Isabel Norsten
Specialist, Head of Sale
Lot 187
LOS CARPINTEROS(founded 1994)La Habana año 2010
15 May 2025, 14:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$10,240 inc. premium
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Contemporary Art (US)
Rachel Griffith
Sale Coordinator
LOS CARPINTEROS (founded 1994)
La Habana año 2010
inscribed '"La Habana año 2010"' (lower center); signed, inscribed and dated 'Los Carpinteros La Habana Sep 28/1995' (lower right)
watercolor and graphite on paper
38 3/4 x 27 3/4 in (98.4 x 70.5 cm)
Executed in 1995
inscribed '"La Habana año 2010"' (lower center); signed, inscribed and dated 'Los Carpinteros La Habana Sep 28/1995' (lower right)
watercolor and graphite on paper
38 3/4 x 27 3/4 in (98.4 x 70.5 cm)
Executed in 1995
Footnotes
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artists.
Provenance
Collection of Dagoberto Rodríguez, Madrid.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.
The piece La Habana año 2010 was created in 1995 by the Cuban artist collective Los Carpinteros, founded in 1994 and originally composed of Marco Antonio Castillo Valdés, Dagoberto Rodríguez Sánchez, and Alexandre Arrechea. This work belongs to a series of drawings conceived as part of a broader visual project that aimed to eventually become three-dimensional installations. The drawing is not merely an aesthetic exercise but a conceptual stage in a wider creative process, where ideas are articulated on paper as prototypes for future constructions.
Conceptually, the series draws inspiration from images of historic sugar mills (ingenios) in Cuba from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These industrial structures are revisited through a contemporary, almost utopian or dystopian lens. One of the project's theoretical foundations lies in the repeated reading of the book El ingenio by historian Manuel Moreno Fraginals, who also directly influenced the artists by giving lectures during their studies.
The piece deliberately situates itself in a fluid atemporality, shifting between past and future. When materialized as installations, the drawings could be interwoven with textual or visual elements that evoke either forthcoming architectural visions or past ruins—thus challenging conventional timelines. This temporal ambiguity creates space for critical reflection on progress, memory, and utopia within the Cuban context.
It is important to note that the sugar industry, and by extension the ingenio, holds a central place in Cuba's economic, social, and symbolic history. By reinterpreting these structures, Los Carpinteros not only allude to an architectural and industrial legacy but also open a space for critical inquiry into the island's historical identity, its productive history, and its possible futures.
