Ofelia Nunez-Regueiro

ARTIST STATEMENT

Ofelia Núñez-Regueiro is a student at the University of Michigan pursuing a career in fine arts with a minor in computer science, hoping to receive her bachelor’s degree by the winter semester of 2026. She was born to a Mexican mother and an Argentine father in Rochester, New York, has lived in Argentina, Mexico, and Chicago, and is currently based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Núñez-Regueiro’s work explores the intersections between her identities as a queer, Latinx woman and a first generation American, and parallels between visual art and modern technology, using traditional mediums such as printmaking, wood, and metalwork, combining them with new techniques such as laser engraving, 3D printing, CNC, and CAD.

Núñez-Regueiro began exploring art and technology together at a young age as a result of her love for video games, dabbling with block code and designing potential games inspired by her favorite fictional characters. As time progressed, Núñez-Regueiro began to reflect on her place in the world as a child of multiple generations of immigration and a queer woman, and she found that visual art was an efficient outlet for this self-exploration. Her motive for her art then became not only introspective, but a means to connect and give a voice to other people like herself as well.

At the start of her practice as a teenager, Núñez-Regueiro created primarily drawings and linocut prints to express her thoughts. Her works consisted of imagery from both Mexican and Argentine culture, scenes from her childhood, different depictions of herself, explorations of abstract and figurative forms, and reflection on past and current social and political issues. Núñez-Regueiro took inspiration from a variety of artists and movements, the most prominent at the time being modernist “-isms” such as cubism and some elements of surrealism, as well as the visual language of contemporary Mexican relief printing.

Upon starting her formal art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in September of 2021, Núñez-Regueiro began to expand her horizons beyond drawing and printmaking and explored time-based work such as audio and video, as well as creative programming in HTML, CSS, JavaScript mixed with some physical computing. At the same time she began to explore object-oriented programming as well using Java and C-languages. The course of Núñez-Regueiro’s work was drastically changed after a traumatic event, leading her focus to shift from primarily cultural identity to her relationship to womanhood, her sexuality, and mental health. Núñez-Regueiro began to take interest in horror during this time, developing a love and fear for the irrational and the abstract, taking inspiration from psychological thrillers and body horror. During this time she truly began to explore the possibilities of introspection through self-portraiture through different disciplines, marrying the rational with the irrational and paving her own way in the world of horror. After a semester at SAIC, Núñez-Regueiro took a semester off from college and later transferred to the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan, starting the fall semester of 2022.

The BFA curriculum at Stamps was vastly different from that of SAIC, taking on a slightly more traditional approach. Stamps was the same as SAIC in the way it fostered one’s skills in conceptual art making and the proper analysis and critique of contemporary artwork, but it also helped to give its students a stronger set of technical skills through its mandatory foundational classes, including observational drawing, visualization through drawing, digital media, general 2D artmaking and general 3D artmaking. Upon transferring to the University of Michigan, Ofelia Núñez-Regueiro developed a newfound interest for sculpture as well as a stronger love for computer science as well as printmaking, exploring the different disciplines separately but also finding ways in which they complement each other.

Much of Núñez-Regueiro’s current body of work still revolves around introspection through self-portraiture following a series of difficult events within her own life. Despite the predominant focus on aspects of her personal life, Núñez-Regueiro also explores her spirituality and her own perception of the world and universe through her visual language. Although she was raised Catholic, she would not consider herself tied to any one religion, but instead sees mathematical patterns and repetition found in nature as her god. As she shifts her focus from grief to spiritual exploration within her work, Núñez-Regueiro plans on further developing her skills in computer science in order to experiment different ways in which she can incorporate mathematics and engineering into her printmaking and sculptures.

RESUME

Education

Ann Arbor Pioneer High School Diploma

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

University of Michigan - Dual Degree

Work Experience

School of the Art Institute of Chicago - Student Ambassador

University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design - Sculpture Studio Monitor

Ann Arbor Art Fair - New Art New Artists Program

Gallery Experience

Gutman Gallery - Emerging Artists Exhibition

Stamps Gallery - Undergraduate Juried Exhibition

Awards/Scholarships

Presidential Merit Scholarship - School of the Art Institute of Chicago

LEAD Scholarship - University of Michigan Alumni Association

Elaine Alpert Stern Scholarship - University of Michigan Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design