NEWS » Carlos Martiel

Feb 082021

CARLOS MARTIEL
TWO INSIGNIAS
OCDCHINATOWN

FEBRUARY 17 – MARCH 17, 2021

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ONE VIEWER AT A TIME ON SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS BTW 12 AND 6 PM OR BY APPOINTMENT

OCDCHINATOWN IS PROUD TO PRESENT TWO INSIGNIAS BY CARLOS MARTIEL. EXHIBITED FOR THE FIRST TIME, THIS WORK PRESENTS A DIPTYCH OF INTERVENED AMERICAN FLAGS AND A VIDEO WHERE THE FLAG IS ACTIVATED AT A NYC PROTEST IN 2020.

CARLOS MARTIEL’S WORK PROPOSES HIS OWN PHYSICALITY TO SUBLIMATE THE STRUGGLES OF THE BLACK BODY, USING SYMBOLS THAT REFLECT ON A SYSTEMIC RACISM NORMALIZED THROUGH ACCULTURATION. USING HIMSELF AS A CHANNELING DEVICE, HE DIRECTLY EMPHASIZES AND AMPLIFIES SOCIAL SITUATIONS THAT ARE OFTEN EXPERIENCED IN THE ABSTRACT, ESPECIALLY BY THOSE WHO ARE NOT EXPLICITLY IMPLICATED.

THE AMERICAN FLAG IS ONE SUCH SYMBOL. TWO FLAGS, STAINED RED WITH BLOOD. A SOUND PIERCING IN MY EARS AT THIS REALIZATION STRIKES; AN IMAGINARY CLOSE-UP SCENE OF TWO HANDS RUBBING BLOOD AND WORKING IT INTO THE HEAVY, SATIN FABRIC PLAYS IN MY HEAD. UPON CLOSER INSPECTION, IN ITS OCHRE AMBIGUITY, IT REMINDS US OF THE MIRAGE THAT EXISTS BETWEEN SYMBOL, PERSONALITY, AND COMMUNITY. THE UNITED STATES, THE COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE THIS FLAG REPRESENTS, BECOMES ORGANIC AS THE TRAPPINGS OF SOCIALIZATION ARE STRIPPED AWAY. FOR CENTURIES, COMMUNITIES OF AFRO AMERICAN AND AFRO LATIN IMMIGRANTS HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO FEAR, VIOLENCE AND INVISIBILITY. OPPRESSION COULD TURN PASSIVE OR FURIOUS, BUT NEITHER HAPPENS IN MARTIEL’S WORK. INSTEAD, THE FLAG HAS BEEN SPUN INTO A LIVING BEING, TURNING UP AT THE PROTEST FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE 21ST CENTURY, AMIDST A STRUGGLE AGAINST SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FORCES THAT INTEND TO STOP THE FLOW OF THE ARTIST’S OWN BLOOD AND QUELL THE SPIRIT OF THE TYRANNIZED.

THIS IS AN OFFERING. UNLIKE THE VIOLENCE THAT TRANSFORMS OUR IDENTITIES INTO INVISIBLY SHEDDING TEARS, IT STAKES A BOLD, FLUORESCENTLY VISIBLE NEW CLAIM ON THE SYMBOL. THE FLAG EXISTS AS ITSELF, WITH ALL ITS FRAUGHT HISTORIES, BUT IS SEEN HERE IN A STATE OF REGENERATION, IN THE CROWD, BEARING THE BLOOD OF TWO AFRO AMERICANS AND AN AFRO LATINO IMMIGRANT.

CARLOS MARTIEL (BORN 1989, HAVANA). LIVES AND WORKS IN NEW YORK AND HAVANA. HE GRADUATED IN 2009 FROM THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS “SAN ALEJANDRO,” IN HAVANA. BETWEEN THE YEARS 2008-2010, HE STUDIED IN THE CÁTEDRA ARTE DE CONDUCTA, DIRECTED BY THE ARTIST TANIA BRUGUERA. MARTIEL’S WORKS HAVE BEEN INCLUDED IN THE 4TH VANCOUVER BIENNALE, CANADA; 14TH SHARJAH BIENNIAL, UAE; 14TH CUENCA BIENNIAL, ECUADOR; 57TH VENICE BIENNALE, ITALY; LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL, UNITED KINGDOM; HAVANA BIENNIAL, CUBA. HE HAS HAD PERFORMANCES AT THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS; LA TERTULIA MUSEUM, CALI, COLOMBIA; WALKER ART CENTER, MINNEAPOLIS, USA; THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS HOUSTON (MFAH), HOUSTON, USA; PADIGLIONE D’ARTE CONTEMPORANEA, MILAN, ITALY; ROBERT MILLER GALLERY, NEW YORK, USA; NITSCH MUSEUM, NAPLES, ITALY. HE HAS RECEIVED SEVERAL AWARDS, INCLUDING THE FRANKLIN FURNACE FUND IN NEW YORK, USA, 2016; “CIFOS GRANTS & COMMISSIONS PROGRAM AWARD” IN MIAMI, USA, 2014; “ARTE LAGUNA” IN VENICE, ITALY, 2013. HIS WORK HAS BEEN EXHIBITED AT THE SÃO PAULO MUSEUM OF ART (MASP), SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL; THE MUSEUM OF LATIN AMERICAN ART (MOLAA), LONG BEACH, USA; PATRICIA AND PHILLIP FROST ART MUSEUM, MIAMI, USA; BENAKI MUSEUM, ATHENS, GREECE; NATIONAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HAVANA, CUBA; AMONG OTHERS. HIS WORKS ARE IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS SUCH AS THE SOLOMON R GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, NEW YORK; THE PÉREZ ART MUSEUM MIAMI (PAMM), MIAMI; MUSEU DE ARTE DO RIO, RIO DE JANEIRO.

CURATED BY PAU LLAPUR

(more info here)

OCDChinatown | 75 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002, United States

Oct 302020

EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO ANNOUNCES ARTISTS FOR
ESTAMOS BIEN – LA TRIENAL 20/21

El Museo del Barrio is pleased to announce the list of 40+ artists participating in the museum’s first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art, ESTAMOS BIEN – LA TRIENAL 20/21. The selection is the culmination of more than one year of studio visits and conversations with artists from across the United States and Puerto Rico by the Curatorial Team composed of El Museo del Barrio’s Chief Curator Rodrigo Moura and Curator Susanna V. Temkin, and New York-based artist Elia Alba as Guest Curator. A year-long initiative, La Trienal made its debut in in summer 2020 with a series of online projects by artists Lizania Cruz, xime izquierdo ugaz, Collective Magpie, Michael Menchaca, and Poncilí Creación. The full show will debut in Las Galerías from March 13, 2021 to August 22, 2021.

Expanded to a nation-wide scope, La Trienal foregrounds an intersectional approach to Latinx identity, including artists and collectives from different generations, genders, ethnic, and racial backgrounds. Featuring artworks created after the year 2000, the show includes painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, photography, ceramics, textile, and performance. While the exhibition eschews any overarching thematics, many of the artists address issues related to gentrification and commercialization; family – both chosen and inherited; identity and structural racism; migration and displacement; and climate and ecological justice; among other topics.

The full list of selected artists for ESTAMOS BIEN – LA TRIENAL 20/21:

Francis Almendárez (b. 1987, Los Angeles, CA; lives and works in Houston, TX); Candida Alvarez (b. 1955, Brooklyn, NY; lives and works in Chicago, IL); Eddie R. Aparicio (b. 1990, Los Angeles, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA); Fontaine Capel (b. 1990, Brooklyn, NY; lives and works in Queens, NY); Carolina Caycedo (b. 1978, London, UK, raised in Colombia; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA); Juan William Chavez (b. 1977, Lima, Peru; lives and works in St. Louis MO); Yanira Collado (b. 1975, Brooklyn, NY; lives and works in Miami, FL), Collective Magpie (Based in San Diego, CA); Lizania Cruz (b. 1983, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY); Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski (b. 1985, Bordeaux, France, raised across the East Coast, Midwest, and Southern U.S.; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY); Dominique Duroseau (b. 1978, Chicago, IL and raised in Haiti; lives and works in Newark, NJ); Justin Favela (b. 1986, Las Vegas, NV; lives and works in Las Vegas, NV); Luis Flores (b. 1985, West Covina, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA); ektor garcia (b. 1985, Red Bluff, CA; lives and works nomadically); Maria Gaspar (b. 1980, Chicago, IL; lives and works in Chicago, IL); Victoria Gitman (b. 1972, Buenos Aires, Argentina; lives and works in Hallandale Beach, FL); Antonio Gomez (b. 1965, Mexico; lives and works in Las Vegas, NV); Manuela Gonzalez (b. 1983, Miami, FL, raised in Medellín, Colombia; lives and works in New York, NY); Lucia Hierro (b. New York, NY; lives and works in New York, NY); xime izquierdo ugaz (b. 1992, Lima, Peru; lives and works in Lima, Peru); The Museum of Pocket Art (Established 2004 in El Paso, TX; based in Austin, TX); Esteban Jefferson (b. 1989, New York, NY; lives and works in New York, NY); Roberto Lugo (b. 1981, Philadelphia, PA; lives and works in Philadelphia, PA); Carlos Martiel (b. 1989, Havana, Cuba; lives and works in New York, NY); Patrick Martinez (b. 1980, Pasadena, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA); Yvette Mayorga (b. 1991, Silvis and raised in Moline, IL; lives and works in Chicago, IL); Groana Melendez (b. 1984, raised between New York City and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; lives and works in the Bronx, NY); María Jose (b. 1992, Caguas, Puerto Rico; lives and works in San Juan, Puerto Rico); Michael Menchaca (b. 1985, San Antonio, TX; lives and works in San Antonio, TX); Dionis Ortiz (b. 1979, Harlem, NY; lives and works in Washington Heights, NY); Poncilí Creación (Based in San Juan, Puerto Rico); Postcommodity (Based in the Southwest); Simonette Quamina (b. 1982, Ontario, Canada; lives and works in New York, NY); Vick Quezada (b. 1979, El Paso, TX; lives and works in Northampton, MA); Sandy Rodriguez (b. 1975, National City, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA); Yelaine Rodriguez (b. 1990, Bronx, NY; lives and works in the Bronx, NY); Nyugen E. Smith (b. 1976 Jersey City, NJ; lives and works in Jersey City, NJ); Edra Soto (b. 1971, Puerto Rico; lives and works in Chicago, IL); Ada Trillo (b. 1976, El Paso, TX; lives and works in Philadelphia, PA); Joey Terrill (b. 1955, Los Angeles, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA); Torn Apart/Separados (Active in the United States); Vincent Valdez (b. 1977, San Antonio, TX; lives and works in Houston, TX); and Raelis Vasquez (b. 1995, Mao Valverde, Dominican Republic; lives and works in New York, NY).

ESTAMOS BIEN – LA TRIENAL 20/21 represents an important opportunity for El Museo del Barrio to expand the art historical canon and advance much-needed awareness of the cultural production by Latinx artists. Today we invite you to join us in this work and consider supporting the museum with a tax-deductible donation. Your generosity will enable us to continue exceeding expectations and honoring the cultural legacy of Latinx communities in the United States.

(more info here)

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE CARLOS MARTIEL

Sep 072020

Cuban performance artist Carlos Martiel uses his body to address the restrictions and limitations within the lived experience of the black male body. The ephemerality of performance points towards the immediacy that his subject poses, the fragility of continuing to exist is questioned by the passage of time. The perpetual threat on the body shows the persistence of the systems that are in place in our society; systems of violence, ostracization, and displacement. Martiel approaches these topics from the non-western migrant experience and specifically the identity of the black male within that conversation. The physicality of his performance alludes to the invisibility of the immigrant and black body, a body that is inextricably linked to notions of tradition, culture, and belonging. His safety, within his performance, is constantly threatened. In an act of resistance, the confrontational element of the nude stakes a claim on the space Martiel occupies–he fears, he bleeds, he lives.

IN STUDIO
November 21 – December 19, 2020.

ON EXHIBIT
November 21 – January 16, 2021.

(more info here)

Lux Art Institute | 1550 S El Camino Real, Encinitas, CA 92024

Jul 282020

K CONTEMPORARY PRESENTS BLACK BODIES – WHITE LIES

August 7-22, 2020.
A solo exhibition by CARLOS MARTIEL
Curated by Marisa Caichiolo

“Carlos Martiel (Havana, Cuba 1989) is a performance artist whose work provides intense criticism on the ethics of humanity, its history, and its behavior through provocative and raw performances that explore the nature of existence, social barriers, and cultural traditions.

At the heart of Martiel’s work are powerful performances that raise questions about the way different societies have treated ethnic minorities and outsiders throughout history. But these works also defy established values and draw attention to other pressing issues, such as the political and culturally motivated censorship and persecution present in many countries across the globe, particularly in his native Cuba. To this end, he uses physical expressions that are evocative of rituals and ceremonial procedures.

Martiel’s solo exhibition Black Bodies-White Lies is a compilation of performances done previously by the artist in Buenos Aires at CCK, Denver for the Biennial of the Americas, and the last one in New York during his confinement for the pandemic and more precisely after George Floyd’s murder.

Martiel will be performing one day during the exhibition at K Contemporary, the piece title is Third Person.

The exhibition revisits the past to make us reflect on the current panorama of grieving the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, David McAtee, Tony McDade, and so many more people whose names we may never know.

The murders of Black people have again risen to global and national attention, as has the centuries-long outrage in the U.S. Tragically we grieve and protest under a seemingly an impervious construct which is a social, economic and legal system that supports racism, rooted in our collective history of genocide and enslavement.

Martiel wants to hold our gaze, to revitalize our attention, to the ongoing colonization, domination, slavery, and subjugation in our midst to this very day. These collective systems which devalue and denigrate the lives and souls of Black people and the most damning concepts written in universal history are analyzed by the artist.

We know we must be part of the work to completely change racist, violent, and brutal systems. The changes come as protesters across the country continue to cry out for racial justice and accountability with a visceral force.

———————————————————————
The performance Third Person as part of BLACK BODIES, WHITE LIES’s exhibition is a social and political statement by Carlos Martiel.

“Race is a social construction, an idea with no biological foundation” (Omi and Winant 1994 Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. 1994. Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the1980s. New York: Routledge; Gossett 1997)

The construction of the “Black Body”, has been a social, scientific, psychological, and educational conceptualization. These racial ideas have been challenging humanity, human rights, and the inclusion of black persons into American society since its inception. The focal point will be Martiel’s body highlighting what is happening to the black body in our current society and emphasizing the physical and psychological violence done to black people through slavery, lynching, and police brutality.

Martiel in Third Person will create a visual conversation about the contemporary understanding of a Black Body and the struggle to have inclusion, equality, and liberation. We should also connect that conversation with historical discourses, public policies and devastating contexts, like African American education. The current Black Lives Matter movement is profoundly opening our perceptions of the social, economic, and environmental inequalities and violence that black communities encounter every day in this country.

The long ugly history of Black disenfranchisement and injustice is the history of American mental illness. For centuries this illness has corroded our collective well being as a species and it must be examined and neutralized to ensure the health and evolution of the American project. The intention of this curatorial project focusing on Carlos Martiel practice is to engender sociopolitical change within the community of Denver, Colorado.

(more info here)

K Contemporary | 1412 Wazee St, Denver, CO, 80202, United States.

A volte penso che…

Jul 282020

Opening: 1/8/2020, h. 7 PM
Dal 2/8 al 30/9/2020

On Saturday, August 1st, in the former Church of San Matteo in Lucca, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani inaugurates A volte penso che…, a collective exhibition that comes from a particular perspective, that is to let twenty-three artists tell a recurring thought through their personal insights and visual ideas.

Julieta Aranda, Filippo Berta, Fabrizio Cotognini, Democracia, Zehra Dogan, Sarah Entwistle, Regina José Galindo, Omar Hassan, Diango Hernandez, Iva Lulashi, Edson Luli, Maria Evelia Marmolejo, Carlos Martiel, Ruben Montini, Ivan Moudov, Natalia LL, Luis Navarro, Silvia Rivas, Rosanna Rossi, Marinella Senatore, Santiago Sierra, Giuseppe Stampone and Mary Zygouri. They do not oﬀer conceptual schemes, nor perspectives of truth or value, and they do not linger on anecdotal narratives. With their artistic language, each one of them expresses a thought, as a fundamental quality of being, contributing to a better understanding of living reality through its own relative, particular as well as speciﬁc and unavoidable contribution.

In a historical moment like the one we are experiencing, which has all the semblances of the perfect storm, with psychological, economic, sociological and in cultural synthesis eﬀects capable of resetting our system, Prometeo Gallery tries to give the right value to one of the instruments of knowledge that man has a primary need for interpretation, which does not leave behind a sense, but countless senses. With this spirit, it has chosen to derive a totality from the incorporation of diﬀerent points of view, individually translated into tapestries, video works, photographs, paintings, drawings, collages, engravings, sculptures, and performances.

A volte penso che… is a plural, dynamic reality, characterized by the mutual relationship between its parts, which is both spiritual and intelligible, but also sensual physical and emotional, to get substantially and directly to the heart of the logical and poetic power that keeps each individual alive.

(more info here)

Prometeogallery di Ida Pisani | Ex Chiesa di San Matteo, Piazza San Matteo, Lucca.

[Online Exhibition] Carlos Martiel: Herida oscura

Jul 282020

Aug 01, 12 AM – 12 AM — ends Aug 29, 2020

Steve Turner is pleased to present Herida oscura, a solo online exhibition by New York-based Carlos Martiel which features photographs that document a number of his performances over the last thirteen years. Martiel uses his body as an axis of conflict to unearth issues of race, migration, isolation, and injustice. Since 2007, he has presented ninety performances, many of which are informed by the experience of structurally oppressed and marginalized minorities throughout histories and cultures. Martiel researches these collective legacies of pain, resistance and survival to turn them into bodily rituals of self-inflicted violence and sacrifice, channeling through a visceral language his radical and candid vision of humanity’s long-standing struggle with otherness. The unapologetically blunt and poetically infused images created and embodied by the artist bear witness to the uncomfortable truths that keep shaking our societies to the core.

Carlos Martiel (born 1989, Havana) graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Havana (2009). Between 2008 and 2010, he studied in the Cátedra Arte de Conducta, directed by Tania Bruguera. His works have been included in the Sharjah Biennial; Cuenca Biennial; Venice Biennale; Casablanca Biennale; Liverpool Biennial; Pontevedra Biennial and Havana Biennial as well as the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; La Tertulia Museum, Cali; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Quito; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia, Maracaibo; Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, among many others. This is Martiel’s third solo exhibition with Steve Turner.

(more info here)

Steve Turner | 6830 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90038

Carlos Martiel, artiste de la protestation

Jul 212020

par GUILLAUME LASSERRE pour MEDIAPART

L’acquisition de la vidéo-performance « Prodigal son » par le Frac Pays-de-la-Loire marque l’entrée de l’artiste cubain Carlos Martiel dans les collections publiques françaises. Il s’attaque à l’ « apartheid mondial » en performant son corps jusque dans la souffrance envisagée comme vecteur de vérité et revendique un art de l’activisme, générateur et transformateur d’une conscience collective.

« Je mets sur ma poitrine toutes les médailles décernées par l’État cubain à mon père pour ses mérites patriotiques[1] ». La vidéo « Prodigal son », performance filmée en 2010 à la House Witch de Liverpool, est la première œuvre de l’artiste cubain Carlos Martiel (né en 1989 à La Havane, vit et travaille entre New York et La Havane) à entrer dans les collections publiques françaises[2]. Agenouillé au sol et vêtu uniquement d’un pantalon, l’artiste épingle à même sa poitrine, lentement et méthodiquement, les cinq médailles officielles qui furent décernées à son père au cours de sa carrière de policier, puis de militaire. La performance, menée à la manière d’un rituel martial, traduit un sacrifice sociétal accablant et douloureux, transformant les cicatrices qui marquent le corps en une cartographie mémorielle du triomphe de la Révolution. Ce sont elles qui contiennent la vraie bravoure, bien plus que des breloques épinglées sur un symbole du pouvoir, l’uniforme militaire servant d’enveloppe de protection, d’armure ou même parfois de leurre. Pour ce fils prodigue, la seule médaille que l’on porte avec fierté est celle qui se lit dans les meurtrissures de la chair, témoin du combat physique, métaphore de celui, quotidien, que mènent nombre d’individus à Cuba, attendant toujours que l’Etat reconnaisse leur sacrifice pour la Révolution. La population compose une société mixte dans laquelle l’héritage afrodescendant est visible partout mais où le racisme est pourtant présent, bien que le gouvernement affiche une attitude égalitaire pour prétendre que ce problème n’existe pas. Tout le reste n’est que pacotille.

(more info here)

Jun 052020

These artists powerfully portray the Black American experience

Jun 052020

by Ethan Seidenberg for Kulture Hub

Art has the power to evoke empathy and bring people together as a community, and in this time of protest and pandemic, positive creative influences are needed now more than ever.

Here are some artists who have taken to social media or other online outlets to express their artistic perspectives on current events or experiences of being black in America.

(…) Cuban artist Carlos Martiel creates astounding visual pieces through the use of mediums such as forms of sculpture and 3D-art, or even photography with him as the main model of the artwork.

Many of his pieces focus on themes such as activism or immigration and often provide social commentary. Their commentary is enhanced by how Martiel often uses materials related to the work’s central theme.

He’ll use rocks and pieces of bricks and security fence spikes to form an American flag, a piece of his own dreadlocks to document the places he’s lived, a photo of him lying prone with an American flag piercing his skin.

These pieces and more tell a complex narrative about identity and society.

The artist has also recently taken to social media to protest police brutality and support the Black Lives Matter movement. From using his art to spread his message to showing photos of himself at protests and marches, Martiel’s artistic expressions are arguably another form of rebellion and a call to action in these times.

Carlos Martiel posts his artwork in addition to chronicling his activism on Instagram, as well as on his personal website (…)

(more info here)

El cuerpo como resistencia cultural: Carlos Martiel

Jun 052020

por Piter Ortega Núñez para HYPERMEDIA MAGAZINE

Hay obras de arte que adquieren una dimensión y trascendencia mucho mayores con el paso del tiempo, a propósito de algún suceso coyuntural que las regresa del pasado al presente y les otorga una nueva vida, una narrativa más poderosa. Obras que se adelantan a un momento histórico determinado y presagian una sensibilidad que se avecina. Tal es el caso de la performance del artista cubano Carlos Martiel titulada “South Body” y presentada en 2019 en la 5ta Bienal de las Américas de Denver, Estados Unidos (K Contemporary Gallery, con curaduría a cargo de Marisa Caichiolo). En ella el artista permaneció desnudo recostado sobre el piso de la galería durante una hora, mientras en uno de sus hombros llevaba clavada, por dentro de su piel, una bandera norteamericana con una punta dorada.

(más info aquí)

1 2 3 … 16 17