Manny Vega

Manny Vega (born 1956) is an American painter, illustrator, printmaker, muralist, mosaicist, and set and costume designer. His work portrays the history and traditions of the African Diaspora that exist in the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Early life Vega was born in Bronx, New York, in 1956. He joined the artist collective Taller Boricua in 1979 where he studied through 1986. While there he was also a pupil of Harlem printmaker Robert Blackburn at his Printmaking Workshop from 1980 to 1990.

Works Among Vega's public art projects are a mosaic mural at the Pregones Theater in the Bronx, a mosaic mural portrait of Julia De Burgos in East Harlem, a series of mosaic panels for the 110 street train station, also in East Harlem, as well as a series of painted murals throughout New York City.

For many years, Vega has been teaching visual arts for organizations such as El Museo del Barrio, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Caribbean Cultural Center. as well as the book, The Yoruba Artist.

His current focus is to create a series of mosaic projects, based on study of classic Byzantine mosaic fabrication, to adopt this style to modern day imagery, which he calls "Byzantine Hip Hop". Vega has a studio on 103rd Street in East Harlem.

Personal life Vega was married to his wife Anna Araiz who died of brain cancer in October 2001. She has been the subject matter of several of his pieces.