Alberto Cavalieri

Alberto Cavalieri Biography

Cavalieri was born in Caracas in 1969. He is a Venezuelan visual artist who, throughout his long career, has achieved renown for his monumental sculptures and public works integrated into architectural forms.

He has been working in visual arts, and particularly in sculpture, since 1994 when he completed his studies in industrial design, mechanical engineering and art, which he carried out in Caracas from 1986 to 1994. His career as an artist has been prolific and his work has been exhibited both in Venezuela and abroad.

Ever since I began making art, I’ve been interested in the physical and mechanical aspects of objects, as well as the three-dimensional forms they take on in my work. I find sculpture is the best means of resolving and turning the conceptual problems I deal with into tangible forms. I take an intense approach to my work because I want it to be big, both in terms of ambition and actual size. My sculptures are part of a research process in which each work leads on to the next. I work in a variety of different ways and my creative process changes and evolves as I go along.

My work is mainly intended to challenge our physical laws and alter our sense of logic, bending and transforming materials to create the impression that the works are not man-made. I create sinuous, contorting steel forms that outline spaces in an organic way, which knot together easily, can integrate with architecture and that appear to be levitating. I like my works to communicate with the spaces they inhabit and create out of place rhythms that contrast to the horizontal and vertical ways we order our Cartesian conception of space. To create the sculptures I have had to develop my own techniques and tools and try out different processes that range from hi-tech, numerical control to old fashioned and elementary steelwork.

Metal allows me to create an overriding paradox between matter and form. It enables me to create sinuous forms that are full of life and movement, which contrast diametrically to the rigidity and structure of the steel I use to make them. Knots are one of the abstract forms I use and its multiple symbolisms enrich my work and increase its scope and resonance. Knots imply human activity and they have different symbolic connotations in terms of how they are used, to the point that the connotations could be contradictory and/or ambivalent. Man makes knots to resolve countless functional situations: they are a metaphor for life.

-Alberto Cavalieri

Alberto Cavalieri’s oxidized sculptures and digital drawings deal mostly with the paradox between form and matter, as well as the duality between the essence of a material, and its visual possibilities. He usually works in medium sized or monumental heavy metal shapes that are built to seem one single piece of a swirling, whimsical and organic knot, or oversized string-like shapes, that appear to be levitating. Cavalieri is interested in the question of human versus nature, in the construction of what is purely a human made construct, such as his bows and knots, that appear elastic and flexible, resisting any possible logic. He focuses on the importance of challenging the laws of physics, and seeking the contrast between the rigidness of the material and the organic quality of the shapes.

Alberto Cavalieri began his studies of Mechanical Engineering at Metropolitana University, in Caracas in 1986. He then studied Industrial Design at the Villasmil Art Center while taking sculpture courses at the Federico Brandt Art Institute. He began showing his sculptures in 1993 and since then has participated in numerous solo and collective shows that include the Sculpture Biennale in Guadalajara, Mexico, the National Art Biennale from Puerto La Cruz in Venezuela, the Museum of Contemporary art in Caracas, and at the Municipal Modern Art Museum in Cuenca, Ecuador.
His work is represented in various public and private collections in Spain, Venezuela, the US and Ecuador, such as the Museum of Latin American Art, California, the Polytechnic University in Valencia, Spain and the Ciudad Banesco Collection in Caracas.  Lives and works in Caracas

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2012 Fragmented Knot. Galería Art Nouveau, Fl, USA.

2009 Hierro y Epifanías (Iron and Epiphanies), Galería Freites, Caracas, Venezuela.

2004 Descontenciones (Discontentions), Galería D’Museo, Caracas, Venezuela.

2003 Estructurales IPN (IPN Structurals), open-air exhibition in the Isabel La Católica Square, La Castellana, Caracas, Venezuela.

2000 Nada en concreto (Nothing Concrete), Galería D’Museo, Caracas, Venezuela.

1996 Psique + Acero (Psyche + Steel), Galería Uno, Caracas, Venezuela.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2012
Houston Fine Art Fair, ArtNouveau, Gallery, Houston, USA.
Art Southampton, ArtNouveau, Gallery, Hampton, NY, USA.

Pinta London Art Fair, ArtNouveau, Gallery, London, England.
ArtWynwood, ArtNouveau, Gallery, Fl USA.

2011 ArtMiami, ArtNouveau, Gallery, Fl, USA.

2010 Not Made in China, Galería La Cuadra, Caracas, Venezuela.

2008 I Sculpture Biennale of Guadalajara, Guadalajara, México.

2007 Arte Américas (Americas Art), Florida, USA.

2006 Museum of Latin American Art, California, USA.

2006 Dearte Contemporáneo (On Contemporary Art), V Fair of Spanish Galleries, Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions, Madrid, Spain.

2006
Art Miami, Florida, USA.

Ibero-American Art Fair (FIA), Caracas, Venezuela.

2005 Premios Italia para las Artes (Italian Art Prizes, First Prize), Caracas, Venezuela.

2002 Andean Sculpture Contest, Municipal Museum of Modern Art, Cuenca, Ecuador.

1999
Pirelli Young Artist Contest, Sofía Imber Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela.

Pier Walk ´99 International Sculpture Exhibition, Chicago, USA.

Sculptures Internationales (International Sculptures), Maison de la Découverte, Québec, Canada.

1998
Exhibition Contest in Socrates Sculpture Park, New York, USA (Awarded a Grant).
International Sculpture Exhibition, Le Portal Galerie d’Art, Québec, Canada.