Carlos Estévez

Urban Universes, 2021 - Coral Gables City Hall: 405 Biltmore Way

Animators: Mai Shirai & Johnny Sim
Projection-Mapping Designer: Clifford Walker

Special thanks to the amazing Coral Gables staff:  Eric Lopez, Boris Lazo, Percy Nunez.

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Project Description

Cuban born; Miami based artist Carlos Estévez will be creating his first technology-based artwork. Based on Estévez’s paintings and sculptures, this new projection mapped immersive work  will be cast on the entire surface of the historic Coral Gables City Hall building. The artist’s previous work seems to capture a moment of time but for this new commission, Estévez will work with a team of animators to develop the video content about people’s movement, interaction, and sense of community. He has always contemplated working in this way but due to costs and need for technical support has waited for a moment like this. We are proud to be presenting this work every evening for the month-long exhibition period.


In tandem with the video mapped projection piece, Estévez is creating an educational tool and interactive artwork with our educational partners Florida International University Art & Art History Department and the Miami Dade County Public Schools. Through a demonstration video, art teacher workshops and in personal lessons, Estévez hopes to inspire and help the children and their families in the district make kites that are based on identity, self-portraiture, and inclusivity.

Urban Universes is the most exciting project of my career. The work consists of the animation of various passers-by or characters that I portray in my paintings. This work pays homage to the City of Coral Gables and its inhabitants. Coral Gables is one of the oldest and both culturally and historically rich cities in South Florida, especially the street of Miracle Mile and its surroundings. The heart of the city is a center of leisure for locals and tourists. My work will be projected on the entire City Hall facade. The images will be imaginary representations of people passing by, walking, and conversing amongst themselves, projecting their goals and dreams, just like the people that inhabit this city. These people are portraits of different individuals that come across one another fortuitously. I wanted to imagine the inner world of people, their identities, and emotions, which I translate with lines and colors. Each person that walks by the city will see their reflection in some of the characters in this piece, identify with the characters will make them feel included, and also feel like a part of this city.

 

Urban Universes is the work that I am presenting for the Illuminate Coral Gables exhibition. It is orchestrated by curator Lance Fung whose vision is to take the artworks of individual artists to an urban community. It is going to be a fascinating experience that reverses the ordinary dynamic of art. Rather than going into museums, galleries, or art institutions, the art will find and amuse you on the streets of your city.

 

I have always been dreaming to make animations of my work. However, it is not an easy task, because it requires a team effort. Now, the dream came through and the project is in progress. I am collaborating with talented people such as Mai Shirai and Johnny Sim, two incredible animators from San Francisco and Clifford Walker, a skillful sound image engineer based in Miami. I feel blessed by working with such an amazing team of passionate and creative people.

 

The result is going to be a mesmerized sensorial spectacle that will transform the Coral Gables City Hall and the surroundings into another dimension. It will be a door into the imaginary space of art, mind, and soul. My goal is to create a memory for the community of Coral Gables and an unforgettable experience for all the viewers in general reflecting all the emotions and tensions of the 2020 year.

He was educated at the Elemental School of Plastic Arts 20 de Octubre, at the San Alejandro Academy, and at the Superior Institute of Art (ISA), all in Havana, Cuba. Estévez left Cuba in 2003 and came to Miami in 2004. His pieces can be found as part of the collections of prestigious museums and institutions such as the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museo del Bronx, New York, Kunst Forum Ludwig, Aachen, Germany; Fundación Arte Viva, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and the Perez Art Museum Miami, among many others.


His work has always gravitated towards spiritual and philosophical themes and from very early in his career he has been interested in the medieval era, which led him to discover alchemy. He became aware of its existence as a scientific and a philosophical tendency and applied it to his art. He also adopted the symbolism used by alchemists and included it in his work, making it part of his artistic language and bringing the centuries-old practice to life.


He has distinguished himself for his iconography, which includes hybrid creatures, half-human and half animals. His characters have human bodies and birds’ heads, or vice versa, birdcages as bodies and human heads. He has created exquisite metaphors of parallels between the animal world and mechanics. In his eyes, all has been done before by nature, in the incredible and complex natural world.

Over the years Estévez’s work has evolved and matured, developing complex imagery. His cosmogony has been nourished by a broad spectrum of sources: from medieval literature, illuminated manuscripts, antique philosophy treatises, and esoteric books, among others. If we had to define Estévez’s work we could say that it is about his constant questioning of life and the surrounding world; it is his inquisitive overview of humankind and of his place in the world.

Prizes and Awards

 2019 Cintas Fellowship in Visual Arts

2019 Artist-in-residence, Siena Art Institute, Italy
2016 Naomi Prize and Artist-in-residence, Brownstone Foundation. Paris, France
2015 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, New York, NY
2013 Artist-in-residence, BIAC Martinique. Fort-de-France, Martinique
2009 Félix González-Torres Community Art Project Visiting Artist, Florida International University, Miami, FL
2007 Artist-in-residence, Boston Art Academy, MA
2005 Master Prints Series, Visiting Artist, Mass College of Arts, Boston, MA
2002 Artist-in-residence, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA
2001 Artist-in-residence, TALLIX FOUNDRY, Beacon, NY
2000 Artist-in-residence, Nordic Artists’ Centre, Dale, Norway
1998 Artist-in-residence, OMI International Arts Center, Ghent, NY

Solo Exhibitions

2019 Observatorios observables. Artscape Lab, Miami, FL
2019 Carlos Estévez: Entelechy. Works from 1992 to 2018. Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
2018 The Secret Life of Cities. Centro Cultural Español Miami, FL
2018 Mundos paralelos. Allegro Galeria. Panama City. Panama
2017 Fireworks, Kendall Art Center, Miami, FL
2016 Wakefulness, Georgetown Art Center, Georgetown, TX
2016 Homo ludens, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Soulcatcher, LaCa Projects, Charlotte, NC
2015 Celestial Traveler, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL
2015 Plenilunio, Galeria Enlace Arte Contemporaneo, Lima. Peru
2015 Taumaturgia, Havana Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
2015 Reliquary, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL
2013 Préludes, T&T Art Contemporain, Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe
2013 Cahier Volant, Bibliotèque Schoelcher, Fort-de-France, Martinique
2013 Living Apart Together, Couturier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2012 Memorabilia, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL
2012 Intersticios, Allegro Galería, Ciudad de Panama, Panama
2011 Apophenia, Taylor Bercier Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
2011 Efluvios, Latino Arts Center, Milwaukee, WI
2011 Lucernarium, Havana Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland
2010 Peregrinaje, Evan Lurie Gallery, Carmel, IN

Group Exhibitions

2019 The Gift of Art. Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL
2019 Architecture of the Immaterial. LaCa Projects, Charlotte, NC
2019 Visions and Imagination: Cuban-American and Argentinian Art,
2018 Fifth Anniversary Collective. LaCa Projects, Charlotte, NC
2017 On Another Note: The Intersection of Art and Music, Lyman Allyn Museum, New London, CT
2016 Rot. Havana Galerie. Zurich, Switzerland
2009 Interludios, Allegro Galería, Ciudad de Panama, Panama