Born in Colombia in 1945, Zapata has enjoyed the display of his works in an impressive array of exhibitions. Recent showcases of his sculpture include those as Galería Sextante at ARTBO (2015)and the Beatriz Esguerra Art at Dallas Art Fair (2018). Zapata took classes at the Instituto de Artes Plásticas of the Universidad de Antioquia before enrolling in the Architecture School of the Universidad Nacional’s Medellín campus. Indeed, many of the restless young artists at the forefront of the innovation of the visual arts in Antioquia in the seventies were trained as architects, partly due to their dissatisfaction with traditional art education in Colombia. Zapata first became interested in serial art as a result of the social and political concerns of the time. He was active in the founding of the Universidad Nacional’s art program, the response of emerging artists from Antioquia to what they considered a stifling traditional academy. Zapata has produced a great deal of work for private and public spaces in Colombia, all of which demonstrate his idea that “art is necessary insofar as it causes the human being to form part of his surroundings and accompanies him spiritually beyond any promise. Art is not actually that useless after all.” Exploring themes of the organic and the elemental in his dynamic array of coveted sculpture, Colombian artist Hugo Zapata pulls forth the language of minimalism in moving ways. Zapata calls upon the materials of our natural world to create sculpted forms that both recall the forms of our shared environment. Simple shapes and reduced colors make Zapata’s works universally tantalizing, and the streamlined nature of his work makes it truly timeless.