Paul de Guzman

Paul de Guzman (1965 -), born in Manila, Philippines, studied engineering before immigrating to Canada in 1986. His artistic practice is characterized as post-studio and nomadic, reflecting his autodidactic education in art, which he cultivated through extensive reading on art, theory, and architecture. De Guzman’s work engages with the institutional nature of architecture through a conceptual and linguistic lens. He creates transient and temporary structures that employ diverse media—text, sculpture, installation, photography, sound, video, performance, and social practice— tailored to each project. A central theme of his artistic investigation is the recognition of language, architecture, and, more recently, religion as mechanisms of control.

In 2010, he founded the Museum for the Administration of Aesthetics (MAA) which is a research-based, itinerant project that addresses issues related to the urban environment and social interactions involving architecture. De Guzman has exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally. His artwork has been collected by private individuals, as well as corporate and public institutions such as the Art Gallery of York University (Toronto, ON), Burnaby Art Gallery, Bank of Canada (Toronto, ON), Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, CT), Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, ON).