Bio
Nicolás Leiva was born in Tucumán, Argentina, in 1958. In 1983 he graduated from the Faculty of Arts at the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman and continues his studies in Buenos Aires. Leiva, who always conceived of his career in global terms, exhibited for the first time outside Argentina in 1989, in San José, Costa Rica.
In 1990 move to Miami and he received a visa to the United States for “for exceptional talent” , precisely at the moment in which its international ascendancy as the capital of Latin American art and as a major venue in the international contemporary art scene would become established. Soon his work would become a widely recognizable element in this boom. Leiva has exhibited widely and realized commissions throughout Latin America, the United States and Europe, as well as South Africa and the Middle East.
Since 1996, Leiva has broadened his range of genres beyond painting and drawing to ceramics as well as the pictorial intervention. of industrial surfaces, such as automobiles, inflatable, motorcycles, surfboards and guitars. Presently he divides his time between Miami – his own studio- and Argentina.
Awards Received
- 2023 Miami Individual Artist (MIA) Grant, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs
- 2017 “Illustrious Visitor” Honorary Distinction from National University of Tucuman
- 2017 “Orgullo Tucumano ” Distinction From Ministry of Education , Tucuman, Argentina
- 2000 Florida Individual artist Fellowship, Florida Department of State
- 1996 NEA Southern Arts Federation, Atlanta, Georgia
- 1992 South Florida Cultural Consortium, Miami, Florida
- 1989 International Art Biennial, Valparaíso, Chile
Museum and public collections
- Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
- Museum Texas University, San Antonio, Texas
- Berardo Collection Modern Art, Lisboan, Portugal
- Casa Golinelli , Bologna, Italy
- Marble Museum of Carrara, Carrara, Italy
- Museo Maria Zambrano, Malaga, Espana
- MALBA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
- Museum “José Luis Cuevas”, Mexico City, Mexico
- Molaa, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA
- Miami-Dade Community College Mitchell Wolfson Campus, Miami, Florida. USA
- Metro-Dade Cultural Resources, Miami, Florida, USA
- Museum of Fine Arts of Tucumán, Argentina
- Fundación García Lorca, Madrid, Spain
- Empresas Líneas Marítimas Argentinas. Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Aguilares Collection, Tucumán, Argentina.
Museum and public collections
- 2015 Royal Caribbean: Anthem of the Sea: “What Makes Life Work Living”