| Born in Mexico City in 1970| He lives and works in Toronto and Mexico City |
During the last 25 years, Artigas has experimented with different mediums and modalities of visual arts such as Sound Art, Site Specific Installations, Performance Art, Relational Works, educational platforms, light pieces, and painting. Some of Artigas' most recognizable works associate playful structures with disaster situations. His work dialogues with a wide variety of topics, from the political to the social identity, and he joined the thriving group of contemporary Mexican artists who emerged in the 1990s and had a significant impact on the international art scene.
Artigas' vision brought his work to the Venice Biennale, the Liverpool Biennale, the Havana Biennale, and other major international art forums. Some of the Canadian art institutions with which he has collaborated are YYZ Artists Outlet, Mercer Union, A Space, Le Mois de la Photo a Montreal, Dazibao, Sur Gallery, United Contemporary, Galerie B-312, Institute for Creative Exchange (ICE Americas) and the Banff Center for the Arts. He has received local and international awards. Recent solo shows of his include: SERIE CERCA, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, 2020. Volatile Color. South Gallery. Toronto, 2019; Art Links Inc at United Contemporary, Toronto, 2019; Asian Nerve, Extra Gallery, Guatemala City, 2018; Chromascopes: Transmission of Events, Guadalajara, Mexico. 2016; River. Museographic essay. Chopo University Museum, Mexico City. 2015; Gustavo Artigas – The Book: 2000-2012. Museographic essay. Hilario Galguera Gallery. 2013; Mexico City. Gustavo Artigas: Relay (Endless), Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado, 2011; Recent accidents, documents and executions, Hilario Galguera Gallery, Mexico City, 2007; Three Times, Galerie B-312, Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal, 2007; Unexpected, Siqueiros Public Art Gallery, Mexico City, 2006; The history of shock therapy, École des beaux-arts, Palais des Arts, Toulouse, 2005; Close Series: Gustavo Artigas, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, 2004; and The Rules of the Game, A Space Gallery, Toronto, 2003. Recent Artigas group shows include the 2013 Biennial of the Americas. Denver, Colorado. Mexico: Inside Out. Museum of Modern Art. Fort Worth, Texas, USA. 2013. 2014. Games and Theory, South London Gallery, 2008; Social Sculpture: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007; Urban Voids, Lisbon Architecture Triennial, 2007; Statements, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2005; Do n't Call It Performance, El Museo del Barrio, New York, 2004. he has participated in the inSITE 2000 Project, the Yekaterinburg Biennial, the Argentine Biennial, the Prague Biennial, and the Biennial of the Americas. He has been a member of the National System of Art Creators of Mexico (FONCA-CONACULTA) the most important Art Recognition Scholarship System in Mexico from 2007-2010 and 2014-2017.
As part of his practice, he conducts specialized creativity workshops in countries such as Canada, Argentina, Panama, France, Spain, Finland and Mexico. From 2010 to 2018 he was a professor of Contemporary Art at the La Esmeralda National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving in Mexico City.
Since 2018 he co-directs with art mediator and pedagogical curator Muna Cann, the Canada-based Art Links Inc. Contemporary Art initiative. Some collaborations include MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto, TheSite Magazine and YYZ Artist Outlet.
