Renzo Ortega’s work explores social, political, and cultural implications of his status as a naturalized American citizen who has made the transition from undocumented to documented immigrant and aims to show the voices of the immigrant community and their contributions to American life.

Renzo Ortega (Lima, Peru 1974) is an artist based in Carrboro, North Carolina. The political present he lives as a Latino in the United States of America influences his artistic practice. He believes that paintings are necessary cultural objects because they are historical documents through which we learn about the country's political issues, social contexts, and people's feelings and reactions. Through his painting practice, he seeks to create a historical narrative that is built on the conventions of the medium and embraces its diversity of styles. His influences range from pre-Hispanic patterns to folk-art, from expressionism to abstraction; these styles can live together in his paintings. Using colors and shapes, he metaphorically embraces the ideal that diverse populations can share the same spaces generating positive dynamics. This amalgam that happens in his artworks is a continuing and ever-evolving energy source, an infinite loop of life connected to the vast universe of artistic creation. Painting is a journey into infinity.

Renzo received a BFA in painting from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes del Peru (1999), studied at the Art Students League of New York (2000-04), and has his MFA in painting from Hunter College (2014). His artwork has been exhibited in solo and group shows in the United States and Peru, and Ortega has been commissioned to create public art projects and community murals. His recent solo exhibitions include TW Fine Art in Palm Beach (2022) and LUMP Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina (2021). Renzo’s artwork has been exhibited in museums such as the Nasher Museum of Art (Durham, North Carolina, 2022), the Cameron Museum of Art (2023), Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art SECCA (Winston-Salem, North Carolina 2020), the Works on Paper: 2017 Exhibition at The Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, in the S- Files Biennial at El Museo del Barrio (New York 2007) and Queens International Biennial at the Queens Museum in 2006. He is a recipient of the 2018-2019 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award, 2018- 2019 Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grant Durham Arts Council, 2018 Orange County Arts Commission Artist Project Grant and 2016 Queens Council on the Arts New Work Award. In 2013, as a Kossak Travel Grant recipient, Renzo traveled to Berlin to study German Expressionism, and also in 2015 traveled to Honduras as a part of the U.S. Department of Cultural Affairs Cultural Envoy Program. He partook in the Visiting Artist Residency at the Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University in 2019, and in 2020, he was New Wave's inaugural artist-in-residence.

2020 PUBLIC PROGRAMS: Renzo Ortega

Renzo participated in a variety of in-person and virtual programming during his residency, most of which can be found on our IGTV @newwaveartwknd.

Friday, June 26: Renzo Ortega and NWAW Founder & Director Sarah Gavlak in Conversation Live on IGTV

Friday, July 3: Live Painting Demonstration 

Friday, July 10: Renzo Ortega and Rosemary Square's Gopal Rajegowda in Conversation  Live on IGTV

Friday, July 17: Renzo Ortega and Norton Museum Curator Cheryl Brutvan in Conversation Live on IGTV

Friday, July 24: Renzo Ortega and NWAW Founder & Director Sarah Gavlak in Conversation Live on IGTV

Wednesday, July 29: Renzo Ortega Final Studio Exhibition (by appointment)