Gustavo Vélez was born in 1975 (Medellín, Colombia). He began his studies in his hometown. Afterwards he continued his formation in the Lorenzo di Medici Art School in Florence (Italy), and concluded his studies at the workshops in Pietrasanta (Italy).
Vélez developed a passion for sculpture at an early age. As a child, he was certain of what destiny had in store for him: art. After completing secondary school, alternating with sculpture studies at the Institute of Fine Arts and the Eladio Vélez School in his hometown, of Medellín, Colombia, he made the existential decision to make a pilgrimage to Florence, Italy. There he studied at Academia Lorenzo de’ Medici and completed his training in the storied Italian workshops in Pietrasanta, a place he has now been frequenting for more than 25 years and where his sculpture studio is currently located.
Gustavo Vélez’s works have been exhibited in Asia for more than 15 years. Exhibitions, participation in art fairs, as well as the installation of sculptures in public and private collections in China, Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore reflect his celebrated career in this continent.
In Japan, he has exhibited in galleries in Tokyo, Utsunomiya, Iwaki and Yokohama. For several years Gustavo promoted cultural exchanges with artists from Japan and Korea. For this reason, in 2008 he was invited to the exhibition on the occasion of the centenary of bilateral relations between Japan and Colombia.
In Korea, one of his monumental sculptures (Flying, Korean white marble) is on view and represented in the collection of the 740-acre Art Valley Sculpture Park, Seoul.
In China, Velez has exhibited in renowned museums such as the Museum of the Imperial City of Zhengzhou and has monumental sculptures in cities like Shenzhen and Nanjing, among others. Also, there are several monumental sculptures making part of important art collections.
Vélez’s works have been widely exhibited in fairs, galleries, and museums throughout the European continent, including in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain.
In Italy, the artist’s career is most identified with the fabled city of Pietrasanta, where Vélez arrived in 1996 at the start of his nascent, but promising career. Twenty eight years later, it’s where he maintains his studio and produces the majority of his signature works in marble and bronze.
In 2013, he was commissioned by his adopted hometown to create a site- specific exhibition installed in the emblematic Piazza del Duomo and the Chiesa di Sant` Agostino, the latter, Pietrasanta’s cherished church from the Middle Ages, dating back to the 14th century; the sculptor’s heroically scaled works for that outdoor exhibition featured bronze, steel, and marble sculptures, including towering works that reached up to seven meters (23 feet) in height and weighed in at an impressive eight tons.
In this time-honed Tuscan town — founded 1255 and also boasting Roman ruins — the artist’s sculptures have also been exhibited in the Parco della Versiliana and in Marina di Pietrasanta, while a drawing of his monumental work Hypercubicos is part of the permanent collection of the Museo dei Bozzetti.
Likewise, Vélez creations have been shown in solo exhibitions in the Italian cities of Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio, as well as in one-person shows at important museums such as the Marino Marini in Pistoia, Italy, and the Musée Bernard Boesch in La Baule, France.
Vélez recently installed, in Forte Dei Marmi, Italy, his tallest steel work to date: a soaring 16 meters-high (52 1//2 feet) sculpture fabricated in his workshop in Colombia, commissioned for a luxury hotel.
Recently, five of the artist’s monumental pieces were exhibited at the 9th Swiss Sculpture Triennial — the largest open-air exhibition in Europe — in Bad Ragartz, Switzerland as well as in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein.
In 2025, the artist will permanently install an epic sculpture in the main traffic circle leading from the highway to the Mecca of world sculpture, Pietrasanta. This monumental marble sculpture in now in process.
Also he will have an open air exhibition in the City of Lucca, Italy. A group of 14 monumental sculptures will be exhibited during the Summer of 2025 in spots like the Roman Amphitheatre, Piazza San Michele, Piazza San Martino, among others.
In addition, Vélez received a coveted invitation from the City of Pietrasanta to exhibit for the second time: The Municipality intends to celebrate 30 years of the sculptor’s artistic life and cultural contributions to his adopted town. The exhibition will take place during the summer of 2026 and will highlight monumental sculptures displayed in the most iconic sites throughout Pietrasanta.
This city of 25,000 inhabitants in the Tuscan province of Lucca, is known today as a nexus for international artists to make second homes and studios, in much the same way Santa Fe was a draw for American artists beginning in the 20th century through today. Another prominent Colombian to call Pietrasanta a creative home was the late maestro Fernando Botero, with whom Vélez has exhibited, most notably in Pietrasanta’s 2015 outdoor sculpture exhibition, “Homo Faber (Man the Maker),” installed at Parco della Versiliana during the height of the Italian summer.
During the last 20 years Vélez has been the focus of solo exhibitions in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and his birthplace, Colombia.
His sculptures were on display in 2011 and 2012 at the Archaeological and Contemporary Museum of Guayaquil, the Museum of Modern Art of Cuenca, and the Museum of Modern Art of Quito, all in Ecuador, as well as at the Museum of Art of Tolima, Colombia.
The artist’s fearless vision to forge monumental sculpture combined with an invitation to exhibit in his native country led him to create the exhibition “Gustavo Vélez: Cartagena de Indias,” which opened in Cartagena, Colombia, December 2015. The commanding survey starred 17 monumental sculptures, most of them made by the artist in Italy, and 30 medium-format works. The majestic exhibition was displayed for three months in the main squares of the Historic Center and museums such as the Museum of Modern Art of Cartagena, the Historical Museum, and the Museum of Fortifications, making it the largest exhibition of heroic-sized sculpture ever seen in the City of Cartagena.
In 2022-2023, Vélez unveiled the ambitious city-wide solo “Forms and Rhythms in the Geometric Dimension” in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. That exhibition included more than 10 monumental works installed in sites throughout this UNESCO World Heritage city, including in the iconic cultural space of Altos de Chavón in the surrounding countryside, and in the Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo.
In the United States, Vélez’s monumental sculpture Cósmica, is part of the permanent collection at the new Apple engineering-and-tech complex in San Diego, California.
The maquette of his work "Hipercúbicos," which is part of the permanent collection of the Museo Dei Bozzetti in Pietrasanta, was showcased in the "How a Sculpture is Born" exhibition, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama (USA).
Fratelli Rosselli Award, a prestigious recognition bestowed upon the artist who promotes through his creativity, in Italy and abroad, Pietrasanta and the city’s rich artistic heritage.
Orden al Mérito don Juan del Corral Gold Medal, bestowed by Concejo de Medellín for contributions to culture and the plastic arts in Colombia.
Medalla al Mérito Educativo y Cultural Porfirio Barba Jacob Gold Medal, bestowed by the Mayor’s Office of Medellín, Colombia.
A distinction awarded by the Government of Antioquia and Institute of Culture and Heritage of Antioquia, Colombia.
Awarded by Colombia House of Representatives for achievements as a sculptor and outstanding representation of Colombian art abroad.
Awarded by the Colombian Congress.
Gustavo Vélez's works are part of collections around the world at notable locations like the Hiki Hospital in Utsunomiya and the Akasaka Palace Building in Tokyo, Japan; the Raffles Hotel in Shenzhen and The Ritz Carlton in Nanjing, China; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Guayaquil (Ecuador), Casa de Campo (Dominican Republic), Art Valley (Seoul, Korea); Dei Bozzetti Museum (Pietrasanta, Italy), the Trump Ocean Club in Panama City, the BHD Bank in Dominican Republic; The Ritz Carlton The Woodlands (Texas) and the Apple headquarters in San Diego (California, USA), among others.
In Colombia, his sculptures can be seen at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, the Sabaneta Metro Station and the Santo Domingo MetroCable Station in Medellín, in the main parks of municipalities such as Bello and Fredonia, as well as in the Tolima Governor's Office and the Tolima Art Museum in Ibagué.
