Amadour’s artistry resides at the rare intersection of auditory and visual spectacle.

Their multimedia practice is a symphony of sensory experiences, combining the evocative power of musical performance with the grand vistas of landscape and abstract painting. Within the walls of their studio, one finds a world that harmoniously marries the immersive visuals of majestic seascapes with the acoustic richness of an expressive tenor vocal range.

It is in this eclectic space that Amadour stages their intricately layered, jewel box-like paintings, serving as dynamic backdrops to their enthralling musical performances. With a brush in one hand and a melody in the other, Amadour’s work is a dramatic exploration of the interplay between the static and the kinetic, the silent image and the sung note. Amadour draws visual influence from J.M.W. Turner, Richard Diebenkorn, and Agnes Martin; Donald Judd, Ettore Spalletti, Carmen Herrera, and Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar; Eleonore Koch, Wassily Kandinsky, Julie Mehretu, and Mark Bradford; Dat So La Lee; and the theatrical worlds of Erté and Jean Cocteau.

Their canvases are arenas where the theatrics of a piano ballad, the pulse of a nightclub, and the grandeur of opera find their visual counterpart. Amadour invites the audience to traverse the painted surface into an intimate world where a handwritten song in a notebook becomes a study of the art of spectacle.

Amadour in Art Studio Hollywood

Amadour is a queer, Latinx, non-binary, first-generation American artist, musician, and writer from Reno, Nevada, with roots in Mexico and Colombia. Their interdisciplinary practice spans geometric abstraction, orchestral pop ballads, and critical essays. Their work reevaluates diasporic memory, often centering Nevadan queer, Latinx, Black, and Hollywood histories—treating interdisciplinarity as a visual and sonic space for the disremembered.

Current projects include “Amadour: Staking a Claim,” a 2026 solo exhibition at Truckee Meadows Community College, which reimagines the legacy of Latinx miners in Virginia City. Through portals of luminous abstraction, the project links Nevada’s silver veins to Amadour’s Mexican–Colombian lineage and personal biography, reframing the desert as a site of cultural memory and myth. In 2027, they will open their first solo museum exhibition, “Amadour: The Mapes Suite,” at the Nevada State Museum. This visual and musical performance transforms Reno’s lost landmark into an orchestral dreamscape.

Amadour exhibits as an artist with Kotaro Nukaga (Tokyo, Japan), FF Projects (San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico), and Emma Scully Gallery (New York, USA), and has curated exhibitions with Gallery Common (Tokyo, Japan), and The Krause Collection (Des Moines, USA), the latter earning them the 2023 Art Directors Association of Iowa (ADAI) Award. Their art has been featured in The Argonaut, Observer, Artillery Magazine, ARTnews Japan, Brutus, Exibart, Cultbytes, amongst others.

Amadour released their debut EP, Western Movie Dream, in early 2023 to acclaim from music and art critics. Their upcoming second EP, The Myth of Amadour: Odyssey of a High Desert Balladeer, offers a stripped-down prelude to their debut album, I Was Born in the Silver, and I Died There Too, with orchestral arrangements by Alan G. Frausto. Together, these projects explore themes of memory, longing, and myth through cinematic ballads and dreamlike pop. Amadour has performed at legacy venues, including The Hotel Café and The Viper Room, as well as the main stage at Northern Nevada Pride, and will be featured in an upcoming performance at Greater Palm Springs Pride in November 2025. Amadour was awarded the 2025 Nevada Arts Council grant to support their recording initiatives.

Additional highlights include composing essays for the Holt/Smithson Foundation and the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation; serving as the 2025 Visiting Artist at the University of Nevada, Reno and MFA scholarship juror; lecturing with the United Nations Association and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA); and conducting workshops at the E.L. Cord Museum School at the Nevada Museum of Art, the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Nevada, and Artown. Their writing is featured in frieze, ARTnews, and The Brooklyn Rail, among many others; cited in ArtReview, Monthly Art, and included in the permanent archives of the Getty Research Institute Library. Amadour co-founded WHO IS SEEN Magazine in 2024 and continues to contribute to several publications. For writing bylines, please click here.

Amadour is also a proud board member of Ms. Dan’s Chinese, a Miami-based non-profit that focuses on language education.

Amadour lives and works in Nevada, Los Angeles, and New York. A native Nevadan, they were born in Sparks and raised in Reno and Sausalito, California. They began their career as a studio assistant to photographer David LaChapelle before earning dual BA degrees in Studio Art and Art History from the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture in 2018, where they studied under Barbara Kruger, Lari Pittman, and Mary Kelly.

INSTAGRAM FEED

Just another day haunting the high desert — guess I wasn’t the only one who got the black wide-brim memo… and painting bridges. Happy Halloween 🖤🖤 #GeorgiaOKeeffe #Amadour
“I Was Born in the Silver” (2025) Acrylic, graphite and silver leaf on linen Exhibited @kotaro_nukaga @tokyogendai This work began with the California Incline, the bridge that connects Ocean Ave to the P.C.H. in Santa Monica. I was thinking about how bridges become metaphors for a trans experience, what remains visible, and how architecture shifts with light. The silver leaf refers to my home state of Nevada. #californiaincline #KotaroNukaga #GeometricAbstraction #tokyogendai #amadour
Happy to share I’ll be giving an artist talk at Santa Monica College on Wednesday, October 9 at 11:15 AM at the Theatre Arts Building Main Stage. This conversation will focus on my work across painting, music, and writing, and the ways Latinx and LGBTQ+ histories continue to shape my practice. The talk is free and open to the public, and will also be available via Zoom please see my website events page for the link! Thank you to the @santamonicamirror for the feature x #santamonicacollege #santamonicamirror #amadour
These works lived with me for nearly a year, carrying me through seasons, changes, and late nights in the studio. To now see them across the world in Tokyo, as part of the @kotaro_nukaga booth at @tokyogendai, is humbling beyond words. A painting’s journey is not only about where it finds a home, but also the life it witnesses along the way. Gratetul for this path, for the incredible company of artists showing, the KNG team, and everyone who is following along. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #kotaronukaga #tokyogendai #amadour #tokyogendai2025
The Myth of Amadour 🌟🌟 my first newspaper cover story 📰 Thank you @argonautnews for this feature. Endless gratitude to Christina Fuoco-Karasinski @christinafuocokarasinski for the beautiful words and to Christopher Mortenson @mortyvision for the inspired shoot. To see my paintings and me on the cover in print is truly a dream, and I am so thankful. If you’re in LA, pick up a copy across the Westside! For the full story, please read online. #theargonautnews #amadour #theargonaut
“The Sky Smiles Like Ettore Spalletti” (2025), debuting this week @tokyogendai with @kotaro_nukaga in Japan and now on view @artsy. First glimpses of the work: arches as passages, gold, linen, and sky shifting with light. Swipe to see its surface, its making, and the California Incline bridge in Santa Monica, the rhythm of place, memory, and horizon carried to Tokyo. ✨✨ #amadour #tokyogendai #kotaronukaga #artsy #californiaincline #ettorespalletti #tokyogendai2025
Somehow this year became a film I never imagined. My first music festival, my first Pride stage, and all this joy written into my songbook and paintings. And now recording with an orchestra. As an independent artist, I never thought I’d be working with one this early in my music career. Just feeling alive.. 🎻 Next scene.. :) 🎬 #amadour #highdesertballadeer
Grateful for my first live TV performance on @kolo8morningbreak with @kateyroshetkotv Thank you Reno and the Silver State for the joy. I can’t wait to share more at Northern Nevada Pride on the Main Stage this Saturday, Sept 6 at 1:45 PM. “Silver as Gold” is about Nevada and Los Angeles, and about embracing your younger self. A true milestone x #SilverAsGold #NorthernNevadaPride #Amadour
Just announced: I’m performing at Northern Nevada Pride (@northernnevadapride) in Midtown Reno on Sat, Sept 6, 2025 at 1:45 PM on the main stage 🌈 It’s my first Pride festival performance, and having it in my hometown makes it even more meaningful. I’m proud to be a queer and nonbinary artist making music that reflects our lived experiences. I’ll be performing songs from ‘The Myth of Amadour: Odyssey of a High Desert Balladeer’. See you there! #amadour #northernnevadapride
Weekend check-in from me and my Rococo 🐾✨ See you this week Reno! #artown #boysandgirlsclub #nevadamuseumofart #amadour
In a state where public education still faces real challenges, arts programming can be a lifeline for young minds. That’s why I’m proud to be part of Artown @renoisartown this year and to contribute to the Boys & Girls Club @thepositiveplace , where we’ll provide art workshops for over 400 kids in the Reno area next week. Thank you to the Nevada Museum of Art for providing space at the E.L. Cord Museum School @nevadamuseum, and to Katey Roshetko @kateyroshetkotv for having me back on KOLO 8 News @kolo8morningbreak to share this story and some career life updates too. We’re not just making art. We’re building confidence, imagination, and a sense of belonging, one kid, one brushstroke at a time. #Artown #NevadaMuseumofArt #BoysAndGirlsClub #Amadour #RenoArts #KOLO8
Performing “Downtown Lover” at @theviperroom was a dream. Thank you to everyone who came and to the amazing Viper staff and T. Roy @surgehollywood for the love. This fall, I’ll record the orchestral version with the 53-person Pannonia Film Orchestra in Budapest, arranged by my brilliant collaborator @agfrausto. More soon. #amadour #DowntownLover #ViperRoom #OrchestralPop #PannoniaFilmOrchestra
Friday, June 27 I play the The Viper Room!!🐍 This will be one of the last shows before the venue transforms — a little piece of Hollywood history. ✨ Please note the updated set time: I go on at 7PM sharp (not later!) Friday, June 27 • Doors at 6 • Show at 7 • $15 online tickets before the show highly encouraged • link in bio/website 21+ Hand screen-printed, signed posters will be available in limited supply. See you there friends!! :) Tickets: www.amadour.com/events #amadour #theviperroom
Two Hands Holding Me — live at The Hotel Café @thehotelcafe 🩵🎤 “Bronze face with your nose on my cheek…” One of the first songs I ever released — tender, cinematic, and filled with memory. From my debut project ‘Western Movie Dream’, it’s a love song about longing, intimacy, and the poetry of everyday moments. Full live performance video is now up. ✨ And this month, I’m performing for the first time at The Viper Room @theviperroom in West Hollywood! Friday June 27 🎟 Doors at 6 PM | I go on at 8:30 PM 🎫 $15 online / $20 at the door — link in bio to buy tickets or www.amadour.com/events Come for the music, stay for the magic. Let’s make it a night to remember. #amadour #WesternMovieDream #TwoHandsHoldingMe #TheViperRoom #HotelCafe
Grateful for this moment. I never expected that a conversation I had two years ago in @brooklynrail with Gabrielle Goliath @gabriellegoliath would echo into @artreview_magazine —but here it is, my first official citation! Thank you to Gabrielle for the depth of your work, and to Stephanie Bailey for recognizing and including my words in this important piece. The work continues, and I’m so thankful for every chance to be part of the dialogue. #amadour #artreview #gabriellegoliath #stephaniebailey
I believe in the power of crossing disciplines—art, music, architecture, storytelling—to give voice to what refuses to be confined. There are a few upcoming Easter eggs in this article too! Endlessly grateful to The Corsair for this generous feature. Thank you to Katie Easterson for your thoughtful writing, Mary Funsten & Ana Sanchez Venegas for the soulful portraits, and @davidquadrini for your kind words. To be seen by @smcedu , the place that helped shape my beginning, is a gift I carry with pride. Read the full piece on @corsairnews or through the slides.
Thank you to SMC in Focus for this thoughtful piece. Sometimes I forget to look back—I’m always thinking about the next brushstroke, the next lyric, the next moment of becoming. I still feel like it’s day one as an artist, so seeing my story reflected like this is humbling. From Sparks to Sausalito to Santa Monica… I carry every place with me. #santamonicacollege #amadour #proudtobesmc
‘O great creator of being, grant us one more hour to perform our art and perfect our lives.’ —Jim Morrison I carry this line with deep gratitude, for another day, another turning, another chance to create—to move through the world with curiosity and the desire to learn. Thank you for your messages. I’m here—and it’s the sweetest feeling to know you exist. 🎂
Thank you to @nevadasagebrush and Emily Hess @emilyghess for this incredible feature. This article truly goes deep into my story, my history, and my work, and I feel beyond grateful to be recognized in my hometown. It hasn’t been an easy journey—building something from the ground up never is—but to be seen in this way, in the place that shaped me, is something I don’t take for granted. The interactions I’ve had with my community continue to shape the way history is preserved. As a musician, visual artist, and writer, I see my practice as an archive—not just of my own history, but of the histories that are often overlooked, unacknowledged, or never given the time of day. That’s where I feel my voice is the strongest. That’s where I find my purpose. Swipe to read or link in bio 💙🤍 #nevadasagebrush #amadour
My First TV Interview! Somewhere between Reno and Hollywood, between memory and music, that’s where you’ll find me. ❤️ I sat down with KOLO 8 News @kolo8newsnow to talk about my upcoming artist talk at UNR @unrliberalarts and my new project, The Mapes Suite—a love letter to lost places and forgotten stories. Thank you @kateyroshetkotv @kolo8morningbreak for an amazing conversation! Watch the full interview now. 🎥✨ #KOLO8 #Amadour

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