b. 1973
Lives and works in Santiago
nfrancoguzman@gmail.com
Nicolás Franco's paintings delves into the essence of representation and creation. Fluidly moving between different styles and aesthetics, his work has inquired into the very nature of painting, analyzing its components, its language and its history, often transcending the traditional boundaries of the medium. Formally, his work consists mainly of producing singular images from what has already been seen. The images, taken from sources as diverse as art history, anthropology or the popular press, are subjected to experimental protocols in order to be returned, altered, to their existence. At times, the works adopt the precise forms of editorial design; at others, the result is reminiscent of the most radical abstract expressionism.
Franco received his BFA from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2005. He participated in international artist residencies at De Ateliers, Amsterdam and Gasworks, London. In 2019, Franco´s work was on view in 1973: A year In Art, a group show curated by Clara Kim and Michael Wellen that was presented at Tate Modern in London, showcasing a group of historical Chilean artists present in Tate´s Permanent Collection. A major solo exhibition of the artist's work, Materia Gris, was on view at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in 2023. In 2015 his work was on view at the acclaimed exhibition Resistance Performed at the Migros Museum in Zurich, curated by Heike Munder.
Franco has had over fifteen Museum solo Exhibitions, including Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Lima; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago; Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos; Museo de Artes Visuales de Santiago; Museo del Barro, Asuncion; Museo Blanes, Montevideo, Museo de Arte Moderno de Chiloe, among others and has been included in Group shows at MEIAC - Museo Extremeño de Arte Contemporáneo; Cromwell Place, London; Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid; La Conservera, Murcia. His work was on view in the First Chilean Triennial and has been awarded prizes, grants and funds from the Mondrian Foundation, Beca Ama Gasworks; Tecnopol: UAH and Oxford University.
Franco´s work is included in the permanent collections of Tate Modern, Museo del Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago, Museo de Artes Visuales de Santiago; Fundación AMA, Santiago; Fundación Engel, Santiago; Fundación Larivier, Buenos Aires; Colección Eduardo Hochschild, Lima; Colección Juan Yarur, Santiago; Il Posto, Santiago and has been noted 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
