Nicolás Franco

b. 1973
Lives and works in Santiago
nfrancoguzman@gmail.com

Nicolás Franco has explored a wide range of mediums and approaches to art and representation. Over the past decade, his work has revolved around the idea of painting, inquiring into the very nature of the medium, its components, its language, and its history, often transcending its traditional boundaries.

Franco has held more than fifteen solo museum exhibitions and has been awarded grants and prizes from the Mondrian Foundation, Beca AMA–Gasworks, Fondart, DIRAC, Tecnopol - Universidad Alberto Hurtado and the University of Oxford.

In 2019, his work was included in 1973: A Year in Art, a group exhibition curated by Clara Kim and Michael Wellen at Tate Modern in London, which brought together historical Chilean artists represented in the museum’s permanent collection. In 2023, Materia Gris, a major solo exhibition of his work, was presented at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago. In 2015, his work featured in Resistance Performed, an acclaimed exhibition curated by Heike Munder at the Migros Museum in Zurich.

His work is held in the permanent collections of Tate Modern, the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago, and the Museo de Artes Visuales de Santiago, and has been been featured in Artforum, The Financial Times, Wallpaper, ArtNexus, and The Guardian

Press | Texts | Interviews

Nicolás Franco Murmur
Text by Juan Jose Santos
Artforum - September, 2025

A Year in Art: 1973.
What role does art play in politically tumultuous times?
Text by Michael Wellen, Clara Kim & fiontan Moran
Tate Modern

The Second-hand Images of Nicolás Franco
Text by Páz López
Published in Moon, Coal, Idol
2019

Sombras y apariciones en el tiempo profundo de la imagen | Shadows and apparitions in the deep time
of the image
Text by Ana María Risco
Materia Gris. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2023

Hueso, Humo, Alma.
(Sobre unas obras de Nicolás Franco)
Bruno Cuneo

Variations and reverses of documentary visuality. Recent work by Nicolás Franco
Text by Ana María risco
Published in Moon, Coal, Idol

Reconocerse en la Niebla |
Recognizing ourselves in the fog
Text by Ariel Florencia Richards
Materia Gris. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2023

Casi Nada | Almost Nothing
Text by Eugenio Dittborn
Published XYZ
2013

Derechos de Autor_ Nicolás Franco
Video Interview
Ministerio de las Culturas, Gobierno de Chile

Exploring “Collective Memory” through Photographic Printed Matter and Video
Interview with Heike Munder
Published in Moon, Coal, Idol

Nicolás Franco, la Historia en Fragmentos
Interview with César Gabler
Fundación Actual
19 de Junio, 2025

Sedimentos dearchivo. Lo público y lo privado en la obra de Nicolas Franco
Text by Sebastián Vidal Valenzuela
Published in Moon, Coal, Idol - 2019

Yesterday and Today
Text by Michael Wellen
Tate Modern

Eclipse
Text by Eugenio Dittborn
Published in Moon, Coal, Idol

Nicolás Franco - El asombro
Text by Juan Jose Santos
ArtNexus 106
Sep - Nov 2017

Consideraciones en torno al imaginario catastrófico de Nicolás Franco
Text by Fernando Castro Flórez
Published XYZ, 2013