Carlos Garaicoa

Carlos Garaicoa (b. 1967) is an installation artist and photographer who began his career in the 1990s. Best known for his use of images making references to architecture, real and imaginary, his work often alludes to re-inventions of cities in various states of decay. For Garaicoa, the architecture of Havana became symbolic of the tenuous state of his homeland where many buildings are falling apart. The crumbling of buildings in the city unleashed his desire for utopian projects with architectural solutions. According to Garaicoa, “the conception of history as a fictitious element and its reconstruction, taking into account its implications in relation to the urban space, is the basis for most of my work.”

Acumulación / Accumulation, Mi última palabra / My Last Word

Acumulación / Accumulation and Mi última palabra / My Last Word are 7-run screenprints on self-healing cutting mats. They are derived from a series of unique images created by the artist on cutting mats with hand-cut colored tape.

Terrasse St. Denis

In Terrasse St. Denis, a 19th century French engraving of fanciful garden structures or follies, from the artist’s personal collection, inspires this two-plate, two-color photogravure with three-dimensional cut outs. The first plate captures the foxing and age-related traces of the antique paper, and is followed by a plate of the engraved image itself. The work is finished with intricate architectural cut outs that bring together the delicate, airy and inviting follies with heavier, stolid and forbidding structures created from an underlying layer of black paper.

Bunker

In Bunker, Garaicoa employs the architect’s classic cyanotype (or blueprint) process to construct a three-dimensional tableau combining drawing, sculpture and printmaking. Garaicoa has designed a custom-built display vitrine that can be configured as a table or a wall hanging, depending on the collector’s choice.

 

Further Resources

Artist's Site: carlosgaraicoa.com

USF Contemporary Art Museum Solo Exhibition: Carlos Garaicoa: La enmienda que hay en mí (Making Amends)

InsideART Online Curriculum: Carlos Garaicoa

 

Printmaking + Sculpture Terms

Printmaking Glossary

Sculpture Glossary

Sales

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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.