Porfirio Gutiérrez is a Zapotec-American artist based in Ventura, California. He uses traditional Zapotec technology of pigments and materials and redefines  Zapotec weaving language to create works that communicates contemporary experiences and the the complexity of the Americas today

Gutiérrez’s expertise is based on a family legacy of treadle loom weaving and ancestral knowledge of organic materials and seasonal cycles that result in an unlimited palette of natural colors. He departs from traditional woven motifs in his compositions, exploring the boundaries of his own creative expression and distinct experiences.Through his practice, he asks us to rethink narrow definitions of contemporary art and indigeneity. While in Zapotec there is no word for “artist” as an occupation, there is a long held concept of valuing those who hold wisdom within their community. Gutiérrez's interpretation of ancestral weaving techniques and motifs opens a new dialogue in the imposed dialectic of art versus craft, which he sees as serving little purpose in furthering contemporary indigenous creative expression. Breaking with that tradition is where he finds ultimate freedom as an artist.

The story of his art has been told in ARTnews, The New York Times, PBS, and the BBC London. Gutíerrez has been featured in Vogue Magazine and the Artforum Magazine. In 2015, he received the Smithsonian Institution’s Artist in Leadership fellow, in 2021 he received the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Art Prize and in 2023 he was the finalist for Frieze Art Prize. He has taught materials and color at Harvard University, and serves as Fellowships Advisory for Smithsonian.

His work is in the collection of LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum, Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian, and the Tucson Museum of Art. A selection of Gutiérrez dye materials was also documented and added to Harvard Art Museums’ Forbes Pigment Collection, the world-renowned archive of artist materials. His work has exhibited nationally and internationally including at Chinati Museum, Black Mountain Collage Museum + Arts Center, Sharjah Institute for Heritage, United Arab Emirates, among others.