Carlos Estévez (artist)

Carlos Estévez (born 1969 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban painter currently living and working in Miami, Florida.

Art studies have been a lifelong path for Carlos Estévez since a very early age, commencing at the 20th of October Elementary School of the Arts (Escuela Elemental de Artes Plásticas 20 de Octubre)in Havana, Cuba, continuing to Havana's San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, and later to the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) also in Havana.

La Soledad y sus Accessorios

Estévez has taken part in many artist residences such as the Félix González-Torres Community Art Project of the Florida International University in Miami, the Boston Arts Academy, the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, France, the Sacatar Foundation in Salvador, Bahía, Brazil, the OMI International Arts Center, in New York City, the UNAM (National Autonome University of Mexico) in Mexico, DF, among several others.

Over the past twenty years, Estévez has explored the relationship between man and the universe in his artwork. Through a wide range of mediums, he has set out to give a visual representation of many philosophical concepts. Having emerged from a generation of Cuban artists and intellectuals, the work of Carlos Estévez is often seen as a reflection of the social and political realities with which it is presented on a daily basis, albeit in a very refracted way. "Estevez’s visions transcend everyday experience, as if the bankruptcy of future utopias had forced him to create a realm of beliefs and knowledge anchored in the solid bastions of universal history, culture, and myth; (his) drawings and canvases have combined images of animals, human anatomy, and mechanical blueprints within the fixed grids of cartography. He does this by means of transparencies that recall treatises of esotericism, alchemy, acupuncture, or Da Vinci’s anatomical codices. “My main tools,” he has stated, “metaphors of man’s existential questions –for instance, his power, his weakness, his essence, and his mission in the universe” (Pino, 1995, 34)"", reflects Abelardo Mena, curator for the international collection of contemporary art for the National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana).

Carlos Estevez - Calls Mixer

Carlos Estévez has had several solo and group exhibitions throughout his career. His work has been exhibited worldwide including National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana, Cuba; Los Angeles; Center of Contemporary Art in New Orleans; Switzerland; Paris; Japan; Spain; and VI and VII Havana Biennial, Cuba. In 2009 he had his first retrospective at UB Galleries, Buffalo University, NY. His work is part of several museum collections such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana in Cuba, The Bronx Museum, Museum of Fine Art in Boston, and Miami Art Museum. Most recently he has shown his work at Lyle O’Reitzel Gallery in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Taylor Bercier Fine Art, New Orleans, Couturier Gallery, among many other locations around the world.