"You will one day be a MONSTER painter Nicolas Cuellar.......!" Diego Rivera, 1956

Born in the Bajio of Central Mexico in 1927, Nicolas Cuellar began drawing at an early age encouraged by the nuns where he attended Academia de San Carlos in Mexico City.
He continued his studies back in his hometown of San Miguel de Allende at the Instituto Allende under the tutelage of maestro teacher James Pinto.
Followed by a series of exhibitions in Canada and Mexico, Cuellar received a scholarship to study at The Brooklyn Museum of Arts in 1963 whereupon he received commissions to paint two separate and distinct murals at the Methodist Hospital of Brooklyn.
Longing for the light and warmth of his native homeland, the artist returned to Mexico years later where he would spend the remainder of his career and life until passing in 2010...

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Nicolas Cuellar's work is an exotic amalgamation of fantasy, Surrealism and folklore. Hieronymus Bosh, Rembrandt, Picasso, Pre-Hispanic Indigenous codices as well as his fellow Mexican Muralists were all profound influences. His role was that of a magician; blending a world of illusion, an underworld of enchantment, metamorphosis and depicting the everyday daily life of good vs. evil.

For Cuellar, magic was knowledge of the unknown...."You will one day be a MONSTER painter Nicolas Cuellar.......!" Diego Rivera, 1956

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For Cuellar, magic was knowledge of the unknown...."You will one day be a MONSTER painter Nicolas Cuellar.......!" Diego Rivera, 1956

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For Cuellar, magic was knowledge of the unknown...."You will one day be a MONSTER painter Nicolas Cuellar.......!" Diego Rivera, 1956

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For Cuellar, magic was knowledge of the unknown...."You will one day be a MONSTER painter Nicolas Cuellar.......!" Diego Rivera, 1956

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For Cuellar, magic was knowledge of the unknown...."You will one day be a MONSTER painter Nicolas Cuellar.......!" Diego Rivera, 1956

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For Cuellar, magic was knowledge of the unknown....