Alejandro Carballosa - Liturgy of Absence

Liturgy of Absence
The work centers on a suspension of the sacred: a liminal space where angelic iconography, stripped of its usual triumphant solemnity, takes on an introspective and ambiguous dimension. The figure, inwardly folded, seems to withdraw from both contemplation and revelation. There is no epiphany here, but a vestige; no manifestation of the divine, but the persistence of its trace.
The red vertical intrudes into the austerity of chiaroscuro like a semantic fracture. Wound, threshold, or sacramental remainder, its presence introduces a tension between the materiality of the painting and the elusive condition of the trascendent. The contrast with the grayish corporeality of the angel accentuates that dissociation: the celestial loses its idealization and appears in a vulnerable, almost mortal form.
Absence is thus posed not as negation but as a category of presence. That which has disappeared continues to exert its gravity on the image, transformed into memory, residue, and expectation. The figure does not represent the fall of faith, but the interval that follows its certainty: that territory where the sacred persists, even if it can no longer be apprehended through its old forms.
Liturgy of Absence proposes a reflection on the erosion of symbols, the fragility of beliefs, and the survival of the transcendent at the margins of its own disappearance. A liturgy without dogma, where silence takes the place of revelation and the image remains as the last receptacle of that which resists disappearing.

Alejandro Carballosa, Cuban visual 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.
Formed 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 presented in both collective and individual exhibitions, and is part of private collections in Germany and the United States
education
School of Plastic Arts; baccalaureate in sculpture, painter
university
Bachelor in scenic design; ISA, Havana, Cuba, 2023
graduated 2011
taller
2022. International makeup workshop taught by Italian master Piero Penisi
exposiciones
2011. Nicolás Guillén Iconographic Salon. UNEAC, Las Tunas. Cuba
2011. Exhibition “Vástagos.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2012. Martiano Salon. Sculpture Workshop Gallery, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2012. Exhibition “Lithographs.” UNEAC, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2012. Exhibition “Final Integral Exercise.” Professional Academy of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2013. Martiano Salon. Huellas Cultural Center, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2013. Exhibition “La Víspera.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2014. Salon “Guernica.” AHS, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2014. Salon “Plastic in April.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2014. Collective expo “Art, a Social Image.” Provincial Center of Plastic Arts, Las Tunas. Cuba.
2017. First Salon of Plastic Arts. Guáimaro Art Gallery, Camagüey. Cuba.
2017. Collective expo, Aires de Cubanía. Casa del Alba cultural, Havana. Cuba
2022. Theme wardrobe runway at ISA University of Arts
2024 private collections in Germany and the United States