Carolina Sardi (b. 1967, La Plata, Argentina), residing in Miami, FL since 1995

Education

1992 MFA in Sculpture, Facultad de Bellas Artes , Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina

1985 Bachelor in Arts, Bachillerato de Bellas Artes, U.N.L.P., Argentina.

Artist Statement

My art is my way of expressing my world vision. I try to convey maximum information in the most minimal but essential forms .

Although I work mainly with steel, my sculptures and installations have an organic sensibility that reflects my interest in the basic interactions of life. The references to geometry, natural shapes and the use of positive and negative spaces are a response to the search for a balance between opposites.

Wall compositions are separated from the surface of the walls with a distance of one or two inches, creating a floating effect in the space that is enhanced by light and shadow. The blank walls become the medium and support for each one of these installations. The free standing and hanging pieces use the void as the main visual element. Space is a medium and transparency is always an important factor in these pieces.

Color, or the absence of it, is used to emphasize the strength of each shape and the placement of the shape in the space. The concept behind each artwork is as important as the image. The space is as important as the shapes that create the whole composition. Subjects and messages are open to personal interpretations.

The interaction with the spectator brings forth multiple ways of reading each composition.

Selected solo exhibitions include: Panamerican Art Projects Gallery in Miami and Dallas, Lelia Mordoch Gallery in Paris, Cheryl Hazan Gallery in New York; Steps Gallery in London, UK; Wall Pieces at Heriard Cimino Gallery in New Orleans, Exquisite Tension at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo,FL; Blue at the Government Center Gallery from Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs ; Over/Under at Flashpoint Gallery in Washington DC ; Forest at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach , Bee at Mia Gallery, Miami International Airport ; Imaginary Lines at the Museum of the Americas in Washington DC and Free to be Captive at the Museum of Art of Fort Lauderdale.

Sardi has extensive experience in designing, fabricating and installing public, private and corporate art projects. Some examples of commissioned works include Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Port of Miami, Baggage Claim, Terminals 4 and 5, Water and Suitcase Projects (2003); Oppenheim Architecture, Ilona Buiding Fence and Gate , Miami Beach (2001) ; Related Group of Florida, Icon Building Miami Beach Lobby’s Sculptures and The Slade Palm Beach Hanging Sculpture (2004-2005) ; Marriott Biscayne Hotel Lobby’s Sculptures ( 2010 ) ; Grand Venetian Miami Beach Lobby’s Wall Sculpture and Epic Hotel Miami Wall Sculpture for the Front Desk (2011) ; Gates, Fence, Louvers and Lamps for the Apogee Beach Building in Hollywood, Related Group of Florida (2013); Icon Bay Odyssey Fence and Gate for Sculpture Park, Miami (2015). She just completed a major wall piece commission for the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Institute , OH.

Her work has been exhibited at the international art fairs of Art LA, Art Shanghai, Art DC, Miart Milan, Ela Asia Taipei, Diva New York, Scope London & Miami, Bridge Art Fair London and Miami, Art Miami, Arteamericas Miami, Palm Beach Contemporary, Art Santa Fe, Art Brussels in Belgium , Scope NY , Scope Miami and Volta NY .

Sardi’s works are held by private, public and corporate collectors in the United States, Europe, South Africa and Latin America; and they can be found in the collections of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and Art Museum of the Americas in Washington DC, Museum of Art of Fort Lauderdale, Miami Dade Art in Public Places, The Related Group of Florida, Neiman Marcus Collection, Heico Corporation and Cleveland Clinic Collection; among others.

 Tour the studio with Carolina Sardi

Notes about different series:

Wall Installations are created by a combination of oval or round painted steel pieces arranged over an invisible grid that produces a visual effect of mathematical repetition in the space. Each element of the whole is different, they keep their individuality and they maintain their particular presence inside the totality. They represent microcosms inside the macrocosm of the composition. The egg shapes can be seen as elementary particles, entities or a symbol of origin; they can become anything and everything when changing color, shape and placement in the space.

Nests are free standing or wall pieces that talk about the void. Steel plates have been pierced leaving exposed holes through which we can see the space and visualize the nothingness or a land of infinite possibilities. The round and oval shapes that were part of this once full plates are gone, and doing so, they create a sense of sorrow for what is left behind.

Associations are about the relationship of one or more elements that gravitate towards each other in space and time intervals. They are interacting with one another and in doing so they exchange information and they bear the traces from the interaction. Organic shapes, lines and space are used to reinforce the idea of freedom of connection between these elements and the way they relate and mirror each other.

Layered Boxes are the opposite pole to the Associations. These works are made by a combination of steel plates that have been cut and welded to create a constrained and maybe dangerous or violent space inside the frame. The negative shapes that are cut on the plates produce layers that are trying to hide the void behind them. At the same time they create different depths, transparencies, light and shadows that expose the void even more and create a violent space inside the supposable safe environment contained in the box.

Swords are compositions where the elongated shapes that relate to the ones in the Associations take a more imposing and maybe menacing presence in the background space of the white stark wall.

Cadenas are hanging pieces that can be experienced as an installation or as individual pieces. Each separate component interlocks with another to create a chain. Each plane relates to another through the void to achieve volume. Every other piece has a cut that allows the connection between them. For me, the chains are the links that tie us to different things, attachments that we are free to break, cells or genetic codes. They are in a sense DNA drawings.

Landscapes use elements similar to the Associations that are engaged in an exploration of the two dimensional space. Using the whole wall, the background is painted and the directional lines, that I use when I work in the compositions, become visible.

Clusters and Constellations take the space above us as inspiration. The visual space is an important part of the composition. Lines and planes are combined to create patterns in the space, a sense of direction and orientation. They have no color. There are like drawings in the space. There are somehow minimal. Why? 'When nothing is left we’ll still have the sky over our heads'.

Plated Pieces are a continuation or evolution of my previous work but adding an experimentation with the process of plating the steel with gold, chrome, copper, brass and silver. This type of finishes creates a new dimension in the works using the play of light, shadow and reflections. Now we not only look at a piece and the shadow that it produces but we also look at ourselves reflected in the pieces. This added effect addresses the philosophical ideas of Narcissus and Plato, the question about form and essence, what is real and what the spectator imagines.

The Fairy Tales series it’s based on the idea and myth of Sisifo rolling a rock up the mountain everyday, seeing it fall and recommencing the work the following day. The concept of repetition is constant throughout my work and the fact the pieces are now stacked together playing with the equilibrium and the limits of the material (steel) is the basis for this new series. As human beings we have become used to repeating the same tasks and routines all the time. These works represent our need to escape from our everyday habits. The round, hollow and elongated shapes are now transformed into elements and objects that tell a whimsical story, fairy tales or curious relationships in the space. The boundaries between the figurative and abstraction are skewed, creating an ongoing dialog and tension between the individual elements and the composition as a whole.

Mobile Sculptures are installations that use the typical round and oval shapes of my visual language; but the pieces are suspended from the ceiling. In doing so, they reinforce the idea of freedom from boundaries and the interconnection between the individual elements of the installation. Organic shapes, lines, space, colors and shadow create a dynamic new dimension that opens a more direct interaction between the spectator and my work.

Solo Exhibitions

2017 Lanoue Gallery, Boston, MA

2016 Elements, Matter and Space, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami. Fairy Tales, Cadenas and Constellations, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris, France.

2013 Fairy Tales, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL

2011 De la geometrie organique des etoiles et des abeilles, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris, France .

2010 Between You, Me and Us, Heriard Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA. Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL.

2009 Urban Nature, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Miami Beach, FL. Counterpoints, Panamerican Art Projects, Dallas, TX.

         The Steps Gallery, London, UK.

2008 Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL. Organic Geometries, Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York, NY.

2007 Wall Pieces, Heriard Cimino  Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

2006 Jungle, La Comunidad Warehouses, Douz and Mille, Miami.

2005 -06 Exquisite Tension, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, Largo, FL.

2005 Over/Under, Flashpoint, Washington, DC,

         Blue, Government Center Gallery, Miami-Dade County Dept. of Cultural Affairs.

         Forest, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach.

2004 Bee, MIA Gallery, Miami International Airport, Miami.

         Bee, Naomi Silva Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2003 Bee, Richard Shack Gallery, Art Center/ South Florida, Miami Beach.

         El Viaje, Art at Work, Mosquera Orthodontics, Miami.

2002 Imaginary Lines, Gallery of the Museum of the Americas, OAS, Washington, DC.

2001 Natural Associations, Starwood Project for the Arts, Coral Gables, FL.

         Visions, Chelsea Hotel, Miami Beach, FL.

2000 Silhouettes, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

1999 Free to be Captive, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

1998 Prospectives, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

         Keep Playing, Art 800, South Florida Art Center, Miami Beach, FL.

1996 Uno, Art 800, South Florida Art Center, Miami Beach, FL.

1994 El Limite y el Espacio, Casa Curuchet (Le Corbusier House), La Plata, Argentina.

         Imagenes Paganas, Espacio Joven, La Plata, Argentina.

1993 Sculpture Exhibition, Centro de Artes Visuales, La Plata, Argentina.

 Selected Group Exhibitions

2015 AR/IN/MI, Fredom Tower, MDCC, Miami

         Shades of Grey, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami

         Scope Art Fair New York, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Miami

         Art Miami, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami

         Objects of Beauty, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami

         Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Panamerican Art Projects, Houston, TX

2014 Departures /Arrivals, 30 Years Anniversary Exhibition, Art Center South Florida, Miami Beach.

         Welcome to the Jungle, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami.

         La Sirena, MIA Gallery, Miami International Airport, Miami

2013 Art on the Green, Orlando, FL

2012 Geometries, Galerie Lelia Mordoch , Paris , France

         Valoarte Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica

         Art on the Green, Sculpture Exhibition curated by Olga Viso, Winter Park, FL

         Art Platform, Panamerican Art Projects, Santa Monica, CA

         Art Houston, Panamerican Art Projects, Houston, TX

         Arte Americas, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL

2011 Leon Ferrari and Argentine Collective, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami,FL

         Valoarte, Arte+Mercado+Obra Social, Antigua Aduana, San Jose, Costa Rica.

         Arte Americas Art Fair, Panamerican Art Projects Miami, Miami, FL

         Palm Beach Contemporary Art Fair, Galerie Lelia Mordoch Paris, Palm Beach, FL

2010 smArt, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL

         Scope Art Fair, Miami, Galerie Lelia Mordoch , Paris-Miami.

         Valoarte , Arte+Mercado+Obra Social , Antigua Aduana , San Jose , Costa Rica .

         L’angoisse est-elle soluble dans l’art ? Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris , France. Don’t call me pretty,     Panamerican Art                   Projects, Miami, FL

         Arte Americas, Pananamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL

         Palm Beach Contemporary Art Fair, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Palm Beach, FL

2009 Triptyque Art Contemporain Angers, Galerie Lelia Mordoch , France.

         Substance and Form, Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York, NY

          Primary Colors, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami.

         Argentine...Argentina ... Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris.

         Art LA, The Steps Gallery, London, Los Angeles, CA

         Palm Beach Contemporary, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris, Palm Beach, FL

 2008 Scope Miami, Panamerican Art Projects Dallas, Miami, FL

          Pinta Art Fair, Panmerican Art Projects, New York, NY.

          Candy Land, Panamerican Art Projects, Dallas, TX.

          Off the Wall, Contemporary Sculpture, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL.

         Dites-le avec des roses, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris, France.

          Art LA, The Steps Gallery, UK.

          Palm Beach Contemporary Art Fair, Panamerican Art Projects Miami & Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris.

2007 Art Miami, Panamerican Art Projects, Miami, FL.

         Scope Miami, Douz & Mille Gallery, Miami, FL.

         Art Shanghai, Aldo Castillo Gallery, Shanghai, China.

         Accent Miami, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, New Orleans, LA.

         Art DC, Aldo Castillo Gallery, Washington, DC.

         V-2 Fiera del Video Arte di Venezia, Douz and Mille, Venice, Italy Space; Vision Sound, (5) art,   Tampa, FL.

         Art Miami Fair, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Paris.

         Miami Miami, Spazio Guicciardini, Milan, Italy.

         Miart International Art Fair, Galerie Lelia Mordoch, Milan, Italy.

2006 Balelatina Video Box, l’eauacquawasseraguawater, Douz and Mille, Basel Switzerland.

         Perfect Timing, Ela Asia, Art Taipei, Douz and Mille, Taipei, Taiwan.

         Aesthetics and Values, The Gallery at Green Library, FIU, Miami, FL.

         Diva New York, Douz and Mille, New York, NY.

         Identities, Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York, NY.

2005 Red Show, Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York, NY.

         More from Scope, Light Contemporary Gallery, London, UK.

         Scope London Art Fair, Douz and Mille, London, UK.

        Indestructible Delicacy, Galeria Galou, Williamsburg, NY.

        Independent Vision, Art League of Houston, TX.

        Brussels Art Fair, Karpio Facchini Gallery, Belgium.

        Art Palm Beach, Karpio Facchini Gallery

       'All Art Collections Start Small', Government Center Art Gallery, Miami.

        Nepotism: The art of Friendship, curated by Edouard Duval Carrie, Museum of Art, Fort   Lauderdale, FL

        Sculpture in Four Dimensions, OAS Museum, Washington DC.

        Arte Americas Fair, Karpio/Facchini Gallery, Miami.

        Art Miami Fair, Karpio/Facchini Gallery, Miami.

        Palm Beach Contemporanea Fair, Karpio/Facchini Gallery, Palm Beach.

2003 Inside the Paper, Centro Cultural Espanol, Miami.

         Summer Sculpture Show, Dorsch Gallery, Miami.

         Art Houston, Mackey Gallery, Houston, TX.

         Art Miami, Grapa Studio of Art, Miami.

2002 Women Singular, Deering Estate, Miami Dade County Parks.

          Harmony, Pegasus Gallery, New York.

2001 Sculptors at Work, Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC.

         Two Women Sculptors, Grapa Studio of Art, Miami Beach

2000 Homegrown, Art Center / South Florida, Miami Beach, FL.

         Four from Argentina, Orlando City Hall, Orlando, FL.

          Hispanic Heritage Month, Miami Beach City Hall, FL.

         All Florida Annual Juried Competition, Boca Raton Museum of Art, FL.

         Spin, National Theme Show, Broward Community College, FL.

1999 Florida Follies, Experiments for the Architectural Environment, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

         Departures/Arrivals, Art 800, South Florida Art Center, Miami Beach, FL.

Private and Public Collections

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC. Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami, FL.

Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Art Museum of the Americas, OAS, Washington, DC.

Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Gables & Tampa Collections, Neiman Marcus. Related Group of Florida, Icon Building, and Miami Beach.

Heico Corporation, Hollywood, FL.

Oppenheim Architecture, Miami, FL.

Lisa and Arturo Masquerade Collection, Miami, FL.

Richard Shack Collection, Miami, FL.

Cesar Gaviria Collection, Washington, DC.

Solita Mishaan Collection, Miami, FL.

Tisch Family Collection, Greenwich, CT

Private Collections in United States, Europe, South Africa and Latina America.

Selected Public and Private Commissions

Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami Seaport, Wall Sculptures for Baggage Claim. Oppenheim Architecture, Miami Beach, Ilona Gate and Fence.

Neiman Marcus, Coral Gables, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Tampa and Fort Lauderdale Collections.

Hyatt Regency Hotel, Wall Installation, Atlanta, Georgia.

The Slade Palm Beach, Hanging Sculpture, Related Group of Florida.

The St. Regis Hotel Fort Lauderdale, Wall Sculpture, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

The Vue, Wall Installation in the Lobby, Orlando, FL.

Trump Tower I & III, Wall Installations and Free Standing Sculpture in the Lobby, Related Group of Florida, Miami, FL.

Epic Hotel, Wall Installation for the Lobby, Miami, FL

Grand Venetian Condominium, Wall Installation for the Lobby, Miami Beach, FL Marriot Biscayne Hotel, Wall Installation for the Lobby, Miami, FL

Apogee Beach Project, Related Group of Florida, Hollywood, FL

Icon Bay building Fence and Gate, Related Group of Florida, Miami, FL Cleveland Clinic Wall Installations, Broward County, FL

Cleveland Clinic Wall Installations, Cleveland, OH