Nelson Gutierrez

Tennessee Fellow for Visual Arts

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work comprises two and three-dimensional pieces, conceptual objects, and installations that reflect current sociopolitical issues and personal memories related to history or current events.

My practice involves several years of work and research, personal observations and experiences, and exploration of different artistic mediums around a central interest: the constant struggle of individuals and communities for a better life, resilience, hope, and the search for common ground. The work is informed by personal and collective memories, people I have met, places where I have lived and visited, environments, and events that have formed and influenced my life and work throughout my career.

The recent series of works “A Journey into the Shadows” is based on forced displacement and global migration, it uses tridimensional cutout drawings and different sources of light and shadows, this body of work is an exploration into the practice of drawing, addressing this practice in ways that expand its traditional limits.

Using formal elements of drawing, the 3D works depict walking individuals, which with lights, cast overlapping shadows that create masses of unrecognizable shapes, presenting a flexible, alternative world that can be modified, drawn, and redrawn.

ARTIST BIO

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Nelson Gutierrez lives and works in Memphis, TN, and holds a BA degree in Fine Art from the Universidad de Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogota Colombia, and a MA degree in Fine Arts from Chelsea College of Art and Design in London UK. He worked as a professor in the Fine Arts Departments at the Universidad de los Andes and the Universidad de Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano, in Bogota, Colombia.

In 2002, Nelson Gutierrez moved to the USA, where he continued to develop and showcase his artwork, exhibiting nationally and internationally in Colombia, the UK, and Switzerland. His work is included in various private and public collections. Gutierrez has participated in residencies at Crosstown Arts and the Vermont Studio Center and has received several grants, including the Current Art Fund Grant from Tri-Star Arts (2023) and the Individual Artist Fellowship from the Tennessee Arts Commission (FY25). He has served on the Exhibition Committee for the Brooks Museum of Arts, as an Artist Advisory Council Member at ArtsMemphis, and as an Official Advisor for Locate Arts in Nashville. Additionally, he founded Future Project Art, a Contemporary Art collective aimed at enhancing awareness and involvement in the visual arts in the Mid-South.

His work comprises two and three-dimensional pieces, conceptual objects, and installations that reflect current sociopolitical issues and personal memories related to history or current events.