Provenance

Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg.

The Linda Givon Collection.

Notes

The present lot is an Artist Proof, from an edition of 5.

'Carlos Garaicoa translates his fascination with the ruins of Havana into drawings, photographs, and mixed-media and video installations. 'The city is a very rich subject to make work about love, hate, history, beauty, what people expect from life and how politics get involved,' he has said. His installations evoke a Havana in a state of tension between utopian ideals and dilapidated reality'¹

^1. Artsy (no date) Carlos Garaicoa, online, https://www.artsy.net/artwork/carlos-garaicoa-acerca-de-la-caja-del-reloj-y-del-tiempo-que-se-ha-ido-about-the-grandfather-clock-and-how-long-its-been-gone, accessed 24 August 2024.

Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa was born in Havana in 1967. He initially trained in thermodynamics, before studying art at the Instituto Superior de Arte between 1989 and 1994. Garaicoa’s work spans drawing, photography, performance, and mixed-media installations, reflecting a dialogue between utopian ideals and the realities of post-revolutionary Havana. His installations, such as Japanese Garden (2001), juxtapose serene aesthetics with stark images of urban decay, challenging perceptions of space and culture through his art.

Garaicoa has exhibited globally, including at the Johannesburg Biennale in 1995, Documenta 11 in 2002, and twice at the Venice Biennale in 2005 and 2009. He has earned accolades like the XXXIX International Contemporary Art Prize in 2005, and his works are in important collections such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, amongst others. He currently lives and works between Havana and Madrid, Spain.

Exhibited

1st Johannesburg Biennale, Africus ‘95, 1995