Rogelio Manzo Hurtado (Guadalajara, Jalisco, 1975) is a Mexican visual artist whose work investigates the complexities of human existence through a visceral and multi-sensory language. His practice addresses themes such as psychology, spirituality, physical and emotional fragility, sexuality, and scars — tangible or symbolic — that define the cartography of the human.

His trajectory is built from the convergence of traditional techniques (oil painting, drypoint, etc.) and disruptive materials such as glass, resins, gemstones, textiles intervened with hand embroidery, and dyed silks. This hybridization — which unites ancestral craftsmanship with contemporary sensibility — reflects his exploration of identity on the border between the organic and the artificial, the eternal and the ephemeral.

An emblematic example is Israel I (2023, 101×123 cm), where a young male profile — contemplative and tense between disdain and hope — has his body intervened with rhinestone and lace inlays that intertwine with his anatomy. The piece, covered in layers of dyed silk organza with translucent oils — where pigment fuses with textile texture to evoke human skin — synthesizes the carnal and the emotional, while a geometric fractal weave of silk threads runs through the composition as a metaphor for neural and cosmic connections, intertwining the microscopic with the infinite.

In his two-dimensional works, fragmented bodies — covered in translucent veils, marked with embroidery that mimics scars, or encapsulated in resins — function as allegories of trauma and resilience. Materials such as glass (fragile and transparent) or gemstones (mineral beauty set against vulnerable flesh) emphasize conceptual contrasts: the ephemeral versus the perpetual, the beautiful versus the wounded. These choices not only question the materiality of being but also transform each piece into a reliquary of personal and collective memories.

Manzo transcends the pictorial by venturing into installations, object art, and sculpture, integrating technology and mechatronics to create immersive experiences. A paradigmatic example is Boîte à Musique (2025): a Louis XV-style cabinet encapsulated in opaque material, from which a red liquid torrent bursts forth to the rhythm of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The work, which combines simulated blood flows with classical music, critiques the cultural imposition of the West upon indigenous peoples, symbolizing historical violence beneath a decorative aesthetic.

With over 20 years of trajectory, Manzo has exhibited in galleries and museums across Mexico, the United States, Europe, and Asia. His work, part of public and private collections, stands out for its balance between the grotesque and the sublime, inviting viewers to confront shared vulnerabilities. More than an aesthetic exercise, his work acts as a mirror of human contradictions: in resins that trap memories, silks that veil wounds, or gemstones embedded in cracks, narratives of loss, resistance, and redemption are woven through art.