Paul Brach Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Nelson Garrido is a Venezuelan visual artist who, integrates montage, object making, performance, installation and staging in his work. He began his studies of photography as a mentee and studio assistant of the artist Carlos Cruz Diez, a pioneer of the Op Art movement. The “aesthetics of the ugly”, eroticism revised in terms of religious sacrifice and violence as a trigger for reactions are some of the constants of his work. He is the first photographer to ever win the Venezuelan National Prize for Fine Arts (1991), and winner of the III Asfoto International Competition in Bogotá (1995). Garrido's work has been classified as ‘kitsch’. His pieces, which address and interrogate subject matters related to violence, political ideology, sexual identity, and popular and religious traditions in Latin America, have made him an important reference in the Visual Arts throughout The Americas. The sense of humor and irony of his work has developed in his country under an intense radicalization of political ideologies, an economic crisis that has turned into hyperinflation, in addition to intolerance towards the LGBTQ community and racial tensions. In 2002, Garrido founded the ONG, La Organización Nelson Garrido, a self-managed artistic and cultural center with workshops, exhibition space, artist talks and artist residency, has prompted the spontaneous opening of centers under his name and guidance in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Madrid. The has had as guest instructors, such as Joan Foncuberta, Alberto Garcia Alix, Marcos Lopez, Alejandro Castellote, Claudi Carreras, Colectivo Democracia: Pablo España - Iván López, among others. He has been a participant in multiple international group exhibitions of photography in Latin America and Europe since 1984.
All lectures are free, open to the public, and presented online. RSVP required.
To register, please email artvals@alum.calarts.edu with the subject RSVP PBVALS.
Poster credit: Aren Williams
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