Los Carpinteros at Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma (Mallorca)

In 2011 Los Carpinteros, the duo of Cuban artists Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez, presented their first solo exhibition in a Spanish museum at Es Baluard Museu d’Art Modern i Contemporani de Palma in Mallorca. Los Carpinteros. Handwork – Constructing the World opened to the public ton 15 October 2012.

The Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation (T-B A21) – presided by Francesca von Habsburg – was the driving force behind this show, which featured a selection of works by the Cuban collective from the foundation’s collection. This included four large-scale sculptures and installations: Cama (Bed), 2007; Portaaviones (Aircraft Carrier), 2005; Frío Estudio del Desastre (Frozen Study of a Disaster), 2005, and Espejos de Agua (Water Mirrors), 2001, which together composed the theme of the exhibition, on view at Es Baluard until 22 January 2012. Along with these standout pieces, Es Baluard also showed a series of watercolours exploring the relationship between drawing and everyday objects, never far from the work of Los Carpinteros, a practice carried out with a wide variety of materials and an often biting sense of humour.

Several of these watercolours were exhibited as the result of a collaboration between Los Carpinteros, Ivorypress and T-B A21. The exhibition opened at the museum in the Balearic Islands following Drama Turquesa, the exhibition project by Los Carpinteros seen at Ivorypress Space in May 2010. Coinciding with this exhibition, Ivorypress published a catalogue in which one can readily perceive the spectacularity, playfulness and sense of humour that have become their signature elements.