Gustavo Vélez was born in Colombia in 1975. He lives and works between Medellín, where he creates his steel works in his studio, and Pietrasanta, where since 1996 he has developed most of his sculptural production in marble and bronze, in dialogue with the region’s long-standing craft tradition.

His passion for sculpture emerged during childhood. Fascinated by working with clay and other materials, he soon realised that his path would be rooted in art. During secondary school, he combined his academic studies with sculpture classes at the Institute of Fine Arts in Medellín, establishing a clear artistic direction from an early age.

At the age of nineteen, he moved to Florence to continue his studies in art history, drawing and sculpture at the Lorenzo de’ Medici School, before settling in Pietrasanta, where he further developed his knowledge of marble-working techniques at the Palla Cavalier Ferdinando workshop.

After an initial figurative phase, his artistic language evolved towards an abstract universe of pure geometric forms created in marble, bronze and steel. His sculptures appear to float in space, seemingly weightless, playing with light and perspective. Cubes, prisms and essential volumes convey the dynamism and harmony of form through an extreme synthesis of balance, movement and abstraction.

His research centres on the exploration of form in space, through a process of progressive linguistic synthesis that leads towards the stylisation of form. His practice draws inspiration from the elements of nature while also being deeply rooted in the history of twentieth-century avant-garde movements. Building on the experiences of Constructivism and modern European sculpture, Vélez frees form from representation to focus on structure, rhythm and spatial relationships.

His works take the form of sculptural volumes in which material becomes the protagonist, in a constant dialogue between solid and void, stillness and dynamism, monumentality and lightness.

In 2013, he exhibited for the first time in the iconic Piazza Duomo in Pietrasanta and at the Sant’Agostino Complex, presenting monumental sculptures in marble, bronze and steel. He also donated the model for Hipercúbicos, which is now part of the permanent collection of the Museo dei Bozzetti.

In Tuscany, he has also exhibited at venues including Parco della Versiliana in Marina di Pietrasanta and the Marino Marini Museum in Pistoia. Other exhibitions in Italy have taken place in Lucca, Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio.

Over the past twenty years, Gustavo Vélez has exhibited internationally across the Americas, Europe and Asia, establishing a significant presence in the contemporary sculpture scene. His work has a particularly strong presence in Asia, with exhibitions in China, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore.

In China, he has exhibited at major cultural institutions, including the Zhengzhou Imperial City Museum, while several of his monumental sculptures have entered the permanent collections of cities including Shenzhen and Nanjing, demonstrating an established dialogue with the region.

Among his major exhibitions dedicated to monumental sculpture are Monumentalis (2011–2012), a travelling exhibition hosted by numerous museums and cultural institutions in Ecuador and Colombia, including the Archaeological and Contemporary Museum of Guayaquil, the Museum of Modern Art of Cuenca, the Museum of Modern Art of Quito and the Museum of Art of Tolima; Gustavo Vélez. Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (2015–2016); Gustavo Vélez, Musée Bernard Boesch (2021), Le Pouliguen, France; and Forme e ritmi nella dimensione geometrica (2022–2023) in the Dominican Republic, with works installed at UNESCO World Heritage sites in Santo Domingo, as well as at the Museum of Modern Art of Santo Domingo and the iconic cultural centre Altos de Chavón in La Romana.

In 2023, Vélez was the only Latin American artist invited to the Bad Ragaz Sculpture Triennial in Switzerland and Vaduz, Liechtenstein, one of Europe’s leading exhibitions of monumental sculpture.

In 2025, the artist presented a major monumental exhibition in Monterrey, Mexico, featuring large-scale sculptures in steel, bronze and marble. Initially staged at Parque Fundidora, the exhibition is currently on view at the renowned Parque Rufino Tamayo.