libro-Árbol with Mark Dion. Plataforma. Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño. Bogota, Colombia.

    2011‍ Drawing Connections. Sienna Art Institute. Sienna, Italy.

    2011‍ History of Arquetipical Identity. Selected by the Mexican artist Ruben Maya. Museo Iglesia Santa Clara. Bogota, Colombia.

    2009 Mirador de Parajes. Galería 3er Módulo. Bogotá, Colombia.

    2008‍ Crooked River in 1st and 3rd persons. Spurse. Ingenuity Festival 2008. Cleveland, USA.

    2008‍ 5 Visions. 7th Ohio Latin Americanist Conference 2008. Ohio University. Athens, USA.

    2007 SCALE. Aspect Collective. The Kennedy Museum of Art. Ohio University. Athens, USA.

    2007 Mystical Visions & Cosmic Vibrations / Second Year Graduate Student Exhibition. Ohio University Art Gallery. Athens, USA

    2006 Forging Connections. The Ridges Gallery. Ohio University. Mid America Print Council Conference 2006. Athens, USA.

    2006 The A-Team / First Year Graduate Show. Trisolini Gallery. Ohio University. Athens, USA.

    2004‍ Deposit. Sala de Proyectos. Universidad de los Andes. Bogota, Colombia.

    2004‍ Small Format. Pueblo Viejo Country Club. Mosquera, Colombia.

    2003‍ Four Painters. Galería de Arte Fenalco. Bogota, Colombia.

    2002 Printmaking. Galería Cooperartes. Bogota, Colombia.

    2002 Original Multiples of Arborizarte. Fundación Corazon Verde. Bogota, Colombia.

    2001 8 Colors. Galería Cooperartes. Bogota, Colombia.

    2001 Arborizarte. Fundacion Corazon Verde. Auctioned through Christie’s. Bogota, Colombia.

    2000 I Uniandino Art Show. Galería El Lleras. Universidad de los Andes. Bogota, Colombia.

    2000 Fortunately a place to hang. Gallery El Lleras Universidad de los Andes. Bogota, Colombia.

    • The National Neighbourhood - Dublin City Council Culture Company (2020 - 2025)
      Archive Within Us - Made by 12 people in Dublin with artist Claire Halpin and poet Colm Keegan. This exhibition of personal objects, stories and poems asks what do we choose to remember, and why?

    • Parămus – (2009 - 2016)

      2011‍ ThGA: Zeitgeist 2210. El Parqueadero. Museo del Banco de la Republica. Bogotá, Colombia.

      2010 The Sketchbook Project 2011. “Trading Forever”. Art House Co-op. Brooklyn Art Library. Brooklyn, USA.

      2010 Bogota in Helsinki. Kääntöpaikka Gallery. Helsinki, Finland.

      2009 ThGA: Mirador de Parajes. Galería 3er Módulo. Bogotá, Colombia.

      2009 Yolanda or Magdalena. La Oreja Roja. XIII Salon Regional de Artistas. Zona Centro. Sogamoso Train Station. Sogamoso, Colombia.

    • Spurse – www.spurse.org (2008)

      2008 Crooked River in 1st and 3rd persons. Ingenuity Festival 2008. Cleveland, USA.

    • Aspect Collective (2008)

      2008 Manifest International Drawing Annual 2008. Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center. Cincinnati, USA.

      2007‍ ‍SCALE. The Kennedy Museum of Art. Ohio University. Athens, USA.