J. MARGULIS

b. 1970, Caracas, Venezuela

I believe that courage, empathy, and kindness are key elements that help us see our true nature. These qualities shape our beliefs and change our perspectives, influencing how we live our lives. My work expresses this belief through art.

I create digital 3-D objects and compositions, cutting them into layers from diEerent types of plastic. I attach these layers to canvases, pedestals, or let them float in space. Most of my work uses acrylic sheets in various colors, textures, and patterns, often inspired by traditional Mexican arts that influenced me during my time there.
 

I see my 3-D pieces as light traps. By carefully placing each component, I create intriguing forms that come to life when light shines through them. The light reveals the design, acting like ink that brings the piece to view.

The patterns I create are not fixed; they change as the viewer shifts their perspective. This transformation fascinates me, showing how easily our understanding can shift with a simple change in viewpoint. I explore these diEerent perspectives, revealing the complex layers of our beliefs and biases.

Through my art, I aim to capture those moments when we realize how easily we can misjudge our surroundings, all while holding on to our ideas of truth.

BIOGRAPHY

J. Margulis began his artistic career in photography while studying Management in Venezuela. After working in his family’s digital printing business, he later applied his professional expertise to art, developing a growing interest in sculpture. His current practice emerges from a close relationship between two- and three-dimensional planes, combining sculpture and photography as parallel modes of expression.
 

Margulis produces acrylic 3D sculptures and compositions using layered, brightly colored plastic sheets, presented as wall-mounted works, surface-based arrangements, or freestanding structures. As a natural extension of this process, he began photographing the sculptures, initially as documentation, which evolved into a substantial body of autonomous photographic work. These photographs maintain an intimate yet independent dialogue with their sculptural counterparts, unfolding across language, image, and form.
 

Like many Venezuelan artists of his generation, Margulis was shaped by the legacy of geometric abstraction and kinetic art, particularly through early encounters with the work of Jesús Soto and the Russian constructivist Naum Gabo. Gabo’s Linear Constructions in Space, which challenge traditional notions of volume and spatial construction, were especially influential. For Margulis, abstraction is a language where space is activated through minimal means, serving as a playful and precise strategy within his practice. His sculptural forms often function as models for photographic compositions, while each medium remains distinct yet interdependent, generating an ongoing exchange in which sculpture and photography continually inform and enrich one another.