Nicholas Steinmetz

Nicholas Steinmetz’s works present mythical creatures and hybrid animals reimagined beyond the cultural and historical frameworks that once defined their meaning. Working from found images and bestiaries, he manipulates figures – dragons, lions, unicorns – and releases them from fixed allegorical roles and reframing the monster as something other than an antagonist. His practice moves between storytelling, space, and the evolutions of images across time. Drawing and figuration come together through carefully constructed compositions, forming layered scenes that resist linear readings and instead unfold through suggestion and fracture. Informed by a constellation of narratives drawn from the world of images, Steinmetz draws on fragments of histories and rituals to explore themes of the body, nature, memory, gender, and social structures.

Steinmetz was born in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1997. He graduated from Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná in 2020 with a degree in graphic design, and completed an exchange in Fine Arts at Fanshawe College, London, Ontario, between 2017 and 2018. In 2024, Steinmetz undertook a residency at MAC-PR as part of the “Sala Aberta” programme. His work has been presented in both solo and group exhibitions across Brazil, including ARCADA at 25M, São Paulo (2025), Banquete at Espaço Totó, São Paulo (2024), Pé de Galinha at MAC-PR, Curitiba (2024), Decantação at Asa BASA, Curitiba (2023), and Precipitação at Espaço de Arte do CANTO, São Paulo (2022). Selected group exhibitions include Penumbra at Galeria Contempo, São Paulo (2026), Falácia Natural at Galeria Refresco, Rio de Janeiro (2026), Dispositivos de Contra-Memória at Virtua 3000, Rio de Janeiro (2025), and Diálogos e Narrativas at Gruta, São Paulo (2025), among others. Steinmetz currently lives and works in Brazil.