Nicola López

Biography
Nicola López’s (b. 1975) work in drawing, printmaking, site-specific installation, sculpture, and video examines and reconfigures our contemporary landscape, pointing to deep connections and rifts between our human-constructed world and systems and cycles of nature. She engages architecture and urban structure as ever-accumulating evidence of human aspirations and failures, often contrasting and intertwining them with geological and organic formations. Her work draws on anthropology, architecture, urban planning and historical and fictional explorations of utopia/dystopia. It also leans heavily into material process, intentionally bringing joy, improvisation, and care into the work as it reflects on human patterns of extraction and construction.

Nicola López has participated in several residencies and received grants and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a NYFA Fellowship in Drawing/Printmaking/Book Arts, a grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and a Sovern/Columbia Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. Her work is held in numerous prominent institutional collections and has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum in NY, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, the Denver Art Museum, Nevada Museum of Art, the Albuquerque Museum and the Inside-Out Museum in Beijing. López resides in Santa Fe, NM.

Education
2004 MFA Columbia University, New York, NY
2002 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME
1998 BA Columbia University, New York, NY
1996 Attended Escola de Artes Visuais (School of Visual Arts), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Solo Exhibitions
2024
Unsettled Horizons: The Expanded Prints of Nicola Lopez, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, MN
Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, México DF, México

2022
Nicola López and Paula Wilson: Becoming Land, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Neither There nor Here, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Visions, Phantoms, and Apparitions, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME

2020
Haunted, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM

2019
Apariciones, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, México DF, México
Hybrids, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Nicola López: Parasites, Prosthetics, Parallels, and Partners, Tamarind Institute Gallery, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM

2018
Relics, Fibs, Trash + Treasures, Hawthorn Contemporary, Milwaukee, WI

2017
Big Windows: Skin: Portals, Jacob Lewis Gallery, New York, NY

2016
In Gentle Defiance of Gravity and Form, Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL

2014
One Valley Over, a World Apart, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, México D.F., México
Forecasting an Impossibly Possible Tomorrow, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
Half-Life, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Portland, OR Babel Revisited: History Repeats Itself, Savannah College of Art & Design Museum of Art, Savannah, GA

2013
Land of Illusion, Pace Prints Gallery, NY, NY

2012
Invasores e Impostores, La Calera, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México
Notes on the Tower, Tamarind Institute Gallery, Tamarind Institute, Albuquerque, NM

2011
Intervals: Nicola López, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Marañas, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, México D.F., México Structural Detours, Pace Prints Gallery, NY, NY

2009
Shadowland, Caren Golden Fine Art, NY, NY
Nicola López: Urban Transformations, Chazen Museum, Madison, WI, catalog

2008
Tangle, Cruz, Santa Fe, NM
Transformation City, Pace Prints, Chelsea, NY

2007
Constriction Zone, Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN

2006
OverGrowth, Caren Golden Fine Art, NY, NY

2005
Vertigo, Caren Golden Fine Art, NY, NY

2003
Maps and Other Myths, LACS Gallery at SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY

1999
Rescatando la Historia, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Cusco, Perú
Transplantes, Taller de Manuel, Cusco, Perú

Group Exhibitions
2026
Good Impressions, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2024
Prototype 1.0, SPRINGS Projects, Brooklyn, New York, NY

2023
DRAW: Point to Point, Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, FL
Social Forms: Art as Global Citizenship, Converge 45 Biennial 2023, Portland, OR
Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA
Positive Fragmentations, Traveling exhibition organized by National Museum of Women in the Arts drawn from collection of Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Exhibited at Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA (2023) and Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA (2023–2024)

2022
BIG, LeRoy Neiman Gallery at Columbia University, New York, NY, Curated by Nicola López
Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA
Women in Print: Recent Acquisitions, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Positive Fragmentations, Traveling exhibition organized by National Museum of Women in the Arts drawn from collection of Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation. Exhibited at American University Museum, Kazen Arts Center, Washington, D.C., Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, IN
The Printer’s Proof: Artist and Printer Conversations, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM

2021
A Journey Through Printmaking: International Printmaking Exhibition, CAFA Art Museum, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
PPE, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, New York, NY, online exhibition
When Evening Has Passed and Tomorrow Comes, Kimball Art Center, Park City, UT

2020
DRAWN: Concept and Craft, The Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
Trinity: Reflections on the Bomb, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM, online exhibition
Selections from Trinity, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM, selections of work from online exhibition Trinity: Reflections on the Bomb
The World Stage: Contemporary Art from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, Traveled to Boise Art Museum in Boise, Idaho in 2021
40 Des-Contactos: Dia 20, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, online exhibition

2019
Pulled in Brooklyn, International Print Center, New York, NY

2018
Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY, Curated by Cary Hulbert
Dialogues in Printmaking, Monmouth Museum, Lindcroft, NJ
42/18, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, New York, NY, Curated by Dante Migone-Ojeda
Witness: Social Justice in Contemporary Printmaking and Photography from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, Hallie Ford Museum, Salem, OR, catalog
DRAWN (OVER): Contemporary Drawing from LeRoy Neiman Until Today, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Serbia, Curated by Tomas Vu and Mirjana Dušić-Lazić
10 Years: The Cameron Print Project, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, VT

2017
Call and Response, Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL
12 x 12, 2017, Black Ball Projects, Brooklyn, NY
Do We Dream Under the Same Sky, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY

2016
The Future Is Chrome, Taimiao Art Gallery, Beijing Working People’s Culture Palace, Beijing, China
Moving Prints: Suspended Animation, International Print Center of New York, NY, NY
The Other: Nurturing A New Ecology in Printmaking, MOCA Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL

2015
Trienial Poli/Grafica de San Juan, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Marks Made: Prints by American Women Artists from the 1960s to the Present, Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, catalog
LIFT: Contemporary Printmaking in the Third Dimension, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN

2014
DRAW, The Inside-Out Art Museum – Beijing and Dali Contemporary Art Museum, Yunan, China

2013
Se Traspasa. Proyectos Nómadas, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes—Museo de Arte Moderno, México, D.F., México
Collecting Is Curiosity/Collecting is Inquiry, New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
Interruption: 30th Biennial of Graphic Arts, International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2012
Inside Out 2012, The Inside-Out Museum, Beijing, China
Space Invaders, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY
Pasiones Contemporáneas: Arte Americano, Europeo y Latinoamericano de la Colección Serapión y Belk, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, PR

2011
Pressing Ideas: 50 Years of Women’s Lithographs from Tamarind, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
Shifting Borders / In Transit, Of Bridges and Borders Phase III, Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2010
Estampas, Independencia y la Revolución, Museo Nacional de la Estampa, México D.F., México
Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement, Traveling exhibition shown at El Museo del Barrio, NY, NY (2010), Museo Alameda, San Antonio, TX (2009), Contemporary Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ (2009), Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México (2009), Museo Rufino Tamayo, México D.F., México (2008), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (2008)
America Printmaking Now, Traveling exhibition shown at National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Shenzhen, China, Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou, China (2011), Shanghai Art Museum, Shanghai, China (2011)

2009
Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Embrace!, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO, catalog
Invasive, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

2008
Claiming Space: Mexican Americans in U.S. Cities, Stanlee and Gerald Rubin Center for the Visual Arts, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX
Future Tense: Reshaping the Landscape, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, SUNY, Purchase, NY

2007
The Orpheus Selection, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY
Consumption Junction, Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH
American Soil, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas
Sicalipsis Art, N2 Galeria, Barcelona, Spain
The Art & Artifice of Science, New Mexico Museum of Art, Sante Fe, NM and 516 Arts, Albuquerque, NM

2006
Globalization and Its Side Effects, Espacio 1414, San Juan, PR
Drawing Conclusions on the Wall, Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA
Since 2000: Printmaking Now, Museum of Modern Art, NY, NY
The (S) Files, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR
Activator, Bates College Museum, Lewiston, Maine, catalog

2005
The (S) Files / The Selected Files, El Museo del Barrio, NY, NY, catalog
Swallow Harder: Selections from the Ben and Aileen Krohn Collection, The Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
10th National Drawing Invitational, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Dreaming of a More Better Future, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Nicola López / John Copeland, Irvine Contemporary Art, Washington, DC, two-person exhibit
Greater New York 2005, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY, catalog

2004
Saturación II, Galería Biblioteca Lino Picaseno, UNAM, Ciudad de México, México, two-person exhibit
After Goya, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY, NY
Atravesando Fronteras, El Museo Cultural, Santa Fe, NM
Object of Desire, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY, NY
SuperSalon, Samson Projects, Boston, MA

2003
Saturación, Instituto de Artes Gráficos de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México, two-person exhibit
Dress Me Up, SOIL Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

2002
Procession, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY, NY
Myth and Hybrid, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY, NY
In Xóchitl In Cuicatl : Flor y Canto : Reflections from Nuevo México, Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM

1999
Artist Books and Folios, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, NY, NY
Brewster Project, Site-specific Arts Event, Brewster, NY
Territorios Colindantes, El Museo Cultural, sponsored by La Voz Festival de las Americas, Santa Fe, NM
Muestra Pictórica Colectiva de la Sociedad de Artistas del Cusco, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Cusco, Perú

Collections
Albuquerque Museum of Art; Albuquerque, NM
Chazen Museum; Madison, WI
Chrysler Museum of Art; Norfolk, VA
Cleveland Museum of Art; Cleveland, OH
Eskenazi Museum; Bloomington, IN
La Curtiduría; Oaxaca, Mexico
Davison Art Center Collection at Wesleyan University; Middletown, CT
Detroit Institute of Art; Detroit, MI
Espacio 1414; San Juan, PR
Fidelity Investments Hammer Museum; Los Angeles, CA
Hood Museum of Art; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Instituto de Artes Gráficos; Oaxaca, Mexico Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art; Jacksonville, FL
Jordan Schnitzer Foundation; Portland, OR
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art; Madison, WI Metropolitan Museum of Art; New York, NY
El Museo del Barrio; New York, NY
El Museo de Filatelia de Oaxaca; Oaxaca, Mexico
El Museo Nacional de la Estampa; Mexico DF, Mexico Museum of Modern Art; NY, NY
New Mexico Museum of Art; Santa Fe, NM
Nerman Museum; Overland Park, KS
Nokia
Phoenix Art Museum
The Portland Art Museum; Portland, OR
The Progressive Art Collection
The Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art
Savannah College of Art & Design Museum of Art; Savannah, GA
Smith College of Art; Northampton, MA
St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts; Florida
The Wellington Management Company
University of New Mexico Art Museum; Albuquerque, NM
West Virginia University—Mesaros Galleries; Morgantown, WV
Yale Art Gallery

Awards and Residencies
2024 Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Art; USA
2020 American Academy in Rome – Columbia/Sovern Affiliated Fellowship; Rome, Italy
2016 Provost’s Grant; Columbia University, NY
2015 GriffnerHaus; Griffner, Austria
2012 La Calera Residency; Oaxaca, México 2012 The Inside-Out Residency; Beijing, China
2011, 2010 NMSBA (New Mexico Small Business Assistance) Program; Santa Fe, NM
2011 Bard Research Fund Grant; Bard College; Annandale-On-Hudson, NY
2011, -09, -07 La Curtiduría; Oaxaca, México
2006 Headlands Center for the Arts (Project Space); Sausalito, CA
2005 NYFA Fellowship in Drawing/Printmaking/Book Arts
2004 Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Graduate Award 2004 Mortimer Frank Traveling Fellowship; Awarded by Columbia University; NY, NY
2004 Assilah Summer Moussem Artist Residency; Assilah, Morocco
1998 Mortimer Hays-Brandeis Traveling Fellowship, awarded by Brandeis University; Brandeis, MA

Selected Projects
2023-24
GSA (Government Services Administration) Public Art Commission; Lakewood, CO
2023
“Land in Formation: Drawings by Nicola López” Terrain.org (online feature)
2013-19
“Un-building Things” Installation commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Balcony Lounge; NY, NY
2012
“Scarabs” Set Design for dance performance in collaboration with Nimbus Dance Works (Choreography: Samuel Pott, Music: Samson Young) Premiered at Grace Church- Jersey City, NJ; Alvin Ailey Theater – NY, NY; Brooklyn Academy of Music – Brooklyn, NY
“Absolute Power: Transforming image and sculpture through explosive blasts” Collaboration with artist Gandalf Gavan and chemist Bryce Tappan (work done at Los Alamos National Laboratory; Los Alamos, NM)

Press Release
2026 Good Impressions at Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM