Los Carpinteros

Los Carpinteros is a Cuban artist collective founded in Havana in 1992 by Marco Antonio Castillo Valdes, Dagoberto Rodriguez Sanchez, and Alexandre Arrechea (who left the group in 2003).[1] In 1994 they decided "to renounce the notion of individual authorship and refer back to an older guild tradition of artisans and skilled laborers”[2] in an attempt to emphasize their belief that art always, to some extent, involves collaboration.[3] Both Valdes and Sanchez were born in Cuba and live and work between Havana and Madrid.[1] They have exhibited in Cuba, Europe and North America, and have received a number of awards.

In their work the artists incorporate aspects of architecture, design and sculpture to create installations and drawings that “negotiate the space between the functional and the nonfunctional",[2] where they derive their “inspiration from the physical world”[2] and express their interest in the intersection of art and society in a humorous manner. Los Carpinteros create a response to places, spaces and objects, how they have been conceived, built, used and abandoned.[4]

Between personal exposures are those made in the 90s in the ' "Centro de Arte 23 y 12" Cuba. They have been exhibited at "The New Museum of Contemporary Art"[5] and the "Contemporary Arts Center" in Cincinnati, Ohio;[6] "Grant Selwyn Fine Arts" in Los Angeles, CA;[7] at the International Contemporary Art Fair ARCO'98 in Madrid; and Art Basel Miami where for the 2012 edition of the fair they built the "Güiro Art Bar".[8] They held their first solo exhibition in Asia, 'Heterotopias', at Edouard Malingue Gallery in 2013.[9]