Nicolás Leiva: Realms of Rebirth: New York

Ruiz-Healy Art presents Nicolás Leiva: Realms of Rebirth, a solo exhibition by Argentine-born, Miami-based artist Nicolás Leiva. The exhibition will be on view in New York City from March 20 to May 9, 2025, with an opening reception on March 20 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, attended by the artist. This marks Leiva’s third solo show with Ruiz-Healy Art and his first in a New York gallery.

 

In her 2006 American Ceramics publication, Ana Sokolof shared the spark that started Leiva’s interest in ceramics: “Nicolás Leiva began working with ceramics in mid-1996 when he was encouraged by his friend and gallerist Gary Nader to make a dinner set for his personal use. Leiva grew fascinated with the potential that this medium offered to his artistic development, Likewise, Nader and the public in general  received the pieces with enthusiasm, further tempting the artist to get involved with the production of ceramics and its aesthetic possibilities.” Sopera honors both aesthetics and utility, signifying the idea that people enjoy to sit, eat, and live in the lust of creation.

Leiva creates objects that evolve into intricate structures for holding flowers. The imagery is derived from his earlier paintings, from which he created mythical symbols that make up his visionary worlds. Leiva meticulously crafts his works to achieve his desire to emulate his visions. Vessel for Seraphim Blooms and Paradise Garden Vase exemplify Leiva’s ability to create works that teeter between the sensuous and unsettling, decorated with motifs resembling eyes, blooming botanicals, and seemingly geometric forms.

“These works depict fantastical other worlds employing exuberant color intensified by narrative detail, yet they aim to uncover the tension between earthly forces: life and death, suffering and pleasure, dream and reality.” - Paula Owen, foreword, Infinite Cycle

The artist’s installation project, El Diluvio Prometido (The Promised Flood) encouraged the artist to go beyond the four walls of his studio, taking him to the ocean, where ceramic pieces were placed on the shoreline, awaiting the slow and steady power of waves engulfing them. The biodiversity of sea life provides a tremendous source of inspiration for the tails and tentacles that make up the artist's sculptures. Leiva’s installation features a web of marine life containing a colorful cast of figures of species belonging to the deep.

“It is true that his works reveal a clear influence of his past in the subtropical northwest of Argentina. But it is equally true that, for Leiva, every image is open to special treatment, to a magnificent and poetic refinement.” - Rodolfo A. Windhausen in his essay,  La Profundidad Metafísica de Nicolás Leiva

Inspired by his father’s work as the founder and director of a nature reserve in Argentina, Nicolás Leiva creates fantastical ecosystems where flora and fauna merge into imaginative ceramic figures.  Hybridizing bio-organic forms, Sea Flora is worthy of its mythology, coming alive with a curved tail and tentacle-like symbols.

Innovative in his use of ceramic and paint on unusual surfaces, Leiva works with a vocabulary of pure fantasy and cosmic inspiration. Bright colors and primal designs are the signature components of this artist's expressionistic technique. Embedded in Leiva's collection of shapes and surface designs is a symbolic narrative that contains the language of an ethereal realm.

In Arbol de los Sueños (Tree of Dreams), the artist utilizes aesthetics and utilitarianism to create a scene that echoes a tree of life, symbolizing the cyclical nature of existence. At the center of the composition, Leiva superimposes a tree surrounded by esoteric structures, lanterns, and ornaments in colored outlines that suspend the viewer's contemplation. Embedding these visual elements with alternating geometric patterns, the scenes depict a parallel world alongside the artist’s daily life.

Leiva's artistic journey has taken him to numerous countries and cities, each leaving a unique imprint on his work. His Viaje al Paraíso series, or Journey to Paradise series, is a testament to this evolving visual vocabulary that speaks to his surroundings. As Leiva himself puts it, “Argentina was formative and the heart and soul of my creations, Miami is the place of growth and Italy provided me with excitement and beauty.” This personal journey adds a layer of depth and relatability to his art, inviting the audience to share in his experiences.

For Leiva, his art does not exist in just one world. Instead, it is a labyrinth of opulent structures, patterns, and ornaments. This is especially true for his Barcas series, in which Leiva incorporates figures reminiscent of sea creatures and presents them, his protagonists, as spheres, spikes, and surrealist characters; combining organic filaments and form with geometric intricacies.