daniel guzmán
1964, Mexico City
Voracious reader and incurable music lover, Daniel Guzmán digests, absorbs and recombines musical and literary references at his own discretion. His work is marked by an almost autobiographical sincerity. Comics and cartoons, song lyrics, Pre-Hispanic iconography and sensational press clippings – residues of the artist’s daily life in Mexico City and, more recently, in Guadalajara – combine and reconfigure as part of his vocabulary. Resulting from a constant, disciplined search, his drawings are guided by his hand’s intuition, which translates his references and imagination unto paper. Ink, pencil, acrylic or pastel alike serve to create images that seem to be in constant transformation, and which sometimes interlace with texts in a complex weave of connections and connotations. His sculptures, videos and installations are a reflection of a very personal and intimate territory, that emerges from such close examination of the culture and the urban landscape that surrounds him. With a strategic and contagious sense of humor, Guzmán shares the wide range of influences he has cultivated, and through which he reflects upon his experience of the world.
Guzmán earned his BFA in 1993 from the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City. In 2000, he was a resident at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York. He has been the recipient of various grants and awards from the Mexican Ministry of Culture, including: Sistema Nacional de Creadores (2005); FONCA: Jóvenes Creadores (1997); and the 1st Place from the II Concurso de Instalación Ex Teresa Arte Actual (1996).
Daniel Guzmán lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico.
His most important solo exhibitions include: The man who should be dead: Notes on the Dead House, the Fire and the Tale, kurimanzutto, New York, NY (2024); The man who should be dead: You must come in to get out, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2023); The man who should be dead. The Future Battle, Museo Cabañas, Guadalajara, Mexico (2022); Soup, Cosmos & Tears, Museo de la Ciudad de Querétaro, Mexico (2017) and Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City (2016); Daniel Guzmán: Chromosome Damage, Drawing Room, London (2015); Daniel Guzmán: Materia Oscura, MAZ- Museo de Arte de Zapopan and MACO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Mexico (2011); Double Album: Daniel Guzmán and Steven Shearer, New Museum, New York and Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Arte (MUCA), Mexico City (2008).
His work has been included in group exhibitions such as: Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2023); Excepciones normales: Arte contemporáneo en México, Museo Jumex, Mexico City (2021); El tiempo en las cosas II. Salas de Arte Contemporáneo, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2021); Jalisco: diálogos cruzados, Museo Cabañas, Guadalajara, Mexico (2020); Nacido en casa. Devenires y porvenires del oficio de la tapicería Alto Liso en Jalisco, 1968–2018, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2018); Saber Acomodar, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, United States (2017); Between Words and Silence: Meaning, Understanding, and the Work of Translation, Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, United States (2017); Strange Currencies: Art & Action in Mexico City 1990-2000, The Galleries at Moore, Philadelphia, United States (2015); El hombre al desnudo, Museo Nacional de Arte MUNAL, Guadalajara, Mexico (2014); México Inside Out: Themes in Art Since 1990, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, United States (2013); Arqueológica, Matadero Madrid Contemporary Art Center (2013); Diference on Display, Niet Normaal Foundation, Amsterdam and MUPO- Museo de los Pintores Oaxaqueños, Oaxaca, Mexico (2011); El horizonte del topo | The Mole's Horizon, BOZAR - Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (2010); Where Do We Go From Here? The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, United States (2009); Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967. MCA- The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, United States (2007); Playback. Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris (2007), among many others.
He has also participated in the following festivals and biennials: 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, United States (2009); 5th Berlin Biennial (2008); 35th International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2006); 9. İstanbul Bienali, Turkey (2005); 50th Venice Biennial (2003); and 4th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2002).
kurimanzutto is proud to announce the group exhibition: Normal Exceptions: Contemporary Art in Mexico in Museo Jumex in which Abraham Cruzvillegas, Daniel Guzmán, Damián Ortega, Eduardo Abaroa, Gabriel Kuri, Gabriel Orozco, Iñaki Bonillas, and Miguel Calderón participate.
Listen to the playlist Punk: sus rastros en el arte contemporáneo by Daniel Guzmán, Dr. Lakra and Miguel Calderón on Spotify.
Listen to the playlist Daniel Guzmán meets Patti Smith created by both of them on Spotify.