Frank Vega (he/him) (b. 1992, Ecuador) is a Chicago-based artist working across sculpture, painting, sound, and installation. His practice examines how value is produced, circulated, and transformed through material culture. Through Desencanto, the process of reconfiguring the utility, value, and symbolic power of everyday objects, Vega redirects materials into new systems of exchange, sustainability, and collectivity.
Rooted in Ecuadorian and South American traditions, he develops what he calls “Urban Tuning”, a framework that explores how materials accumulate cultural knowledge, labor, and identity through their surfaces. Vega has exhibited at Hyde Park Art Center, Devening Projects, Mana Contemporary, Roots & Culture Contemporary Art Center, The Green Gallery, No Lugar, R.A.R.O., Koik Contemporary, and El Lobi, among others. He has received numerous awards including the DCASE Individual Artists Program Grant, the Frankenthaler Scholarship, the Florence M. House Scholarship, and the Leroy Neiman Fellowship from Ox-Bow School of Art.
Featured Artworks
Correspondencia del Sonído (Sound Correspondence), 2022
Mixed media on canvas and shelf with found maraca
Transportation Machine, 2025
Image by Tom Van Eynde
Unit - Medusa, 2022
Zipper and painted wood structure
Image by Tom Van Eynde
Unit-Feed-Back (musical instrument), 2023
Acrylic, canvas, and leather on wood structure
Reflejos, 2024
Installation of textured paintings and sound activation in collaboration with El Trompetero and Suni Sonqo Vizcarra Wood
Image by ColectivoMultipolar
Tuneado - Voces de la Ciudad “Quito”, 2024
Granadilla sound activation with Taller La Bola
Image by Luisa Ordóñez
Notations, 2023
Music stands, tree branches, found objects, and dye paper with corn husk imprints
Génesis, 2023
Acrylic, wool, upholstery fabric, and frame with fence spears