Over the last few years, Julio Del Rio assembled a small militia of powerful and strange, sometimes humanoid, ceramics figures — many with arms, all with legs, and most with an amazing set of teeth. Some are based on modern and post-modern sculptures by the likes of Jeff Koons or Georg Condo.
Many of the figures sport a skin etched with text or symbols, creating a connection back in time with the terracotta warriors of ancient China. But, unlike the uniform drabness of the funerary sculptures, Del Rio’s pieces are glazed in burst of colors.
// Julio’s available work //
recent exhibition history
Heads // Left Field Gallery San Luis Obispo 2017
Word Play // organized by Kate Klingbeil NIAD Art Center 2017
Creature Feature // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2017
Souls And Scenarios // organized by Gina Borg NIAD Art Center 2016
Joyful Tidings Of The Golden Future Time // organized by Jon Shibata Yali’s Café Oxford Street Berkeley 2016
Mayor Tom Butt Selects The Art Of NIAD// Richmond Mayor’s Suite Richmond 2016
Adventure! // organized by Scott MacLeod NIAD Art Center 2015
Absence of Deliberate Silence // organized by Lacey Haslam NIAD Art Center 2015
Hermosas Criaturas: Ceramics And Drawings From Julio Del Rio // NIAD Art Center 2015
Making Friends // organized by John Casey NIAD Art Center 2015
Avatar // organized by Justine Frischmann NIAD Art Center 2014
Check Your Head: Some Figurative Work // NIAD Art Center 2013
Where Have All The People Gone? // organized by Amy Miller Village Theatre Art Gallery Danville 2013
Yes To The Dress Pop-Up Shop // organized by Peter Gravener NIAD Art Center 2013
Diamond Dogs Pet Supply Pop-Up Shop // NIAD Art Center 2103
Mud, Honey // NIAD Art Center 2013
Spring Training // NIAD Art Center 2013
Superduperultracool Shoppe // organized by Lisa Solomon NIAD ART Center 2013
You Are Here // organized by Robert Wuilfe NIAD Art Center 2013
Outsider Art // organized by Phil Linhares and OMCA Oakland Airport 2103
recent press
Radio Free Richmond: Julio Del Rio Blends Animal And Imagination (2015, June)
San Francisco Chronicle: Art And Entertainment Picks, Aug. 18 (2013, August)
San Francisco Chronicle: NIAD Art Center’s Gifts Of Artistic Ability (2012, December)