Gustavo Vélez was born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1975. He lives and works between Medellín and Pietrasanta, where he creates most of his sculptural production in marble and bronze.
His passion for sculpture emerged in childhood. Fascinated by working with clay and other materials, he soon understood that his path would be linked to art. During his secondary school years, he combined his academic studies with sculpture training at the Institute of Fine Arts in Medellín, defining a clear artistic direction from an early age. At nineteen, he moved to Florence to continue his education at the Lorenzo de’ Medici School. In 1996, he arrived in Pietrasanta, where he deepened his knowledge of marble-working techniques at the Palla Cavalier Ferdinando workshop.
His artistic research revolves around the exploration of form in space, through a process of progressive linguistic synthesis that leads to the stylisation of form. His work draws inspiration from the elements of nature while also rooting itself in the history of the twentieth-century avant-gardes. In continuity with Constructivism and modern European sculpture, Vélez frees form from representation to focus on structure, rhythm, and spatial relationships. His works appear as contemporary monoliths in which matter becomes the protagonist, in a constant dialogue between fullness and emptiness, stillness and dynamism, monumentality and lightness.
After an initial figurative phase, his language evolved into an abstract universe of pure geometric forms created in marble, bronze, and steel. His sculptures seem to float in space, apparently weightless, playing with light and perspective. Cubes, prisms, and essential volumes convey the dynamism and harmony of form, in an extreme synthesis of balance, movement, and abstraction. Within these rigorous structures, tensions and openings emerge: polished, fluid surfaces compress or expand, allowing an organic component to surface and challenging the stability of the form.
By the late 2000s, the sculptor’s language had reached full maturity. From geometric forms, organic traces emerge, bringing the material itself back into view. Soft, polished surfaces, often compressed or expanded, are crossed by tensions that question their plastic form with a distinctly contemporary sensitivity. Even on a monumental scale, Gustavo Vélez’s works preserve the simplicity and elegance of primitive sculpture. They are dynamic forms that seem to rise upward, defying gravity, as if elevating matter towards infinity.
In 2013, the City of Pietrasanta invited him for the first time to exhibit in Piazza Duomo and in the Sant’Agostino Complex, where he presented imposing sculptures in bronze, steel, and marble. In Tuscany, he has also exhibited at the Parco della Versiliana and in Marina di Pietrasanta, while the maquette of his work Hipercúbicos is held in the permanent collection of the Museo dei Bozzetti. Other exhibitions in Italy have taken place in cities such as Lucca, Forte dei Marmi, and Viareggio, as well as at the Museo Marino Marini.
Over the past twenty years, Gustavo Vélez has exhibited internationally across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, consolidating a significant presence in the field of contemporary sculpture. His work is particularly rooted in the Asian context, with exhibitions in China, Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore. In China, he has exhibited in major museum institutions, including the Imperial City Museum of Zhengzhou, and several of his monumental sculptures have entered the permanent collections of cities such as Shenzhen and Nanjing, confirming a well-established dialogue with this region.
Among his most important solo exhibitions are Monumentalis (2011–2012), an itinerant exhibition hosted by numerous museum institutions in Ecuador and Colombia, including the Archaeological and Contemporary Museum of Guayaquil, the Museum of Modern Art of Cuenca, the Museum of Modern Art of Quito and the Museum of Art of Tolima in Colombia; Gustavo Vélez. Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (2015–2016); and Forms and Rhythms in the Geometric Dimension in the Dominican Republic (2022–2023), featuring monumental works installed in UNESCO World Heritage sites in Santo Domingo, at the Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo, and in the iconic cultural space of Altos de Chavón in La Romana.
In 2023, Vélez was the only Latin American artist invited to the Bad Ragaz Sculpture Triennial in Switzerland and Vaduz, Liechtenstein, one of the most important exhibitions of monumental sculpture in Europe.
In 2025, the artist presented his monumental work in Monterrey, Mexico, exhibiting large-scale sculptures in steel, bronze and marble. The exhibition, originally installed in Fundidora Park, is currently on view in the renowned Rufino Tamayo Park. On this occasion, the monumental steel sculpture Cósmica was added to the permanent collection of Apple Inc. in San Diego, California.
Awards and Honours
In 2024, Gustavo Vélez received the Premio Fratelli Rosselli in Italy, a prestigious award given to an artist whose research helps represent the city of Pietrasanta worldwide.
In his home country, Colombia, he has received major institutional honours, including the Order of the Grand Knight and the Simón Bolívar Order of Democracy, awarded by the Congress of the Republic for his contribution to promoting Colombian art internationally. These are joined by distinctions awarded by the Government of the Province of Antioquia, including the Gold Star of Culture and the Marshal Jorge Robledo Order of Civic and Entrepreneurial Merit, as well as honours conferred in 2019 by the Municipality of Medellín, such as the Porfirio Barba Jacob Medal and the Don Juan del Corral Order of Merit, both in gold grade.
Selected Works in Collections
Gustavo Vélez’s works are included in permanent public and private collections around the world. Among the most significant are Hiki Hospital in Utsunomiya and Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Raffles Hotel Shenzhen and The Ritz-Carlton Nanjing, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Guayaquil, Art Valley Seoul, and the Museo dei Bozzetti in Pietrasanta.
His works are also held in major private and institutional collections, including the Marriott Hotel Panama, Banco BHD, the Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic, and the headquarters of Apple Inc. in San Diego. In Colombia, his sculptures are present in numerous public and institutional spaces, including the Pontifical Bolivarian University and several stations of the Medellín Metro, as well as public parks and museums such as the Museum of Art of Tolima in Ibagué.
