Los Carpinteros

Who is Los Carpinteros?

Los Carpinteros is the name taken by a group of young Cuban artists who as a collective entity specialize in the creation of humorous installations and objects. In 1991 Marco Antonio Castillo Valdes, Dagoberto Rodriguez Sanchez, and Alexandre Arrechea formed what would become Los Carpinteros—however they didn’t adopt the name until 1994, “deciding to renounce the notion of individual authorship and refer back to an older guild tradition of artisans and skilled laborers.” However, by 2003, Alexandre Arrechea decided to leave the threesome, leaving Marco and Dagoberto to be the duo behind the name. Both Marco and Dagoberto were born in Cuba and today they live and work in Havana. They have exhibited in their native land, Europe and North America, and have received a number of prestigious awards.

Marco Antonio Castillo Valdés was born in 1971 in Camagüey, Cuba. He studied at the Escuela Elemental de Arte and the Escuela Provincial de Arte, both in Camagüey. He completed his studies in 1994 at the Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba.

Dagoberto Rodríguez Sánchez was born in 1969 in Caibarién, Las Villas, Cuba.