Francisco Guevara Artist

Francisco Jose Guevara (Puebla, 1978) is a Mexican visual artist and curator, descended from Jewish families from Zacatecas and families from Puebla and Oaxaca. Guevara is especially known for creating edible sculptures, installations and performances exploring the symbolic meaning of food, the rituals of eating and human beings' ephemeral condition. Guevara’s work and projects emphasize the role of contemporary art in economic development and as a tool for social change. His experience covers international projects including: intangible heritage, public art, exhibitions and visual arts education. As an artist he has researched, studied and worked exploring the connection between food, rituals of eating and collective identity.Guevara studied painting at the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (BUAP) and continued at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico City. He began his curating/arts management career with a year of law studies at the Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD) in Mexico City following with a semester of International Relations at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM). He received a University Expert title in Management and Planning of Development Cooperation Projects in the Fields of Education, Science and Culture at the Universidad Nacional de Estudios a Distancia (UNED) at Madrid, Spain, in coordination with the Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (OEI). He has promoted several international artistic exchange programs with Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, Hong Kong, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain and the USA.As an artist he has had 19 solo shows and participated in multiple collective exhibits including the Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City and the 10th Mexican Festival in Australia. His work can be found in important private and public collections such as: Colección Jumex, Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño es:Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño in Mexico City, Lila Downs Collection Mexico, Ministry of Culture of Bolivia, Salma Hayek Collection USA, and the Margrethe II Collection Denmark, among others.In 2007 & 2008 the project Guevara curated Campo Expandido VIII with Raymundo Sesma was awarded the AIA New Mexico Honor Award and the AIA Albuquerque Honor Award. Guevara was selected by The Mexico Report as one of the 2012 Real Heroes of Mexico and honored in its annual commemorative book by Susie Albin-Najera.As of 2009, Guevara is the co-founder and Executive Director of Arquetopia, a non-profit foundation promoting Development and social transformation through educational, artistic and cultural programs. The core of the Foundation is Sustainable Development through four principles embodied in all of its programs and activities: social awareness, shared responsibility, innovation, and local networks development.