Artemio

ARTEMIO (Mexico, 1976).
"It's about time we stop this road that leads us straight to hell". Serie los que miren son otros, 2017.
Paste and automotive lacquer on masonite.
Signed and dated on the back.
Measurements: 54 x 41 cm.
"It's about time we stop this road that leads us straight to hell", with this phrase Artemio interpellates the viewer through a visual language in which a statement, apparently simple, reveals a remarkable conceptual complexity. His texts are inscribed on surfaces of intense colors that, far from competing with each other, generate a particular harmony within the chromatic diversity. The words he uses adopt an existential tone, articulating reflections that persistently adhere to the viewer's thoughts. Between paradoxes, dark irony, emphatic statements and sentences of deep resonance, his work invites to a prolonged and often disturbing meditation.
Artemio is a self-taught visual artist, filmmaker and curator, considered part of the emerging generation of Mexico City in the 1990s. His artistic practice moves between conceptual art, installation, video and photography, media he uses to question violence, power structures and the dynamics they generate. Through his work, he proposes critical reinterpretations of pop culture, endowing his work with a biting and ironic character.
Artemio has been co-director of the independent space La Panadería in two periods (1998-1999, 2001-2002), which positioned him as a key player in Mexico City's alternative art scene. In his film career, he has directed feature films such as Me quedo contigo and ColOZio, which have been recognized at various festivals. L
One of his most emblematic projects is the exhibition "Artemio. Sangre", presented at the Amparo Museum in 2023, where he brings together more than forty paintings created over three years. In this exhibition, Artemio replicates iconic works from the history of art, isolating or highlighting blood as a central element, in a gesture that makes evident the latent violence in visual narratives.
He has exhibited in museums and galleries both in Mexico and abroad (London, USA, Peru, among others). In addition, he has been a recipient of the FONCA's Jóvenes Creadores grant on several occasions.