Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal
Artist Statement
For more than twenty-five years I have been focused on the dynamic relationship between landscape and memory. I think because I do not want to lose my own memory, I use many objects to trigger it. I have taken what is already there, in different places, and I transform it. In this way, I give the landscape back what it has given me and what I need to remember.
My depictions function as memorial artifacts, in some way they show veiled and unveiled segments of reality. These segments permit me to observe details which otherwise would be lost in the immensity.
Because of the nature of the technique used, the form emerges from the material itself and the representations radiate an ethereal quality. The technique is based on pre-Columbian paper fabrication: the Mexican Papel Amate. I have transformed that technique by adding resins and other materials such as recycled paper pulp, oils, chalk, charcoal, gold, silver, and bronze. In order to achieve an adequate conservation of the works, I take care that the PH maintains a neutral or alkaline level.
The paintings are attempts to depict, more than landscapes, the past, present, and future spirit of place, in a single moment. As humans continue to plunge into the future, the land is depicted as an immense keeper, as a memorial even, sometimes confronting less than hospitable terrains, ghosts of man-made traces, footprints, and architectural past.
Artist Bio
Mexican artist, architect, and academic; Cuspinera is interested in address environmental and social contexts of historical industry, sacred architecture and art, the relationship between humans and landscape, as well as the museumization, conservation, and enhancement of natural and cultural legacy. He produce and promote new works that demonstrate both evolution and continuity based on pre-existing tangible and intangible heritage.
EDUCATION
Mexican Artist / Architect / Academic. Master Degrees in Management and Enhancement of the Cultural Heritage, Sacred Art and Architecture
2009-2011 History of Science and History of Technology; University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (France).
Management and Enhancement of the Cultural and Historical Heritage; University of Evora (Portugal).
Historical Sciences; University of Padua (Italy).
2010 Diploma Patrimoni Cientific, Tècnic i Industrial
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, (Spain).
2003-2005 Conservando Colendoque. Diplomate Maiore de Patrimonio Culturali Ecclesiae
Pontificia Universitas Gregoriana, Rome, (Italy).
Iconography and Iconology, Reading of a Work of art, Spiritual understanding of the Contemporary Art, Restoration and Museography, History of the Art for the Cult I and II, Early Christian Art and Archaeology, Medieval art in Rome, Art and Liturgy, The Monreale Mosaics, Artists among faith and doubts, from Giotto to El Greco, Cataloguing, Buildings and Mystagogy, Architecture for the Cult, Medieval Architecture, Old Buildings for the Cult, Relative right to the Cultural Assets, Biblioteconomy, Archivístic, Pilgrimage Antique and Medieval.
1996-1997 Diploma in Theology
Universidad Iberoamericana, (Mexico).
1989-1994 B.A. In Architecture
Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, (Mexico).
TEACHING AND RESEARCH
2016 Conference: Pictorial vanguards of contemporary art. Abstraction processes. Center of Arts of Querétaro. (Mexico).
2016 Conference: Architect, architecture and praxis. Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla. (Mexico).
2013 Speaker. Conference: Post Industrial Communities and Their Industrial Heritage. Strategies for a Continuous Sustainable Evolution. American Anthropological Association. 112th Annual Meeting. Chicago. (U.S.A.).
2012-2014 Teaching Assistant. Michigan Technological University. (U.S.A.) Lessons: Building America, World Cultures, and Global Issues.
2012 Visiting Professor. Lesson: For a non-invasive archaeology, two case studies. Porto Marghera, Venice; and Tlatelolco, Mexico. At the Department of History and Geography of the University of Padua (Italy).
2011 Master’s Degree Thesis. For an Interpretation Centre of the Porto’s Marghera Industrial Heritage (Venice). The process of “Resignification” of the Cooling Tower – Nitrogen area. (ltaly).
2011 Visiting Professor. Lesson: The Palace of Fine Arts Mexico, Archetype of the Architectural-Constructive Systems of its Time. University of Architecture of Venice, IUAV (Italy).
2008 Technical evaluator of the academic program of Architecture. Autonomous Popular University of the State of Puebla. COMAEA, Mexican Council of Accreditation of Teaching Architecture, (Mexico).
2007-2008 Design Fundamentals, Architecture and Urban Projects II, III, VII. Professor. Ibero-American University, Campus Golfo Centro, (Mexico).
2005 Conservando Colendoque Thesis. Liturgical Adaptation, Mater Societatis Iesu Chapel, Collegio Internazionale el Gesú, Rome, (Italy).
1993-1994 Professional Thesis. Revitalization, El Alto Neighbourhood, Historic Downtown of the City of Puebla, Defence of Cultural Heritage, (Mexico).
SELECTED ARTISTIC / ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS
2018 Design and development of altarpiece for the Parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Houston Texas. USA
2018 Project of iconographic and liturgical adaptation, Parish of Our Lady of Monte Carmel. Houston Texas. USA
2015 Iconography program. Reception John Paul II, 3 Children Martyrs of Tlaxcala, 25 Martyrs of the Cristera War, Beato Miguel Agustin Pro, and Altarpiece: Apotheosis of John Paul II. Chapel of the Universidad Popular Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico.
2008 Architectural, iconography, adaptation, restoration and consolidation project. Chapel of the Hacienda Santa Cruz Guadalupe. (XIX Century), Puebla, Mexico.
2005 Architectural, iconography, adaptation, restoration, consolidation, and resident project manager and designer, Mater Societatis Iesu Chapel (XVI Century), Collegio Internazionale del Gesú, Rome, Italy.
2004 Inventory. 190 paintings and sculptures (XV-XX Centuries). Collegio Internazionale del Gesú, Cappella Farnese, Cappella dei Nobili and Residenza del Gesú. Rome, Italy.
Selected Exhibitions
INTERNATIONAL ART FAIRS
2019 Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary. FL, USA.
2017 Art Palm Springs. Palm Springs Convention Center. CA, USA.
SOLO SHOWS
2019 Resonant. Tansey Contemporary Gallery. Denver Colorado, USA.
2018-2019 Paper Trail, medium and process. Santa Fe Clay Gallery. Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2018 Karmel. Cathedral Center, Cameron Hall. Houston, Texas. USA.
2017-2018 Leopoldo Cuspinera. Obra más reciente (recent work). Galería Arte XXI, Mexico City, Mexico.
2017 Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal. Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona, USA.
2017 Deesis. William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2016 Juegos de papel (Paper games). Centro de las Artes de Queretaro, Mexico.
2014 Memoriascapes. William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2014 Unearthing/Reconstructing: pieces of landscape. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, USA.
2014 Peripatetic experience with the landscape. Reflection Gallery, Hancock, Michigan, USA.
2014 Landscape: a memorial artifact. Rozsa Gallery, Houghton, Michigan, USA.
2012 Aqua (Water). Spazio Biosfera, Padua, Italy.
2011 Paesaggi, visioni aumentate (Landscapes, augmented visions). PaRDeS , Mirano (Venice), Italy.
2011 Alberi, Paesaggi, Memorie (Trees, Landscapes, Memory). Palazzo Guarnieri, Feltre, Italy.
2011 Riciclare il Paesaggio (Recycling the landscape). Exhibition space of the Università di Padua, Italy.
2010 Centinelas del bosque (Sentinels of the forest). Complejo Cultural Universitario, Puebla, Mexico.
2009 Meta-mémoire (Metamemory). Maison du Mexique exhibition space, Paris, France.
2008 Materia (Matter). Parque España de Puebla exhibition space, Mexico.
2007 Símbolos sacros de la vida (Sacred symbols of life). Galería El Greco, Veracruz, Mexico.
2007 Leopoldo Cuspinera. At the 12th International Conference: Conservation of Historical Centers and Ibero-American Heritage. Puebla, Mexico.
2007 Arbol, Vida, Luz (Tree, Life, Light). Casa de la Cultura. Gobierno del Estado de Puebla, Mexico.
2006 Arbre, vie, lumiére (Tree, Life, Light). Saint-Etienne Gothic Church, Bottens, Switzerland.
2005 Fenêtres II (Windows II). Galerie Espacio, Morges, Switzerland.
2004 Fenêtres (Windows). Gare de Sébeillon, Lausanne, Switzerland.
GROUP SHOWS
2018 Abstractions 2018, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2017 Altered Landscapes. Space Gallery, Denver CO. USA.
2016-2017 Winter Group Show. William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2016 Grandes artistas, grandes obras. art-pla. Galería Ex-fábrica la Constanza Mexicana, Puebla, Mexico.
2016 Hello! Bentley Gallery, Phoenix Az, USA.
2016 Abstracted Landscapes, Four World Views. Space Gallery, Denver CO. USA.
2015 A Stone’s Throw. Two person show. William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2015 UP Focus. Two person show.The DeVos Art Museum, Marquette, Michigan, USA.
2015 Galería Arte XXI, Mexico City, Mexico.
2011 Galerie Espacio, Morges, Switzerland.
2010 Anna Breda Arte Contemporanea, Padua, Italy.
2009 Local d’Art Contemporain, Vevey, Switzerland.
2008 Itika exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
2006 Parque España de Puebla exhibition espace, Mexico.
2004 Galleria Guazzolini, Rome, Italy.
2003 Prissa, Puebla, Mexico.
2002 Memoria exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
2001 Mesón del Molino exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
2001 Galería Galdós, Puebla, Mexico.
2000 Tan Tan exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
1997 Living exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
1996 Casa Poblana exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
1995 Trasgú y los Sapos exhibition espace, Puebla, Mexico.
1994 Plaza de los Sapos, Puebla, Mexico.
1993 Galería La Noria, Puebla, Mexico.
1992 Casa de la Cultura, Puebla, Mexico
Awards
SCHOLARSHIPS
2009-2011 Scholarship from the European Community
2003-2005 Scholarship from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA). Mexico
AWARDS
2015 New Mexico Arts AIPP (Art in Public Places) Purchase Initiative. Finalist, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (Italy). Summa cum laude.
2006 Residency at Parfum de Bethany Foundation. Saint Maurice, Switzerland.
reviews
“Cuspinera’s paintings inhabit the spaces between the past and present. He explores these spaces using symbolism, history, and a large amount of intuition. On first glance the paintings radiate an ethereal quality – the viewer is drawn into an immense depth of material surface. Cuspinera makes his own paper using natural fibers such as bark, cotton or even recycled paper.”
“Trees line up across the horizon, side by side, directly addressing the viewer. Other times less organic objects appear, man-made ghosts of an architectural past.”
“After spending some time with the work, it becomes more apparent that nature and the man-made ebb and flow across the surface in a delicate exchange. Cuspinera expresses a true sensitivity to the natural landscape- from the gentle wisps of freshly fallen snow to the awe-inspiring grandeur of a rugged vista. In this scenery, Cuspinera also alludes to the traces or footprints left by man. The result is layers of endless amounts of memory. As humans continue to expand and infiltrate even what are considered less than hospitable terrains, everything in our view holds a remembrance of the past. The land becomes an immense keeper, a memorial even, as humans continue to plunge into the future.”
Melissa Matuscak
Director and Curator DeVos Art Museum
