Cuerpo: Carlos Martiel. El Museo del Barrio

El Museo del Barrio and Maestro Dobel Tequila present the first solo exhibition in a New York City museum by Carlos Martiel (Havana, Cuba, 1989), the inaugural recipient of the Maestro Dobel Latinx Art Prize. The survey show, entitled “Cuerpo: Carlos Martiel,” encapsulates Martiel's performance-based practice of nearly two decades. Employing his body as a primary medium, the artist utilizes endurance performances in both public and gallery spaces to delve into the complex legacies of colonialism on race, labor, and migration.
The exhibition features a selection of the artist’s most significant projects, bringing together different spaces and temporalities through preparatory drawings, photographs, and videos, as well as the remains of past sculptural performances in dialogue with El Museo’s multidisciplinary project space, Room 110. “This exhibition, acting as both a continuation and an archive of Martiel’s long-duration performances, provides a unique opportunity to experience his work and its critique of society’s control over historically oppressed bodies,” said Rodrigo Moura, Chief Curator, El Museo del Barrio. “Having included Martiel in El Museo’s inaugural Estamos Bien - La Trienal 20/21 surveying the work of contemporary Latinx artists, we are honored to be the first institution in the United States to showcase his work in-depth,” adds Susanna Temkin, Curator, El Museo del Barrio.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, bilingual (Spanish/English) publication that will serve as the artist's first comprehensive monograph, highlighting approximately 40 works across Martiel’s career, including drawings, video documentation, sculpture, and photography.
For more information, visit: https://www.elmuseo.org/exhibition/cuerpo-carlos-martiel/