wilfredo prieto
1978, Sancti Spiritus, Cuba
Characterized by an almost shocking simplicity, Wilfredo Prieto's sculptures and installations function as tools for exploring social and political issues with a poetic sensibility. His work questions the underlying structures of contemporary culture and reflects on consumption, society, and thought systems themselves. Although Prieto initially trained as a painter, his work eschews classification within a specific medium. While some of his projects are very technically ambitious, the majority of his actions and gestures occupy extremely subtle territory, inviting a certain distancing from everyday experience. Appropriating from the world around him, the artist uses what is at hand to give form to radical, precarious and fragile gestures. His ideas, which function as open metaphors or narratives, are translated into the language of familiar objects and materials. Standing against contemporary society's oversaturated, frantic rhythms, Prieto proposes communicating with the essentials: even when it risks going unnoticed, the simplest thing can often be the most compelling.
Wilfredo Prieto studied at the Escuela Profesional de Artes Plásticas in Trinidad, Cuba, from 1992 to 1996, afterwards attending the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana from 1998 to 2002. During this period, he was a member of the artist collective Galería DUPP (Desde Una Pragmática Pedagógica), with whom he received the UNESCO Prize for the promotion for the Arts in 2000. He participated in residencies at Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2015); Gasworks, London (2008); Le Grand Café, St. Nazaire, France (2007), and Kadist Art Foundation Residency, Paris (2005).
Wilfredo Prieto currently lives and works between Mexico City and Havana, Cuba.
walk, 2000
ornamental plant, ground and wheelbarrow
performance documentation
scale of values, 2001
rum, wine, beer, soft drink, water, plastic glasses
4.33 in. high x 2.76 in. diameter
apolitical, 2001
flags, poles
variable dimensions
matryoshka, 2001
cement tank, iron tank, earthenware jar, plastic dish, aluminium dish, porcelain jar, crystal glass, water
47.24 in. high, 39.37 in. diameter
untitled (globe of the world), 2002
ink on chickpea
0.02 in.
yes/no, 2002
ventilators
66.93 in.
much ado about nothing, 2003
electric generator, water pipe, hose, cables, lamp, plant
variable dimensions
much ado about nothing, 2003
electric generator, water pipe, hose, cables, lamp, plant
variable dimensions
much ado about nothing, 2003
electric generator, water pipe, hose, cables, lamp, plant
variable dimensions
avalancha, 2003
straight line made with spheres assembled from smallest to largest
1,653.54 in.
installation view of balancing the curve, hangar bicocca, milan, 2012
untitled (crane), 2006
crane trying to lift itself
2,362.2 in.
installation view at madrid abierto 06, 2006
grease, soap, and banana, 2006
grease, soap, banana peel
9.84 in. diameter
smart gum, 2008
chewing gum
variable dimensions
politically correct, 2009
watermelon
variable dimensions
holy water, 2009
puddle of holy water
variable dimensions
installation view at IV bienal de jafre, spain, 2009
tied up to the table leg, 2011
table, rope, helicopter
variable dimensions
installation view of tied up to the table leg, ca2m centro de arte dos de mayo, madrid, 2011
sad circus, 2012
circus
dimensions variable
installation view at XI bienal de la habana, 2012
illuminated stone and unilliminated stone, 2012
stones, light
variable dimensions
two shoes and two socks, 2012
shoes, socks
variable dimensions
two stones and a mirror, 2012
stone, mirror
variable dimensions
the more you add, the less you see, 2011
cling film
66.92 in.
Solo exhibitions include: Neblina alrededor del árbol, Galería Gato, Lima, Peru (2026); Troppo facile per l’incredulo vedere da lontano, Spazio Volta, Ex Chiesa di San Rocco, Bergamo, Italy (2024); Fake News, as part of Siembra, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2021); Chiudere un occhio, Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples, Italy (2019); You can’t make a revolution with silk gloves, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2016); Speaking Badly about Stones, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium (2014); Dejándole algo a la suerte, Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City (2012); Equilibrando la curva, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan (2012); Izquierda / Derecha, Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo (MARCO), Spain (2011); Amarrado a la pata de la mesa, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), Móstoles, Spain (2011); Mountain, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium (2008); A Moment of Silence, as part of Artist Web Projects, Dia Art Foundation, New York (2007); Dead angle, KADIST, Paris (2006); Mute, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Canada (2006); Mucho ruido y pocas nueces II, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), Spain (2005), among others.
Group exhibitions include: Why Socialism? By Albert Einstein, kurimanzutto, New York (2025); Love is Louder, BOZAR Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium (2024); From Ukraine: Dare to Dream, organized by PinchukArtCentre, Palazzo Contarini Polignac, Venice (2024); Taken Apart & Put Back Together Again, A Tale of A Tub, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (2024); I am not a Robot – On the Borders of the Singularity, Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, Hungary (2022); Emaús, as part of Interference, Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (2022); Landlord Colors: On Art, Economy, and Materiality, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (2019); Other Walks, Other Lines, San José Museum of Art, California (2018); Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017); Wild Noise/Ruido Salvaje, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York (2017); Another Part of the New World, Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) (2015); Under the Same Sun: Art from Latin America Today, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014); traveled to South London Gallery, London (2016); Permission To Be Global/Prácticas Globales: Latin American Art from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami (2013); traveled to Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts (2014); open spaces | secret places, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Austria (2012); Primer acto, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2012); Collection V. CA2M Fund Selection, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), Móstoles, Spain (2012); A Museum That Is Not, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangzhou, China (2011); Barely There (Part I), Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), Michigan (2011); Panamericana, kurimanzutto, Mexico City (2010); Electrified 02 – Hacking Public Space, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium (2010); Hypocrisy: The Site Specificity of Morality, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway (2009); That Was Then… This Is Now, MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York (2008); The Hours: Visual Arts of Contemporary Latin America, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (2005), among others.
Prieto has participated in many international biennials, including: Clean | Clear | Cut, Malta Biennale 2026 (2026); Horizontes compartidos, 15 Bienal de La Habana (2024); Curtain, Cuban Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024); La construcción de lo posible, 13 Bienal de La Habana (2019); Tiempos de la intuición…, Cuban Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017); Prácticas artísticas e imaginarios sociales, 11 Bienal de La Habana (2012); XI Bienal Internacional de Cuenca, Ecuador (2011); Untitled (12th Istanbul Biennial), 12. Istanbul Bienali (2011); Future Generation Art Prize @ Venice, collateral event of the 54th Venice Biennale (2011); Há sempre um copo de mar para um homem navegar, 29ª Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil (2010); Praxis: Art in Times of Uncertainty, 2nd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Greece (2009); Integración y resistencia en la era global, 10 Bienal de La Habana (2009); Territorios, Italo-Latin American Institute (IILA) Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); Belief, Singapore Biennale 2006 (2006); El arte con la vida, 8 Bienal de La Habana (2003); Uno más cerca del otro, 7 Bienal de La Habana (2000), among others.
Wilfredo Prieto and Patrick Charpenel will talk on Facebook Live about "Fake News" published by Zolo Press on Thursday, April 29 at 5 pm on kurimanzutto's facebook and youtube channels.
Siembra's flexible and porous ecosystem expands during ZⓈONAMACO 2021 to welcome a multiplicity of voices from the community.
We are thrilled to be a part of this new gallery-led initiative - an online community of 50+ galleries dedicated to art from the Global South and its diaspora.
kurimanzutto is proud to participate in Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach 2020 featuring a selection of works by: Gabriel Orozco, Nairy Baghramian, Haegue Yang, Jimmie Durham, Damián Ortega, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Carlos Amorales, Roberto Gil de Montes, Wilfredo Prieto, Miguel Calderón.
Fake News was the first online exhibition in Galeria Habana preseted in real time through the social media accounts of Galeria Habana and Wilfredo Prieto.
Listen to the playlist Guarapacheando by Wilfredo Prieto on Spotify.
Wifredo Prietowill present an exhibition of all new work, produced during his residency period in Naples, taking over the entire building of Palazzo Caracciolo di Avellino: Fondazione Morra Greco becomes Fondazione Morra Prieto.
