Marco A. Castillo

Born in 1971 in Camagüey, Cuba. He lives and works in Mérida, Mexico.

Marco A. Castillo is founder of the art collective Los Carpinteros, and his work is imbued with an interest in Cuba’s history and the country’s post-revolutionary, social and cultural changes. Castillo has been extensively researching architecture, design and sculpture, which are fundamental aspects of his artistic practice in the quest to create installations, drawings and sculptures that relate to space and negotiate between the functional and the non-functional, often expressed in a humorous manner.

Already from his earliest works, Castillo’s oeuvre is one of the most important and internationally influential in Latin America in the last twenty years.

Along with a global movement of historical revision, Castillo reflects on the modernization of Cuba in the 1960s and 1970s and his work references influential Cuban artists, architects and designers of that generation. The sculptures and works on paper from his most recent project combine elements of modern design and Soviet-period socialist realism with traditional Cuban techniques and materials, including mahogany wood and rattan fabric, as well as graphic designs of the period.

In recent years, the artist has focused on researching and reinterpreting the works of key figures of modernism in Cuba and what he calls a “forgotten generation,” such as Gonzalo Córdoba, María Victoria Caignet, Rodolfo Fernández Suárez (Fofi), Joaquín Galván and Walter Betancourt. From a political standpoint, Castillo seeks to follow the historical trail of these designers, interior designers and architects, while positioning himself as a defender and herald of Cuba’s artistic heritage.

Marco A. Castillo is represented in important national and international collections, such as Tate Modern, London, Great Britain; Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York, USA; Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA; National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba; Center of Art “Reina Sofia” Museum, Madrid, Spain; Thyssen – Bornemisza Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Daros Foundation, Zürich, Switzerland; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA (LACMA), Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada. etc.