Carlos del Toro
Carlos del Toro was born in 1954 in La Havana, Cuba
A painter, engraver, draughtsman and teacher.
He graduated in 1975 at the National School of Art of La Havana and, in 1984, at the Instituto Superior de Arte, La Havana,
Has taught at: National School of Art San Alejandro, La Havana / National University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia / Casa de la Cultura Benjamín Carrión, Guayaquil, Ecuador / First Principal at the Taller Experimental de Gráfica (Experimental Graphic Workshop), La Havana.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
He has participated in more than 300 group exhibitions in Cuba and abroad Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Mexico, USA, Canada, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, India, China and Korea (full list available)
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS (short list)
1978 y 1980: Graphic Work. Pequeño Salón, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Havana
1991: Exhibition of Graphic Works and Paintings, Milan, Italy
1992: Exhibition ¨Entre Saurios¨, Graphic, Guayaquil, Ecuador
1995: ¨Three Cuban Artists ¨, Panama City
1998: Presentation: ¨Illustrated Poems¨ of poet José L. Moreno del Toro, Experimental Graphic Workshop of La Havana
1999: Exhibition ¨complicity with mystery¨, Paintings, La Havana
2001: Paintings, Hotel Oro Verde, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Paintings, Pablo Guayasamín Foundation, Quito, Ecuador
2002: ¨Tres =3¨, Graphic Gallery, Experimental Graphic Workshop,Havana
2003: ¨Variaciones para una Hipotética Danza¨, Galería Casona, La Havana
2004: Retrospective. Casa Osvaldo Guayasamín, La Havana
(full list available)
AWARDS (short list)
Cuba: Mentions, 1980 and 1981 / Second Prize, 1982, / First Premio at Salón Raúl Gómez García, 1985 / Medal: 25th Anniversary of Taller Experimental de Gráfica / 2002: Distinción por la Cultura Nacional etc.
Abroad: 1993: Mention, Graphic Bienalle, Puerto Rico / First Prize, Graphics. Casa Museo Osvaldo Guayasamín, 1993, Ecuador / : 1995: Mention, First Graphics Bienalle, Barranquilla, Colombia
MUSEUMS and COLLECTIONS
Print Cabinet, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Havana / Print Cabinet, Taller Experimental de Gráfica, La Havana / Schraine Museum, Ludwig Foundation, Cologne, Germany / Casa de la Cultura Nacional Collection, Quito, Ecuador / Hotel Nacional de Cuba, La Havana / Centre for Latinamerican Studies, New York, USA / Fénix Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden
As well as State and private collections in America, Europe and Asia
It is no easy task to define the work of Carlos del Toro. Before such an artist, whose colorful, rising trajectory has received both descriptive commentary and praiseworthy review, totally justified, it is virtually impossible to coin a simple term.
We could say, perhaps, that we face a pictorial “Gabo”, but would remain at the edge of ignorance. Or may say we stand before Vivaldi, before an opera, but this would be daring, even unjust. Nonetheless, del Toro’s work transports us to the world of music, rhythms of songs and drums which awaken and open the doors to our dreams.
Above all, Carlos del Toro is a poet of the image, a conjurer of motion and space, where female dancers move against a shadow, presumably a male counterpart, placed as background instrument with the sole purpose of creating a visual equilibrium. A scene within a forest of colors with a Biblical palette makes us reminiscent of Magic Realism, specifically One Hundred Years, precisely because of the Aurelianos and the showers of fish, imagined, arrived, and foretold. From this riot of color, which the artist handles masterfully, and of three dimensional scenes on embossed paper, a symphony emerges and carries us to Ravel’s Bolero while we dance to a fakir’s tune hidden in the work itself. A challenge the artist masters with craftsmanship and talent worthy of the great Cuban painters of the 20th century.
In his spectacular pictorial trajectory, Carlos del Toro spins tales which demand such interpretation and reinterpretation that the viewer becomes, inevitably, a dreamer reconstructing his/her own inner anecdotes. Sculptor of memory, builder of the canvas, sorcerer of color or simple wizard of charms, Carlos del Toro makes a profound impact on our psyches.
