Los Carpinteros

Over the past decade, Los Carpinteros (Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodriguez) have collaborated to develop their own poetic direction that functions in the imprecise boundary between art and craft traditions. Their carefully constructed works use humor to exploit a visual syntax that sets up contradictions among object, function and language.

Los Carpinteros have emerged as a vital force in the new, expanded terrain of global art. They live and work in Havana and Madrid and continue to travel and exhibit globally. For example: a major wall drawing was included in Drawing Now at the Museum of Modern Art-Queens, New York; their Transportable City was exhibited at the 7th Havana Biennial and at PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Contemporary Art Museum of Hawaii in Honolulu. In March, 2004 they exhibited a new body of work including drawings and large-scale wood sculptures at Anthony Grant, Inc. in New York City. In 2005 their exhibition Inventing the World premiered at the USF Contemporary Art Museum.

Panera

The sculpture Panera, published in an edition of 5, is a series of breadboxes, constructed of hardwood maple in the shape and actual size of a missile, and poised horizontally on two handmade sawhorses. Los Carpinteros often comment on the adverse situations and ironies presented by daily life in Havana. For Panera the artists alter a familiar domestic object to exploit and pervert meaning. Panera's exacting fabrication evokes the celebrated ebanistería or fine furniture making practiced in colonial Cuba, which was experiencing a revival as the restoration of Old Havana began in the 1990s, when Los Carpinteros started working.

Coco Solo, Alamar

Coco Solo and Alamar were hand drawn by the artists and are based on a series of drawings of sandals with maps of Havana neighborhoods on the soles. Los Carpinteros typically first develop their ideas in large scale watercolor drawings which curator Laura Hoptman calls complete ideas, or "working drawings." These renderings may later find further expression in sculpture, installations or prints.

Sandalia

The sculpture multiple Sandalia is an edition of 60. The object is produced from a rapid prototype model and cast in rubber. By producing a limited edition of rubber sandals with relief maps of Havana neighborhoods on the soles, the artists adapted an ordinary object of mass production into a customized and poeticized icon that speaks of place, identity and culture. Sandalia derives from a series of watercolor drawings of sandals with maps. The right sandal depicts Old Havana, the left Vedado.

Fluido

Fluido is a set of five red sculptures published in an edition of fifty; XXV but only nine of the Roman numeral portion were completed. To create Fluido, Los Carpinteros hand-sculpted small models made of oil-based clay which were used to create industrial open face casting molds, from which the pigmented urethane sculptures were cast. The blood red sculptures are fitted within a black, industrial-style plastic case where custom die-cut urethane foam holds each securely in place. Fluido can be displayed in the case, arranged on a flat surface, or installed on a wall as their bottom surface has been hand sanded and drilled with mounting holes.

 

Further Resources

Artist's Site: loscarpinteros.net

Printmaking + Sculpture Terms

Printmaking Glossary

Sculpture Glossary

Sales

For sales, or more information about an edition, please contact Graphicstudio at (813) 974-3503 or gsoffice@usf.edu.

Copyright + Reproduction

Images of the artwork are jointly owned by the artist and Graphicstudio. Reproduction of any kind including electronic media must be expressly approved by Graphicstudio.