ARTIST STATEMENT
My artistic process reflects my life experience in that it is constantly shifting and being shaped by the cultures of the places in which I have lived - Ecuador (my native country), Paris, Barcelona, and currently New York. It developed through the study of concepts and subjects that either touched or intrigued me, such as the coexistence of human beings with nature. This is evident in my longer series of works "Entre blanco oscuro y Negros claros," "Ungulés," "Griots," "Silence," "Bridges and Ways," "Mannequin," "Nomada," "On the Map," and more recently "Craniums." Some of them address issues involving social matters, such as the serious political and economic crisis that led to the largest migration in Ecuador, or, refer to the complexity of the origins and identity of the American people as a product of on-going immigration. In “Craniums, the images of the sculls, constituting the series in their different perspectives, are made up of countless, small faces and reflect the agglomeration of despair, anguish and cry connected with the resent pandemic and the horror of the never ending wars, while other works are explorations in aesthetics, such as my study of monochromatic colors. Through each work, I seek to provoke some kind of reaction from the viewer - reflection, questioning, empathy, sensitivity – with which to form the basis of a new understanding or perspective on the topic. The mediums I use have been greatly influenced by my exposure to various cultures, which has widened my horizons and led to the adoption of various techniques. While I use mainly painting, drawing, etching, sculpture, art object, and installations, I have also used digital art, 3D painting, and animation video to develop a visual language. These techniques have enabled me to express my philosophy of life.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1971 in Cotacachi, Ecuador, Pablo Caviedes is recognized as a preeminent force within the emerging 21st Century US-Latino transcultural art-scene. He has been exhibiting his work for more than thirty years. In fact, since 1990, his amazing images have graced several prominent venues in Ecuador; in addition to prestigious exhibits in Paris, Marseille, France; Barcelona and Madrid, (Spain); Warsaw and Lublin, (Poland); Heidelberg, Berlin, (Germany); Tirana, (Albania); Bitola, North Macedonia; Athens, (Greece); Roma, Lecce and Trento, (Italy); Yoshinogawa, (Japan); Washington D.C., New York, New Jersey, Miami, Palm Beach, Oakland, Atlanta, California, Massachusetts, Colorado and Ponce, Puerto Rico (USA); Mendoza, (Argentina); Fortaleza, (Brazil); Mexico City, Toluca, Campeche, Culiacán, (Mexico). After moving to Manhattan in 2001, he’s been regularly displaying his imaginative, shamanic, and animistic work throughout New York City, along with participating in critically acclaimed group and solo shows within the greater metropolitan area. Like so many first-rate Ecuadorian artists (e.g., Gilberto Almeida, Edgar Reascos, Fernando Torres, Miguel Arcos and Rosy Revelo), he received his artistic training at the esteemed College of Plastic Arts, Daniel Reyes in San Antonio de Ibarra, Ecuador. Afterward, he studied at the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France. In 1994, he received the highly-desirable Paris Prize. Consequently, in 1998 in Paris, France, he was one of ten artists, under 40 years-of-age, selected for the critically acclaimed, art historically significant, comprehensive and pivotal exhibit titled Emergent Artists from Latin America and the Caribbean, identifying a new generation of important up-and-coming Latino artists. Then, in 2002, while living in Barcelona, Spain, he had a solo show at the Museu Molí Paperer de Capellades. During that time he was awarded an honorable-mention in Vilassar de Mar, at the Second Biennial International of Painting in Barcelona.
Moving to New York has been an important chapter in the artist's career. It opened new opportunities which resulted in the series of exciting art projects. In 2009, he was selected for an exhibition titled: Fusion: American Classics Meet Latin American Art, at the Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, Delaware, USA. Also that year, he was selected for the illustrious Ecuadorian Contemporary Art Show at the United Nations, New York. In 2010, his art installation was selected for the 2nd Bronx Latin American Art Biennial in New York City. Around this time, LRACC instigated his visual artistic and poetic participation in the We Are You (WAY) Project, Jersey City, New Jersey, a group whose aesthetic focus spotlights 21st Century immigration reform themes. This participation directly inspired his initial "On the Map" image. This bold image was originally created in 2011 for the inaugural WAY Project International Exhibit, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York City, along with inspiring all subsequent "On the Map" variations illuminating this book. In 2012, his animated-film "On the Map" was selected for the renowned A Frame Apart 2 Short-Film Festival, Queens Museum of Art, New York City. Moreover, this film amazed viewers at the International Exhibition on Human Rights, Lecce, Italy; as well as the worldwide #Migrantes Exhibition, Trento, Italy. In 2013, he exposed for the first time his works in Poland at the Wirydarz Art Gallery in Lublin. In 2014, back in New York again, the film was selected at the 4th Bronx Latin American Art Biennial and presented at two venues, Edgar Allan Poe Park Visitor Center Gallery and Bronx Museum of the Arts. In 2015, Caviedes presented his works at the AQ Art Fair in Quito, Ecuador. That same year, he also exhibited his sculptures at the Remembering Things Past Exhibition at the Islip Art Museum, New York.
In 2016 Caviedes presented his Nomada series in a solo show at the Quantum Gallery in Warsaw, Poland. At the same time his new, short animation movie Pop Art - On the Map, was selected at the International Exhibition on Human Rights Diversity in Trento, Italy as well as at other International projects including: Navigare i confini/MigrArti, in Cagliari, Sardigna, Italy. The movie was also presented jointly with the art videos of twenty-eight other international artists, for the Contemporary Visions ∞ Videoart in Loop in different countries and cities including: Italy – Genova, Milano, Napoli, Palermo, Perugia, Rome, Salerno, Torino, Verona, Spain – Murcia, Portugal – Aveiro, Argentina – Mendoza, Greece – Thessaloniki, Bulgaria – Sofia, Serbia – Belgrade, United Kingdom – Britol, Czech Republic – Polnà and Morocco – Casablanca. In November, the same year, the film was presented at the 29th Festival Les Instants Vidéo in Marseille, France. In 2017 through the representation of ARTI.NYC Gallery, Caviedes's art began to receive more exposure with some notable international art fairs, beginning with Frieze Week, Superfine Art Fair, in New York City, followed by Spectrum International Art Fair in Miami. In 2018 Caviedes had the opportunity to exhibit for the first time several of his On the Map pieces at the prestigious Art Palm Beach International Art Fair in Palm Beach, Florida. Then in New York City the "On the Map" Obama's Portrait in 3D was shown at the well–known Scope International Art Fair. Also, in 2018 the documentary film Pablo Caviedes ON THE MAP produced and directed by PH Daniel Sanchez was selected for the Third lnwood Film Festival in New York City. At the beginning of 2019 the Ministry of Culture and Heritage of Ecuador published and officially presented his book titled Pablo Caviedes ON THE MAP, with text by Jose Rodeiro. His new, pen on white cardboard, series of drawings was selected to participate in the large exhibition of the New York Latin American Art Triennial 2019, exhibited at the Lehman College Art Gallery.
In 2020, Caviedes’s On the Map book and the documentary was presented by the prestigious American Center for Arts & Culture in Paris, France. In 2021, Caviedes presented his book, the documentary film, the animation art videos and the selected pieces from his On the Map works as part of the Human Crossing project, at the Fondazione Opera Campana dei Caduti Museum in Trento (Italy). At the end of the year hi presented his works in the solo show titled MONO+COLOR at the CJ.ONE gallery in New York City, which was followed by another solo exhibition of his works in silk which was combined with the On the Map book and the documentary film, at the MAAC Museum of Contemporary Art in Guayaquil, Ecuador. At the beginning of 2022, Caviedes´s series of works CRANIUMS was presented at the exhibition and published in the book, both entitled Pandemic Art 1.0, Articulate in Aarhus, Denmark. Then he was invited to show his works at the NOmade Biennial in Fortaleza, Brazil. A few months later he presented the On The Map book together with the documentary and the works in silk exhibition, all as part of On The Map project, which took place at the historic Salón de la Plástica Mexicana in Mexico City. A few weeks later his graphic works were selected to be presented at the International Biennial of Graphic Arts in Tirana, Albania, which was soon followed by another international graphic show titled GBC-MiniPrint in Berlin, Germany.
At the beginning of 2023, one of his art video works was selected and presented at the collective exhibition “Earth ONE” at the Lite-Haus gallery in Berlin, Germany, which followed his participation in the international engraving exhibition entitled “Self Portrait” at the Pandolfini & Siaterli Graphic Art Center in Athens, Greece. Recently, he has joined a group of Ibero-American artists at the international graphic exhibition titled “Las Mil y Un Estampas.” This project will be carried out throughout the year, in Mexico City, in Mexico. His digital artwork, “Metamorphosis of Death,” was selected for the First International Biennial FMGC in Culiacan, Mexico which, in August, was followed by his solo exhibition at Governors Island, New York, at an invitation of the PTM Contemporary. In September, he presented his works at the Art on Paper New York Art Fair in collaboration with the ArteLatAm artists. In October, Caviedes participated and obtained an Honorable Mention in the 6th edition of the Awagami International graphics competition and exhibition in Yoshinogawa, Japan. Later this month, Caviedes presented his project consisting of his "On the Map" book, the documentary and the series of silk works, at the Miami Hispanic Cultural Arts Center in the city of Miami where he then also participated at the AQUA International Art Fair represented by the LAAP – Latin American Art Pavilion Gallery (Booth#119) At the end of 2023, the artist took part at the First International Biennial of Miniature Art Graphics & Drawing in Bitola, North Macedonia.
In Spring 2024, Caviedes has presented a solo exhibition titled "On the Map & Cranium Collection" at Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba in NYC, to be followed by the second edition of the exhibition project at the Geological Museum of Space Art in Warsaw and the major city mural painting project, “The night of Culture” in Lublin, Poland. Back in New York City in Summer, Caviedes presented his “Mannequin” series solo exhibition at the Sojourner Gallery, which was followed by the presentation of his etching works at the international graphic exhibition “Grabado Sobre Metal” at the “Spark Sitio de Arte” in Buenos Aires, Argentina.