Edgar Guzmanruiz is an architect who graduated from the Universidad de Los Andes (1993) with a master's degree in Art and Architecture from the Düsseldorf Academy of Art (2000), where he studied under the tutelage of Christian Megert and Gerhard Merz.
Guzmanruiz has held scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Kunstverein Bellevue-Saal and completed an artist residency in Wiesbaden in 2009.
He has exhibited in Egypt, France, Japan, Germany, the United States and Colombia. He was a finalist for the Luis Caballero Award 2006-2007 and won the Solo Exhibition competition of the Santafé Gallery in 2004. He received an honorable mention in the 2005 Memoria Award.
His works are in the art collections of the MOLAA in California, the Schloss Freudenberg Museum in Wiesbaden, the Berliner Unterwelten e.V. in Berlin, and several museums in Bogotá and Medellín.
Currently, Guzmanruiz is shaping the future of art and architecture as an assistant professor at the Universidad de los Andes in the Department of Art. His teachings on sculpture and art in public space are complemented by his previous roles as a professor, lecturer, and workshop leader at the National University of Colombia and the Javeriana University in Bogota, where he explored the intricate relationship between Art, Architecture, Sculpture, and Design.
Guzmanruiz's works build links between art and architecture. His interventions seek to intercept, superimpose, clone, or deform the place they occupy. While some originate in the spatial unfolding of a drawing or a painting, others start from the existing architectural space, transforming it and generating alterations in its perception. The object of study in the first works, molded with a mainly geometric language, is oriented to investigate how human beings perceive and traverse architectural space and how we relate to each other through objects.
Guzmanruiz employs a minimalist approach in his works, using a few elements and materials to create a universal language that resonates with all visitors. Elements such as light, shadow, transparency, translucency, and emptiness are not just physical components but tools that transcend their materiality, creating new forms of visual appreciation and sensory perception of time and space.
