Oscar Gardea grew up in Ciudad Juárez. There, he absorbed the changing atmosphere of an Environment where crime and violence were gaining ground - a presence that would come to shape his body of work. Gardea’s practice gives form to these experiences, exploring the entanglement between the global north and south, and the quiet (but blatant) exploitation that binds them together.

Gardea looks back into Mexican history while remaining firmly rooted in the materiality of the present, tracing how the south continues to be undermined and consumed by dispersed forces. Masks form the beating heart of Oscar Gardea's work, conjuring the intriguing question of how matter, being, and reality are transmuted?

Beyond mask-making, he works with various other materials, shapes, and nuances of expression.

His art and performances have traveled far beyond Mexico, exhibited in Switzerland, Austria, the United States, and many other countries.