Nicolás Guzmán

Statment

Dissecting how we see, experience, and are moved by encounters with works of art, artist Nicolás Guzmán transforms the material into visceral contemplative encounters. While a painter first and foremost, Guzmán’s practice is multidisciplinary. Printmaking, performance, photography, video, and installation all have a place within his creative process. It is experimental, a continual exploration into dismantling the preconceived barriers of artistic mediums.

Schooled in the University of Veracruz’s Plastic Arts program, he built upon the traditional approaches to art fundamentals taught in Mexico, with their emphasis on figuration, eager to incorporate new materials. He developed a critical eye, engaging his printmaking expertise through his activism in the Oaxacan Civil War protests. He studied the informal approach to painting of Spanish artists such as Anthony Tapia and discovered the joy and spontaneity of the Abstract Expressionists. As his style loosened from the grips of strict artistic fundamentals, his aesthetic became more conceptual. Looking at minimalism and color theory, he began to fuse each of these distinct ideas of what art is and how it should be made. He developed installations, multimedia projects, and even paintings that challenged convention.

As a result, Guzmán has spent decades uncovering new methods for viewers to challenge systems of artistic creation, how we understand and value them, and how we can bend the rules of art to create without limitation. Where his thematic origins began with a deepened understanding of the human condition and decay, he translated his philosophical approach from the collective psyche to the shared experience of art. Color, space, and form are converted from artistic tools into his subject. Palette selection and mark-making metamorphose materiality into expressions of pure consciousness. Defying the confines of the canvas and convention, Guzmán’s work transforms art into a ritual of reflection.

Resume

Veracruz, Mexico, 1983.

José Nicolás Guzmán challenges us to reconsider the materiality, composition, and act of seeing when it comes to art. Born in Xalapa, within Mexico’s state of Veracruz, Guzmán recognized his affinity for the arts at a young age. Raised in an immersive cultural environment, he began creating art and music. In his teen years, he studied under renowned Swedish professor Per Anderson, learning the fundamental techniques of drawing. Determined to pursue and expand his talents, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the Universidad Veracruzana in Veracruz as part of their Plastic Arts program in 2006.

Guzmán’s work has been showcased around the globe with solo and group exhibitions at esteemed institutions such as the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Pre-Hispanic Art, Oaxaca, Mexico City Museum, CDMX, Chao Galpao Gallery, Sao Luis, Brazil, Spike Print Studio, Bristol, England, Galería Nueva, Madrid, Spain, and Tokyo University of Arts and Music, Japan, among others. In addition to these exhibitions, his experimental practice has seen his work featured in prominent international art festivals and fairs, such as ZONA MACO in Mexico City and MULTIPLIED with Christie's in London, and has allowed him to participate in residencies, including programs at Phnom Penh University of Fine Arts in Cambodia and Clear Lake University in the United States.