Jorge Pardo (b. 1963, Havana, Cuba) studied at the University of Illinois, Chicago and received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. Jorge Pardo currently lives and works in Merida, Mexico.    

Pardo’s artwork explores the intersection of contemporary painting, design, sculpture, and architecture. Employing a broad palette of vibrant colors, eclectic patterns, and natural and industrial materials, Pardo’s works range from murals to home furnishings to collages to larger-than-life fabrications. He often transforms familiar objects into artworks with multiple meanings and purposes, such as a set of lamps displayed as both sources of illumination and as freestanding sculptures, or a sailboat exhibited as both a utilitarian, seaworthy vessel and as a striking obelisk. Working on small and monumental scales, Pardo also treats entire public spaces as vast canvases. Pardo engages viewers with works that produce great visual delight while questioning distinctions between fine art and design.

His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions including Victoria Miro, London (2018); Petzel Gallery, New York (2017); José García, Mérida, MX (2016); David Gill Gallery, London (2015) neugerriemschneider, Berlin (2014); Petzel Gallery, New York (2014); Gagosian Gallery, New York (2010); Gallery Gisela Capitain, Cologne (2012); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2010); K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf (2009); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2008); and Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (2007). New paintings by the artist were included in the 57th Biennale di Venezia (2017).

His work is part of numerous public collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London.

Jorge Pardo has been the recipient of many awards including the MacArthur Fellowship Award (2010); the Smithsonian American Art Museum Lucelia Artist Award (2001); the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (1995).