February 10–March 9, 2024
Steve Turner is pleased to present Body of Work, a solo exhibition by Cuban-born and New York-based artist Carlos Martiel who for nearly two decades has used his body to critique political issues that relate to censorship, oppression and migration.
Body of Work features new works by the artist that encompass performance, photography, sculpture, drawing, installation and jewelry. In Visionario, a powerful photographic self-portrait, Martiel gazes intensely at the viewer, with diamonds embedded in the reflection in his eyes. Insignia VI is a large-scale American flag which is stained with the blood of a Native American.
In Visionario, Martiel relies on the mantra “my gender is black” to subvert the common assumptions about power in portraiture. In Insignia VI, he addresses the function of representation in the context of conquest, colonialism, slavery and capitalism. As a whole, Body Of Work is focused on the ongoing struggles faced by people of African and Native descent in the Americas.
Body Of Work is open to the public beginning Wednesday, February 14, 2024. On March 1, 2024 at 6 PM, Martiel will introduce Vaciamiento, a new performance that will also feature the participation of the artist’s parents, something unprecedented in his performance practice.
Carlos Martiel (1989, Havana) graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts (San Alejandro), Havana (2009). Between 2008 and 2010, he studied in the Cátedra Arte de Conducta, directed by Tania Bruguera. His works have been included in 57th Venice Biennale, Italy and he has had performances at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, The Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art and El Museo del Barrio in NYC, The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH). He has received several awards, including the Maestro Doble Latinx Art Prize which includes a solo exhibition at El Museo del Barrio, New York which will open on May 1, 2024. Martiel lives and works in New York.
