Carlos Estévez, "Entelechy"

A retrospective of the work by Cuban artist Carlos Estévez was recently inaugurated at the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block. The exhibition features a selection of more than seventy pieces created between 1992 and 2018, including paintings, drawings, installations, and sculptures. Carefully selected by Curator Carol Damian, who has followed Estévez's career for many years, the works represent several periods of his artistic production and evolution as an artist. We are able to confirm through them that many of the early inquiries and thematic interests from his formative years continue to be a source for reflection. Entitled "Entelechy," from the Greek entelecheia, the exhibition addresses the concept of turning ideas into reality. Perhaps where this notion is most clearly illustrated is in the act of including Estévez's sketch books in the exhibition. By eventually becoming works, these sketches support the thesis of the exhibition: ideas transformed into physical works. The sketch books become a window into the artist's thought process and into the way he perceives the world. The work by Estévez is characterized by its anthropological nature. The analogies that they draw between the human body, animals, and manmade mechanisms rely on the notion that nature is perfect and that human inventions are based on its direct observation. One of their distinguishing characteristics, which has become a sort of mark of identity in his work, is the utilization of a complex symbology drawn from medieval manuscripts, encyclopedias, philosophical treatises and other sources of inspiration. Every peace becomes the illustration of one or many concepts. One of these is transformation, vital for the interpretation of Estévez's work, a subject that he has approached from different perspectives to underscore the cyclical nature of life. Whether physical or emotional, the transmutation of human beings is described through visual metaphors. The retrospective was accompanied by a book specially published for the occasion, generously illustrated with works shown in the exhibition and other equally important pieces like the installation titled La Verdadera Historia Universal (The True History of the World, 1995), currently part of the collection of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) in Havana. The book also includes an essay by the curator, centered on Estévez's career, and has been divided in themes. A long interview with the artist is also included.