Nao Bustamante (b. 1963) is a legendary artist, residing in Los Angeles, California. Bustamante's precarious work encompasses performance art, video installation, filmmaking, sculpture, and writing. The New York Times says, "She has a knack for using her body." Bustamante has presented in Galleries, Museums, Universities, and underground sites all around the world.
She has exhibited, among other locales, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the New York Museum of Modern Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sundance International Film Festival/New Frontier, Outfest International Film Festival, El Museo del Barrio Museum of Contemporary Art, First International Performance Biennial,
Deformes
in Santiago, Chile and the Kiasma Museum of Helsinki. She was also an unlikely contestant on the TV network, Bravo's "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist." In 2001 she received the
Anonymous Was a Woman fellowship and in 2007 named a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow, as well as a Lambent Fellow. In 2008 She received the Chase Legacy award in Film (In conjunction with Kodak and HBO). And was the Artist in Residence of the American Studies Association in 2012. In 2013, Bustamante was awarded the (Short-term) CMAS-Benson Latin American Collection Research Fellowship and also a Makers Muse Award from the Kindle Foundation. In 2014/15 Bustamante was Artist in Residence at UC Riverside and in 2015 she was a UC MEXUS Scholar in Residence in preparation for a solo exhibit at Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles. In 2020 Bustamante’s forthcoming VR film, “The Wooden People” received a producing grant from the Mike Kelley Foundation, and the National Performance Network and will be presented at REDCAT in 2021. 2021 also brought her success with her new research project, “BLOOM,” in which she is determined to redesign the speculum and take a stern look at the history of the pelvic examination. “BLOOM” has been supported by COLA (City of Los Angeles) fellowship, an Artpace Residency, and a USC Arts and Humanities award.
Bustamante is an alum of the San Francisco Art Institute, and in 2020 she was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from her alma mater, SFAI. She also attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Currently she holds the position of Professor of Art at the USC Roski School of Art and Design.
“My works return year after year to haunt me. It’s what I call a brain burr. Each work is fair game to be used as material. But the medium chooses me…”
Nao Bustamante and Fufu (photo: Eleanor Goldsmith)
BLOOM (installation view), curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas, ARTPACE, San Antonio, Texas, July - Sep 2022
BLOOM (installation view), curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas, ARTPACE, San Antonio, Texas, July - Sep 2022
BLOOM (performance), curator Tavia Nyong'o, Park Ave Armory, NYC, 2022. Collaborators: Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Pamela Martínez, & Geo Wyex
Nao Bustamante, Silver & Gold, 2009-2014 & 2019, video. (photo: Eleanor Goldsmith)
Nao Bustamante, Sans Gravity, 1993-2003, 40 minutes.
Nao Bustamante, Rosa does Joan, 1992, 7 minutes and 38 seconds.
Nao Bustamante, Rosa does Joan (video installation), 1992/2019, Mixed media video installation. 7 minutes and 38 seconds. Maccarone Gallery. The Pleasure Principle (Group Show)
Nao Bustamante, Mucho Mucho, 2015, video, 4 minutes. Performer: Marcus Kuiland-Nazario.
Nao Bustamante, Neapolitan, 2008, 3 minutes and 19 seconds. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF CA, 2008.
Nao Bustamante, Given Over to Want, 2018, The Broad Museum, November 15, 2018.
Nao Bustamante, Given Over to Want, 2019, No New Idols Performance
Festival, Riga, Latvia.
Nao Bustamante, Chac-Mool, 2015. Video.
Nao Bustamante, America, The Beautiful, 2002. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Lima, Peru, July 10, 2002. (photo: Lorie Novak)
Archival pigment print
Edition of 10
20 x 30 inches
Archival pigment print
Edition of 10
20 x 30 inches
Archival pigment print.
Somerset Velvet Enhanced 255gsm paper.
Suite of 5 prints. Edition of 10
14 x 14 inches
Archival pigment print.
Somerset Velvet Enhanced 255gsm paper.
Suite of 5 prints. Edition of 10
14 x 14 inches
Archival pigment print.
Somerset Velvet Enhanced 255gsm paper.
Suite of 5 prints. Edition of 10
14 x 14 inches
Archival pigment print.
Somerset Velvet Enhanced 255gsm paper.
Suite of 5 prints. Edition of 10
14 x 14 inches
Archival pigment print.
Somerset Velvet Enhanced 255gsm paper.
Suite of 5 prints. Edition of 10
14 x 14 inches
Background: Rebozo, 2015 and Soldadera (video,) 2015. Photo: Dale Griner
Mixed media, stereoscopic video, custom upholstered stool, custom headphones by Jarrod Davis. | Photo: Dale Griner.
+1-310-815-8080
LOCATIONS
BENDIX BUILDING
1206 Maple Ave, Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 10am-5pm
HELIOTROPE – opening March 29, 2025
706 Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm
ⓘ Wheelchair accessible.
Also open by appointment.
+1-310-815-8080
LOCATIONS
BENDIX BUILDING
1206 Maple Ave, Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Thursday-Saturday, 11am-5pm
HELIOTROPE
(opening March 29, 2025)
706 Heliotrope Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90029
Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm
ⓘ Wheelchair accessible.
Also open by appointment.
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