Amadour is a contemporary artist working at the intersection of painting, music, and architectural memory

Amadour is a contemporary artist, painter, and musician whose work brings together painting, sound, and architectural memory. Working across abstraction, performance, and composition, Amadour creates environments in which image and sound unfold over time, shaped by place and duration.

Painting is treated as a structural system rather than a surface. Music operates alongside it as a spatial and temporal force. Amadour’s paintings are formed through layered transparency, restrained colour, and geometric order, registering memory through proportion, rhythm, and light. Across sound and image, Amadour’s practice privileges duration, inviting sustained looking and listening.

Drawing from traditions of abstraction and modernism, including Joseph Mallord William Turner, Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Donald Judd, Nancy Holt, Ettore Spalletti, Carmen Herrera, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, Eleonore Koch, Wassily Kandinsky, Julie Mehretu, Mark Bradford, and Dat So La Lee, Amadour extends these lineages into a contemporary practice grounded in Western landscapes, cinematic time, and an attention to absence and persistence.

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.

Ongoing painting series such as California Incline examine coastal infrastructure and light, articulating a bridge between the Pacific coast and the American West within Amadour’s practice.

Current projects include “Nevada Proscenium,” 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 internationally with Kotaro Nukaga (Tokyo, Japan), FF Projects (San Pedro Garza García, 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, among 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 and in collaboration with the Pannonia Film Orchestra in Budapest, Hungary. 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 Greater Palm Springs Pride. Amadour was awarded the 2025 Nevada Arts Council Grant for Artists with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts toward 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 Santa Monica College, 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, Mousse Magazine, Monthly Art, Sotheby’s The Now & Contemporary Evening Auction [New York] provenance literature, 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

Now on view in Tokyo 🇯🇵 “Micro Salon” at @cadan_insta, a salon-style group exhibition bringing together artists across generations. Showing work alongside @nnnoue, representing @kotaro_nukaga. This marks my third time exhibiting in Japan and a great way to start the year! The exhibition includes works by Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marie Laurencin, Johan Creten, Gabriel Hartley, and Teppei Kaneuji, amongst others. Through January 31, 2026 #cadan #kotaronukaga #amadour #nanamiinoue
“Someone Left to Love” live on KOLO News 8 Morning Break ☀️ Thank you to @kateyroshetkotv for hosting me on @kolo8morningbreak and for giving space to share this performance. “Someone Left to Love” is an original song written by me. This was the first public performance of the song with its full orchestral background. The orchestra recording was made in Budapest with @pannoniastudio and an extended production team. Dozens of musicians, engineers, and collaborators were involved in bringing this project to life. Thank you to @agfrausto for his collaboration and musical direction throughout the recording process. This song has not been released yet. Please look out for its official release in 2026. And what a great way to close off the year! Happy New Year :) #Amadour #SomeoneLeftToLove #OrchestralPop #LivePerformance #KOLONews8 🤍
See the Amadour Show live @palmspringspride 2025 🌴 Legends will be packing the house, conjuring that unmistakable midcentury Hollywood energy at dusk. Join me for my biggest Pride stage yet as I share a half-hour set of cinematic ballads and California dreams. 6:30 PM • Pride Community Stage Tahquitz & Palm Canyon, Palm Springs #Amadour #palmspringspride
Reno was the first note. Palm Springs will be the canyon echo🌬️ Join me on the Tahquitz Stage at 6:30 PM this weekend for the full “Downtown Lover” experience. Performing live at dusk under desert skies. Hosted by @bella.daball.5 @palmspringspride #amadour #palmspringspride #northernnevadapride #pride #tahquitz
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.

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