Alejandro Carballosa - El reverso

The Reverso
In this work I address identity from what remains beyond its representation. The figure, by depriving the face of the gaze, interrupts the usual mechanism of recognition and shifts attention toward a bodily presence that seems to oscillate between exposure and withdrawal. What is denied to us is not an incidental absence, but the very core of the image: an identity that resists being fixed, interpreted, or reduced to an appearance.
The gesture of the hands introduces an enigmatic dimension. Between protection and concealment, the body seems to establish its own boundaries, as if preserving a part of itself were also a form of affirmation. Intimacy then acquires an ambivalent condition: that which is protected can, at the same time, define our relationship with the world.
The intrusion of red fractures the monochromatic containment and sets up a tension between the intensity of what is visible and the opacity of the intimate. Its presence does not solve the enigma of the figure; on the contrary, it emphasizes it. In front of that chromatic field, the body emerges as a surface of contradictory meanings, where vulnerability does not exclude resistance and silence does not equal the absence of discourse.
The reverso proposes a reflection on the distance between appearance and experience, between the identity that is projected and that which remains inaccessible even to the one who inhabits it. The work does not aim to reveal the hidden, but to preserve its complexity. Because every image contains an irreducible zone to the gaze: a reverso where identity ceases to be representation and recovers its condition of mystery.
Alejandro Carballosa, Cuban plastic artist and designer resident in Spain, with a career marked by the exploration of strength, emotion, and beauty in the animal and human figure. His work combines technical realism with a contemporary vision, where color, light, and movement acquire a symbolic and expressive language.
Trained in visual arts and design, he integrates the aesthetic sensitivity of classical art with modern resources, creating pieces that balance energy and introspection.
His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions, and is part of private collections in Germany and the United States
Education
Escuela academia artes plásticas; bachiller escultor, pintor
University
Lic. diseño escenográfico; ISA, Habana, Cuba, 2023
Graduated 2011
Workshop
2022. International Makeup Workshop taught by the Italian maestro Piero Penisi
Exhibitions
2011. Iconographic Salon Nicolás Guillén. UNEAC, Las Tunas. Cuba
2011. Exhibition “Vástagos.” Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2012. Martiano Salon. Galería Taller de Escultura, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2012. Exhibition “Litografías.” UNEAC, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2012. Exhibition “Ejercicio Final Integral.” Academia Profesional de Artes Plásticas, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2013. Martiano Salon. Centro Cultural Huellas, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2013. Exhibition “La Víspera.” Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2014. Salon “Guernica.” AHS, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2014. Salon “La Plástica en Abril.” Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2014. Collective exhibition “El arte, una imagen social.” Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2017. First Salon of Plastic Arts. Galería de Arte de Guáimaro. Camagüey. Cuba
2017. Collective exhibition, Aires de Cubanía. Casa del Alba cultural, Havana. Cuba
2022. Theme wardrobe show at ISA University of Arts
2024 private collections in Germany and the United States