Harif Guzman
Harif Guzman, born March 23, 1975, in Venezuela, spent much of his childhood surrounded by his mother and sisters and was influenced strongly by his father (a printer and typesetter). As a little boy in 1980, Guzman came to New York City. Guzman calls New York not only home but his canvas and inspiration. The inspiration of his work derives from mechanical reproduction and a unique technique that refuses the deadening effects of iconographical conformity. Further inspiration is the result of Guzman's earliest experiences of image making and the honest craft that he encountered working in his father’s print shop as a boy. The subsequent trajectory of his path from shop worker turned street-smart skate punk, to a worldwide, well respected contemporary artist, involves an alchemical shift as humble cast-offs evolve into fine art in his studio.
Guzman is an artist whose work inhabits and extends a tradition established in the 1920s Weimar Republic with the extemporized collage and assemblage of Kurt Schwitters, and which he continues in contemporary America via the precedence of Robert Rauschenberg, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and the early gritty Pop Art paintings of Mike Kelley. His work is about transformation. The found materials Guzman employs are not just the physical materials he works with, but also second hand imagery and ideas that characterize contemporary urban existence.
Recent Exhibitions
2017 ‘SOHO ARTS CLUB: A Retrospective’ SOHO ARTS CLUB, Chelsea, New York
2017 ‘Power Struggle’ Zona Maco, Mexico City, Mexico
2016 Solo Exhibition, ‘Achilles Armor—Legend of a Mother’s Love, Art Basel, Miami Beach, Florida
2016 Artist Residency with Fernanda Motta “HARIF GOES BRAZIL” Floripa, Brazil
2016 Commisioned Mural for the 2016 OLYMPICS in Rio, Brazil
2016 Featured Artist Exhibition for SURRENDER Singapore
2015 Solo Exhibition "IN CHARGE" at Die Fabrik New York, NY, United States
2014 Solo Exhibition "Born with Two Left Feet" at SOHO ARTS CLUB New York, NY, United States
2014 Solo Exhibition "Two Cups of Blood" at SOHO ARTS CLUB New York, NY, United States
2014 Featured Artist Exhibition "any Warhol Foundation for Absolut Vodka" Seoul, Korea
2013 Whitney Arts Party, Art Auction, New York, NY, United States
2013 Frieze Art Fair, New York, NY, United States
2013 Art HK, First Edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong, China
2013 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 Dying to LIve Selected Works, Dallas Art Fair, Deborah Colton Gallery, Dallas, Texas, United States
2011 Powers, 182 Mulberry Street, New York, NY, United States
2010 Heroes and Villians, The Rock Art Studio, Art Basel, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
2008 Public Viewing, Small Bills, Los Angeles, California, United States
2008 Vanguard, Gen Art, Miami, Florida, United States
2007 Draw Tour, Fuse Gallery, New York, NY, United States
2007 Draw Tour, Gallery Lombardi, Austin, Texas, United States
2007 Draw Tour, Leonard Street Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2007 Volcomics, The Volcom Store, Los Angeles, California, United States
2007 Volcomics, Space Gallery, San Francisco, California, United States
2007 Volcomics, Fuse Gallery, New York, NY, United States
2007 Volcomics, Claska Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 11 Spring Street, New York, NY, United States
2007 Street Art Show, The Pure Project, New York, NY, United States
2007 Vanguard, Gen Art, Art Basel, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
2006 1981 Rocks, China Heights Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2006 Give Me Shelter, Exhibition to Benefit Earthpledge, New York, NY, United States
2006 Tortured Soul, Scion Dashboard Gallery, San Francisco, California, United States
2006 Leave New York, 131 Chrystie Street, New York, NY, United States
Selected Bibliography
2007 The Vandalism Vandal, New York Magazine, Harif Guzman, Animal
2006 Big Foot and Harif Guzman, Skate Magazine, Harif Guzman, Oyster Magazine
Last Hurrah for Street Art, New York Times
2005 Intimitable, Italian Vogue
2004 La Haculla, Scion
Ha for Volcom, Vice
2003 Harif Guzman, LoDown Magazine
2002 Sport and Street Collezioni