CARLOS DÁVILA RINALDI

PUERTO RICO

Carlos’ abstractions present spectators with a complex visual language full of expression, color, and motion. Sometimes minimalistic and other times complex networks of shapes and lines create vibrant canvases buzzing with his signature mark.

Born in 1958, he participated in the GLCA Apprenticeship program in 1979 (now called the AICAD / New York Studio Residency Program), assisting NYC artists Robert Stackhouse and Louis Liberman. He graduated from DePauw University in 1980 with a Liberal Arts Degree.

Though he is widely recognized as a painter and sculptor, throughout his career he has also worked as a Graphic Designer, Illustrator, Art Director, and Creative Director, which has given him an eye for what is current. As an artist, he exhibited four solo shows at Galleria Luigi Marrozzini until the mid-1990s, which were pivotal in his career, positioning him as a creative force within the local art scene.

During this period, Carlos was selected for the traveling exhibit, “New Art from Puerto Rico,” organized by the Springfield Art Museum in Massachusetts and curated by Susana Torruella. In 1994, he took part in the Caribbean Painting Biennial at Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo. Also that year, his works were included in “Yslas: Art in Transit,” presented at Hostos Community College, Bronx, NY.

He became a painting professor at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas in San Juan for two years in the late 1990s and later, in 2001, exhibited his “No Boundaries: a 20-year Survey” at the Museo de Ballaja in Old San Juan, curated by Nilda Peraza (Director at Cayman Gallery, NYC). In 2004, Carlos was part of the traveling exhibit “Puerto Rican Art: Image of a Culture,” presented at the Orlando Museum of Art in Florida. In May 2012, he exhibited a mid-career survey, “Only Essence Remains,” also held at the Museo de Ballaja, curated by William Stover (Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

His work is included in major private and public collections around the world, including the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR), the Ponce Museum, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de PR (MAC), and the New York Federal Reserve Bank, NYC. In recent years, he has participated in various international art fairs, including Red Dot, Circa, Scope, the Armory Show, and PhotoMiami.

His body of work oscillates between colorful abstractions loaded with intricate markings and bold representational works that are keen, almost satirical observations of social issues found in his native Puerto Rico, where he expresses his acute vernacular in vivid colors.

In 2018, he presented “Aftermath,” a personal view of the issues the island faced after Hurricane Maria. In 2020, which proved to be one of his most productive years, he exhibited his perspective on the COVID Pandemic in “Lockdown Paintings,” a series of large-scale paintings that reflect his experience, thoughts, and comments during those highly medically-political times. In 2020, Carlos was part of the “Art in U.S. Embassies Program” in Kolonia, Federated States of Micronesia. In 2023, he presented “Caribbean Soul” at the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. in San Juan.

As an established artist, he has a quiet, resolute approach, while rendering bold and remarkable modernist strokes of his genius. To divide his work into social commentary through figuration and complex abstract language is to be reductive, as his work is a complex visual language full of expression, color, and motion.

WORKS

Last Pick

2022
Acrylic, tar gel, water-based aerosol, & marble dust on canvas, 48″ x 72″

Under the Bridge

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Start Over

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 12″ x 12″

2022
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas , 14″ x 11″

Headgear

2022
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 12″ x 12″

Ruckus

2020
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 72″ x 48″

Orange Accum

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, water-based aerosol, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Top of Mind

2022
Acrylic, tar gel, water-based aerosol, & marble dust on canvas, 72″ x 48″

Another Red Chamber

2020
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on raw canvas, 72″ x 48″

Hot & Bothered

2021
Acrylic, tar gel, water-based aerosol, & marble dust on canvas, 72″ x 48″

Costa Blue

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 48″ x 72″

Top Tier

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Feria

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Morning Light

2022
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 12″ x 12″

On a Limb

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Aquel

2021
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Multitude

2022
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on raw canvas, 72″ x 48″

Whispering Fence

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Pesca de Fondo

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 14″ x 11″

Return to Sender

2024
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 72″ x 48″

Sin Wash V

2023
Acrylic, tar gel, & marble dust on canvas, 72″ x 48″

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CARLOS DAVILA RINALDI

PUERTO RICO

For over 40 years my work has been a mix of abstract and figurative painting. Always in search of the emotional connotations that can be evoked in abstraction as well as the overall frustration of social and political issues that I witness here in Puerto Rico. Usually executed in series that focus on a particular theme or event that in some way has disrupted or caught my attention.

The work stems from earlier figurative paintings depicting an array of objects, toys, dolls, etc., found in old gumball machines and over the years evolved into visual lingo that creates extremely busy canvases and assemblages full of color and strong graphic marks.

A reflection of my love of collecting which I jokingly call Organized Sophisticated Hoarding (OSH). I’ve since referred to these works as “The Accumulation Series.” Oftentimes using accurate visual starting points to create thematic series that share common denominators and have, in many instances, figurative suggestion. Physically the paintings are a layered, built up surface that leaves traces of process with evident corrections and adjustments that accumulate on the picture plane.

Recently I’ve started with a parallel series called “Mind Cleanse,” where a mix of my abstract markings are paired with identifiable elements telling a particular story or memory. The overall experience for the spectator is an interior view of myself, a revealing portrait of my own personality and dark humor. A spin on the common Self Portrait.