Overview

Fascinated by the intersection between art and everyday life, Los Carpinteros merge architecture, design, drawing, and sculpture in quirky and unpredictable ways. 

Their carefully crafted constructions advanced a humorous visual language of contradiction and transformation—like the utilitarian versus the useless and form versus function. Their drawings and studies, referencing technical drafts and blueprints, mock the early planning stages involved in making art and their sculptures and installations are at times monumental, stretching the concept of sculpture to include architectural constructions. 
 
Los Carpinteros started collaborating in the 1990‘s shortly after meeting in art school in Havana and adopted the name for their collective in 1994 to embrace the guild tradition of artisans and skilled labourers. Their artistic careers evolved in a cultural setting marked by the Cuban Revolution. With their works, Los Carpinteros occupy an intriguing and ambiguous area that undoubtedly expanded beyond their strategy for critical survival within the Cuban context of the 1990‘s to overcome political, economic and psychological constraints.
 
The collective dissolved in the summer of 2018 and Dagoberto Rodríguez, one of its foundig members, has been working as a solo artist ever since.
 
Major solo exhibitions include (selection): Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Brasilia that travelled to Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro (2017); MUAC, Mexico City (2016), and Museum Folkwang, Germany (2016).
Download Artist's Biography (PDF, opens in a new tab.)
Selected works
  • Los Carpinteros, Plátano 1, 2018
    Plátano 1, 2018
  • Los Carpinteros, Comodato, 2018
    Comodato, 2018
  • Los Carpinteros, Cubierta Hexagonal Acristalada Lateral, 2017
    Cubierta Hexagonal Acristalada Lateral, 2017
  • Los Carpinteros, Babel Gris, 2017
    Babel Gris, 2017
  • Los Carpinteros, It is not Che, es Simón, 2017
    It is not Che, es Simón, 2017
  • Los Carpinteros, Basaltos Transparentes tres, 2017
    Basaltos Transparentes tres, 2017
  • Los Carpinteros, Sala de lectura Casco, 2016
    Sala de lectura Casco, 2016
  • Los Carpinteros, Duo de Congas Rojo y Azul, 2015
    Duo de Congas Rojo y Azul, 2015
  • Los Carpinteros, It´s not Che, it´s Angela Merkel, 2014
    It´s not Che, it´s Angela Merkel, 2014
  • Los Carpinteros, Superficie amarilla, 2014
    Superficie amarilla, 2014
  • Los Carpinteros, Peinado II, 2013
    Peinado II, 2013
  • Los Carpinteros, Pellejo (Skin), 2013
    Pellejo (Skin), 2013
  • Los Carpinteros, Clavos Torcidos (Twisted Nails), Group XIV, 2013
    Clavos Torcidos (Twisted Nails), Group XIV, 2013
  • Los Carpinteros, Tower CR -V7, 2012
    Tower CR -V7, 2012
  • Los Carpinteros, Sala de Lectura (prototipo), 2010
    Sala de Lectura (prototipo), 2010
  • Los Carpinteros, La Siesta, 1998
    La Siesta, 1998
Selected exhibitions
Press
Publications
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