Gabriel “Gloso” Nieto (b. 1990, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico)

Gabriel Nieto’s art was born in Puerto Rico, where graffiti became his first language, teaching him to flow with the spontaneity of the creative process. With a desire to take his technique further, he studied classical oil painting at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas in San Juan, guided since childhood by his grandfather, Rosendo Nieto, who showed him the power of light, shadow, and visual storytelling.

This search later led him to New York, where he became a muralist for Colossal Media, the leading company in hand-painted advertising murals. There, he worked on massive formats, refining his mastery of color, anatomy, and large-scale storytelling. But as his murals grew, his vision became more introspective. His work explores movement and surrealism, playing with the idealized or demonized human figure. Man and Woman take center stage in his pieces, acting as a bridge between nostalgia and transformation. His paintings navigate between the intimate and the subconscious, a space of conflict in search of clarity, balancing his identity as a muralist with his personal growth on the canvas.

Nieto seeks to question the human condition and the ever-changing nature of our identity, exploring transformation from the inside out. He uses the human body as a narrative tool to delve into the complexity of our being, the awakening of inner strength, and the vital energy that empowers us to manage our individual and collective well-being.

His concept of “comfort zone” is built on a process of trial and error, exploring the delicate balance between the ease of recharging in familiar spaces and the discomfort of growth beyond them. His work embraces vulnerability as a point of transformation, turning it into strength. Each piece is a testament to the events that have shaped him so far. The colors on the skin of his figures create an unnatural sensation as if they do not belong to their surroundings. However, they convey deep humanity and intense emotional weight. Among his artistic influences are masters such as Edvard Munch, Vermeer, Dalí, Francis Bacon, and Magritte, with whom he shares an interest in the exploration of anatomy and surrealism. His figurative work pushes the boundaries of painting, seeking a new aesthetic frontier.