For more than 25 years, Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal (born 1971 in Mexico) has dedicated himself to the theme of landscape, its symbolic content and, its contemplation as a mirror of our soul and as a symbol of religious beliefs. Using handmade paper enriching it with pigments and metals, he creates archetypes of a nature in which the human being is sometimes present through his footprints but always as a witness.
In Cuspinera’s work, each tree stands for the tree of life. The abstraction of reality takes place through a reduction of colors to almost monochrome depictions. Oceans and forests are overlaid with clouds of fog that blur the contours of all topographical elements. Our vision is obscured. Foreground and background move closer together through these calculated effects. At the same time, the fog is a reminder of change and transience. Fog rises when the day awakens and also before darkness falls, as we know from the famous lullaby ‘Der Mond ist aufgegangen’ (‘The moon has risen’) based on the poem by Matthias Claudius (1740-1815). In staging this atmospheric phenomenon, Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal refers to the iconographic tradition of Romantic painters such as William Turner and Caspar David Friedrich.
Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal (b. 1971) studied architecture before supplementing his studies with liturgical art, monument conservation and musealisation. His work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions in galleries, institutions and museums in Mexico, Europe and the USA.
Biography
- Born 1971 in Mexico
- 1996 – 1997 Degree in Theology Universidad Iberoamericana, MEX
- 1998 – 1994 B.A. In Architectura Universidad Popular Autónoma del Esado de Puebla, MEX
- 2003 – 2005 Conservando Colendoque. Diplomate Maiore de Patrimonio. Culturali Ecclesiae. Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Rome, IT
- 2010 Diploma Patrimoni Cientific, Tècnic i Industrial Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, ES
- 2009 – 2011 History of Science and History of Technology University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, FR | Management and Enhancement of the Culturaland Historical Heritage University of Evora, PRT | Historical Sciences University of Padua, IT
Selected Exhibitions
- 2021 Solastalgia II. Space Gallery. Denver, Colorado, USA
- 2020 Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal. Soliphilia. Quittenbaum Gallery. Munich, GER
- 2019 Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal. Bentley Gallery, Projects Room. Phoenix, Arizona, USA Resonant. Tansey Contemporary Gallery. Denver Colorado, USA
- 2018 – 2019 Paper Trail, medium and process. Santa Fe Clay Gallery. Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- 2017 – 2018 Karmel. Cathedral Center, Cameron Hall. Houston, Texas, USA
- 2018 Leopoldo Cuspinera. Obra más reciente. Galería Arte XXI, Mexico City, MEX
- 2017 Leopoldo Cuspinera Madrigal. Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
Deesis, William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA - 2016 Juegos de papel. Centro de las Artes de Queretaro, MEX
- 2015 A Stone’s Throw. William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, USA
UP Foucs. The DeVos Art Museum, Marquette, Michigan, USA - 2014 Memoriascapes. William Siegal Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Unearthing/Reconstructing: pieces of landscape. City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center, USA
Peripatetic experience with the landscape. Finlandia University, Reflection Gallery, Hancock, Michigan, USA
Landscape: a memorial artifact. Michigan Technological University Cultural Center, USA - 2012 Aqua (Water). Spazio Biosfera, Padua, IT
- 2011 Paesaggi, visioni aumentate (Landscapes, augmented visions). PaRDeS, Mirano, IT
Alberi, Paesaggi, Memorie (Trees, Landscapes, Memory). Palazzo Guarnieri, Feltre, I’T
Riciclare il Paesaggio (Recycling landscapes). University of Padua, IT - 2010 Centinelas del bosque /Sentinels oft he forest. Complejo Cultural Universitario, Puebla, MEX
Awards
- 2020 Being there in art and church, art collections. Museums oft the Diocese. Regensburg, GER. Artwork selected.
- 2015 New Mexico Arts AIPP (Art In Public Spaces), Santa Fe NM (USA). Finalist
- 2006 Parfum de Bethany Foundation, Saint Maurice (Switzerland). Residancy
- 2005 Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, IT. Summa cum laude