Mateo Gutiérrez is a contemporary artist who makes hand-embroidered artworks that bring into question the underlying culture of violence endemic to American life both personally, politically and historically. Mateo moved to the U.S. at the age of sixteen, and has struggled with his conflicted relationship to the U.S. ever since. He presents both a sociopolitical and a deeply personal reflection on what it means to be American. He challenges the viewer with both a haunting and empathetic view of the traumatic effects of the so-called "American way of life" and also what it means to be an outsider as both foreign born and Latino. He cites his complex experience with the United States as central to his understanding of American cultural practices that are defined by racial and socioeconomic hierarchies engendering violence and xenophobia.​​​
Mateo has exhibited nationally in galleries in Los Angeles, New York and across Texas, including multiple museum exhibitions and prestigious art residencies. Mateo was a featured artist in the 2024-2025 Texas Biennial, the longest running state biennial in the US. Mateo has been featured in New American Painters, Hyperallergic, the Austin American Statesman, Glasstire and other notable art journals. Mateo has a BA in philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley and his MFA in studio painting from the University of Texas at Austin. Mateo is currently an artist in residence at the Textile Art Center in Brooklyn NY. He divides his time between Brooklyn NY and Austin TX.
I use embroidery thread to meticulously hand-embroider images of immigrants and people in the aftermath of mass shootings and people who have been “disappeared” in Latin America. I work directly with photojournalists in the US and with Indigenous movements in Latin America to source my material. I am on a mission to expose, and hopefully in doing so help heal, the underlying psychological disorder of violence plaguing American society, an ethos of violence that terrorizes us both within and outside our borders. I am looking directly at the rotten and destructive core of nationhood, imperialism and empire in general and its failed concept of scarcity, fear and exploitation. My work is about seeing, bearing witness and above all else just slowing down and giving us our dignity back from those who try to take it from us by looking at the violent nature of our society, something I believe is as it is by design, not by accident. My work is about justice and fairness and inclusion and plain old equality and sharing. My work is about feeling our pain as an act of self dignity as living, breathing humans capable of so much good and so much love for each other right here and now. My work is about solidarity through empathy and knowledge. Through it all and to the very end, I deliver my work in solidarity with those who have been harmed at the hands of the few.​​
CV
EDUCATION
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M.F.A. Studio Painting, University of Texas, Austin
B.A. Philosophy, University of California, Berkeley
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EXHIBITIONS​
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2027​​
Bronx Art Space, group exhibition, (opening Spring 2027 TBA), Bronx, NYC
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2026​​
Textile Art Center, group exhibition (opening September 2026), Brooklyn, NY​
Art League Houston, group exhibition, Houston, TX
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2025​
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (Craft House Houston), Craft Texas 2025, curated by Abraham Thomas, the Daniel Brodsky Curator for Modern Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, group exhibition, Houston, TX
Box 13 ArtSpace, solo exhibition, Houston, TX​​
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2024
Texas Biennial 2024, group exhibition, jurors Erika Mei Chua Holum, Ashley DeHoyos Sauder and Coka Treviño, Sawyer Yards, Houston, TX
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2023
La Mecha Contemporary, group exhibition, "A Fine Line", El Paso, Texas
Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, solo exhibition, Brownsville, Texas
Mexic-Arte Museum, group exhibition, Alimento para el Alma / Food for the Soul, Austin, Texas
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2022
Bronx Art Space, group exhibition, 5 Artists, "Where Do We All Come From?", Bronx, NYC
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2021
The Border Gallery, group exhibition, Border Walls IV, Brooklyn, NY
BronxArtSpace, Residency Exhibition, Governors Island, NY
DorDor Gallery, group exhibition, Brooklyn, NY
Shrine Gallery, group exhibition, NY, NY
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2020
MOCA Long Island, Night Visions Gallery MOCA L.I.ghts, group exhibition, Patchogue, LI, NY
The Urban Collective & Nasty Women, group exhibition, Rituals of Resistance, New Haven, CT
Field Projects Gallery, group exhibition, Hoarders House, NY, NY
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2007
Buckwild Gallery, solo exhibition, Los Angeles, CA
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2005
Mexic-Arte Museum, group exhibition, Young Latino Artists, Austin, Texas
Lawndale Art Center, solo exhibition,The Project Room, Houston, Texas
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2002
Jones Contemporary, group exhibition, New American Talent, curated by Jerry Saltz, Austin, TX
Austin Museum of Art, group exhibition, 22 to Watch, New Art in Austin, Austin, TX
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RESIDENCIES
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(Current) September 2025 - June 2026, Textile Art Center, Artist in Residence, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Bronx Art Space Governors Island Residency, NYC
AWARDS & HONORS
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2021 Top Ten Studio Picks by NY & LA based curator & writer Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy, Gowanus Open Studios
1999 Minority Fellowship Award, University of Texas Austin
1997 Merit Award, University of Texas Austin
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PRESS
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2025
Glasstire, Craft Texas 2025, August issue
MelissaRichardsonBanks.com, Craft Texas 2025, August issue
Glasstire, Mateo Gutiérrez: It's the End of the World As We Know It, February issue
Art With Altitude, "The Tactile Rebellion", featured artist, Winter issue
2024
Glasstire, The Last Sky: Thermals and Thresholds, December issue
Glasstire, Big Medium Announces 2024 Texas Biennial Artists, group exhibition write up, September issue
2023
Glasstire, La Mecha Contemporary, group exhibition write up, August issue
Brownsville Valley Central 23 Channel 4 and Danielle Banda "Valley Por La Vida", TV interview
Glasstire, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art solo exhibition write up, May issue
2022
The Magic Spark Podcast, featured guest, "The Wound of Worthiness & Belonging: Artist Interview"
New American Painting, featured artist, Issue #152 “Northeast”
2021
Hyperallergic, "Your Guide to Explore the Unfamiliar at Gowanus Open Studios"
Mott Haven Herald, "Five Bronx Artists Chosen for Governors Island Residency"
2020
Hyperallergic, “A View From the Easel During Times of Quarantine”
Hartford Courant, “Rituals of Resistance”
Arts Council Greater New Haven, “In Year Four, Nasty Women Returns To Its Roots”
2000
Austin American Statesman, "22 to Watch"
Austin Chronicle, "Behind the Storage Unit Door"
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PUBLIC SPEAKING​
February 2026: Artist Talk and Q&A, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
January 2026: Artist Talk and Q&A, Art League Houston, Houston, TX
April 2025: Artist Talk, Night of Ideas, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
March 2025: Artist Talk and Q&A, Center for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, York University, Toronto, CAN
March 2025: Artist Talk and Q&A, University of Guelph, Toronto, Canada
February 2024: TED Talk at Texas State University
May 2023: Solo-exhibition Artist Talk and Q&A at Brownsville Museum of Fine Art​
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TEACHING ​
​​2023-2025: Texas State University Department of Art, San Marcos, Texas, Studio Art Lecturer in Art Foundations
2024: Volunteer Youth Art Instructor, Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, Austin, Texas
1996-1999: University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, Transmedia Teaching Assistant
