Mario Almaguer, Large Mario Almaguer Cuban Art Welded Painted Steel Abstract Sculpture Modernism, 2005

Mario Almaguer (b. Marianao, Cuba, 1955) He moved to the U.S. in 1994 to Miami where since has been living and working. Essentially self-taught, he embraced sculpture as his mean for expression. Without any kind of formal academic education or training in the arts, perseverance and praxis made him an artist. His work has been influenced by cuban master Agustin Cardenas and british Henry Moore. In his early years until 1994 he produced a large amount of small and medium scale wooden sculptures. From 1994 to the present, Almaguer creates and produces steel sculptures. It’s with his works on steel where he encounters a strong expression with a striking liberty hard to deliver in wood. His monumental sculptures were recently exhibited at Miami Dade College, where his colossal pieces are joined to the campus buildings. Almaguer’s work is in collections in the U.S. and abroad. He has exhibited in the U.S. and Latin America and is subject of several articles.
He was in the two man show OFF THE WALL Steel and Glass by Mario Almaguer & Carlos Marcoleta. Almaguer’s work uses allusions to the human figure, and particularly those components of the anatomy which are most strikingly symmetrical or geometric. Eyes, the vulva, mouth recur in the drawings realistically, in the sculptures in stylized form. In both media, Almaguer broadens the totem as a compositional concept, subtly linking the standing figure to the vertical syntax that connects elements. Other allusions are produced simultaneously with the above, to tools, mechanical instruments, and machines, as well as to exoskeletons, tentacles, pistils, synapses, among other components of organisms. The convergence of the mechanistic and the anatomical has a precursor in Cuban art: the paintings and drawings of Latin American Agustin Fernandez (1928-2006), in which flesh, armor, grills, leather, razors, lace, flaps, cords, belts, among other elements, come together in novel if often unsettling ways. Another important precursor is the Chilean Roberto Matta (1911-2002) whose insect, machine-like figures emerge in the luminous landscapes of the unconscious. However, Almaguer uses the multidimensional biomorph independently of context, as an almost ritualistic construct which is also a giant flower that is a face, a weapon, a trap, and a navigational instrument. . . . And unlike in Fernández’s work, an almost flirtatious humor runs through Almaguer’s pieces. They make us recall fantastic machines and sets of early sci-fi films, as well as monstrances and other extravagantly fancied liturgical objects. In all, Almaguer’s art is thoughtful, humorous, and sensuous.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2004-Monumental Sculpture, Miami Dade College, FL.
2003-Wood Carvings,Miami Dade College, FL.
1994-Punto de Partida,Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño, Havana .
1993-Tallas de Madera,Galeria Servando Cabrera Moreno, Havana .
1992-Tiempos de Cambio, Libreria La Moderna Poesia, Havana .
1991-Tallas de Madera , Centro de Arte 23 & 12, Havana .
1991-Formas de Hierro, Galeria Enrique J. Varona, Havana .
1991-Formas de Hierro, Galeria Wifredo Lam, Havana .
1991-Formas de Hierro, Gran Teatro de La Habana.

GROUP SHOWS

2012-Artopia Art Center, Miami, Fl.
2011-Miami Art Basel, Miami Beach, Fl.
2009-31 Escultores Cubanos, MDC West, Doral, Fl.
2002-37 of Miami’s most Creative Artists, University of Miami , School of Continuing Studies .
2002-Homage to the Virgen de la Caridad, Fraga Fine Arts, Miami .
2001-Art of Cuba,Maxoly Gallery, Miami .
2000-Association of Sculptors of South Florida .
1999-Cuba,The Florida Museum of Hispanic and Latin Art, Miami .
1998-The Florida Museum of Hispanic and Latin Art, Miami .
1997-General Consulate of Mexico , Miami , FL.
1997-Bird Road Art Connection, Miami, FL.
1995-Universidad Cartagena de Indias , Colombia .
1993-Salon 13 de Marzo, Universidad de La Habana.
1992-ACCA Group Show, Calle Obispo head office, Havana .
1992-Salon Nacional de Cultura, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales.
1991-IV Salon “Mirta Cerra”, Bejucal, Havana.
1991-Jornada de la Cultura Cubana, Galeria Wifredo Lam, Havana .