O. Gustavo Plascencia

The constructive nature of identity, the conflict that individuals face constructing their identities, and the duality of private and public lives are the main elements in my creative artwork. Many of the stories depicted in my work are metaphors of family secrets, personal struggles, and shared experiences – both in public and private places. The alternative presentation for photography such as mixed media, photo-constructions and installation allow me to piece together fading memories or stories and reconstruct them and fill in the gaps by adding new elements, meaning, or knowledge to a fading and incomplete memory. I often present narratives in the form of tableaux reminiscent of altarpieces exploring the intersections of the human body and landscape and how the individual’s identity reacts or is affected by the landscape/place itself. Where the body represents a place to be inhabited and the place itself is considered an extension of the body.
All of the images in my work talk of the duality – and sometimes conflict – between domesticity and utilitarianism, personal and communal, self and society. By rearranging and reconstructing stories, landscapes or memories; I explore ideas of home, self, gender, domesticity, and personal histories.

O. Gustavo Plascencia was raised in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. Plascencia attended the Escuela de Artes Plasticas Ruben Herrera in Saltillo, Coahuila, before immigrating to the USA. He received his Master in Fine Arts at the University of Colorado in Boulder in Photography and Media Arts and his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Arlington. Plascencia’s work has been shown at both national and international venues, including Museo de Las Americas (Denver, Colorado), Instituto de Artes de Medellin (Medellin, Colombia), The International Center of Bethlehem (Bethlehem, Palestine), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia (Valencia, Spain), the Academia de Bellas Artes San Carlos (Mexico City, Mexico) and the Universidad Eafit (Medellin, Colombia). He has participated in artist-in-residency programs at the Instituto de Artes de Medellin (Colombia/2009), Arte Studio Ginestrelle (Assisi, Italy/2011), Contemporary Artists Center in (Troy, NY/2011), Brush Creek Foundations for the Arts (Saratoga, WY/2012), and the Old School Residence (Bulgaria/2012). He currently resides in Memphis, TN