Biography

Esteban Velazquez von Wilhelm is a self-taught artist based in Germany. He was born in Venezuela where he graduated as a historian at the University of Zulia. After graduation he founded the art and lifestyle magazine Wilhelm, of which he is the editor in chief. In 2009, at the height of the magazine's growth in Venezuela, criminal groups kidnapped Esteban in his own editorial offices and he was brutally tortured. As a result of this attack he loses his right eye and suffers a skull fracture, as well as 17 other fractures and serious injuries to his head and face caused by a hammer. This was one of the reasons why the artist settled in Germany. Although the artist has developed his artistic production uninterruptedly since the age of 14, when he created the painting Atilio y Eva, a diptych dedicated to his parents Atilio Velazquez and Eva Wilhelm, based on a reinterpretation of Dürer's Adam and Eve. But it was not until after the recovery of his torture, in 2010, when the artist begins to create paintings in which he reveals his own personality that can be understood in a linear way until today's artistic production. His artistic production can be understood in the context of three specific times. The Venezuela period, understood as an exploratory period, where the artist tried to reinterpret classical works by looking at European paintings from his own family's collection. The Munich period, which although temporarily located between 2014 and 2017, should be analyzed from 2010 starting from the work: Nude Angelina dated in this year and that would be a birthday gift for his beloved aunt and protector. The period of Dresden, from 2017 until today, marked mainly by the use of color and the theme of the characters of the German nobility. Esteban Velazquez von Wilhelm produces sculptures, assemblages and textiles that make his artistic production a varied conglomerate with a very well defined character.

O Soto. Extract curatorial text 2020

Photo: Frank Wallburger .