Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in 1974, José Dávila studied architecture at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO). Although his formal training was in architecture during the 1990s, Dávila considers himself largely self-taught, cultivating an artistic practice that integrates art history research, material observation, and modern sensibilities such as geometry, minimalism, and conceptual art. His career has been recognized both nationally and internationally with grants and awards such as the FONCA National Grant for Young Creators (2000-2001), the State Fund for Culture and the Arts (FECA, 2004-2005), the Baltic Artists' Award (2017), and the Artist Honorée distinction from the Hirshhorn Museum (2016). Dávila's exhibitions include solo and group shows at institutions such as the Museo de Arte de Zapopan (exhibition Las piedras saben dormir, 2024-25), the Albarrán Bourdais gallery in Menorca with Ensayo de permanencia (2025), and galleries such as Travesía Cuatro (Madrid and Guadalajara). He has participated in international fairs and projects, and his work has been included in collections such as those of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), and Inhotim (Brazil), among many others. José Dávila's practice revolves around notions of balance, tension, and the materiality of the object; his architecture of forms combines the industrial and the organic, the solid and the fragile. He uses everyday materials (glass, stone, concrete, wood) and spatial interventions that seem “about to fall,” held in place by straps or tensioners, frequently resorting to cuts, lines, cutouts, references to modernism and minimalism, as well as art history, to question how we see, hold, and recognize objects and spaces.She has had residencies at centers such as Kunstwerke in Berlin and the Camden Arts Centre in London, and has received support from the Andy Warhol Foundation.