Collection: Carlos Delgado

Carlos Delgado is a Colombian-Canadian contemporary abstract artist with worldwide recognition living between Colombia and Canada. His abstract compositions don’t represent the image of something or someone specific; instead, they are the manifestation of the artist's experiences, memories, emotions, and his own interpretation of the surroundings. These abstract creations have gained huge appreciation from galleries, collectors, and other artists all over the world. 

Carlos has been a winner of several art awards from the Toronto Arts Foundation, Toronto Arts Council, and Canada Arts Council, as well as a former artist in residence at Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto. 

His work has been shown in group and solo shows in Canada, Colombia, Sweden, France, and Russia. Also, he has been collected by private collectors in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

Artist Statement 

I am fascinated by the way human beings express themselves and relate to one another within our modern systems. The environment that I am in, including all of the cultural and social aspects, are the influences and the subjects of my work. Within these systems, I try to find the human elements, those subtle expressions of our emotions, experiences, and stories which make us unique and yet at the same time connect us to each other. Through my abstract portrait work, I focus on the subtle way these human experiences are expressed, be it in our facial gestures, in the way we occupy and share space with each other, or the way we present ourselves to the world.

My drawings and sketches are my instantaneous translations of the wide array of emotions around me. Be it the way someone looks in a particular direction, or the way they avoid eye contact in a public space. All of these are masks that we wear in public, masks which even though they may try, do not hide the complexity of our emotional human self. The sketches grab a particular emotion and look past the chaos of the mask and everyday realities to find the emotional stories of the people around me. They are created fast and organically so as to not lose any of the subtle self-expression shared through a look, a posture, a gesture, or a glance. 

Translating these moments, I create abstract paintings, oftentimes playing with the techniques of mark-making with a palette knife and letting the paint organically form and interweave the different emotions we all have.  The faces in the paintings are not one particular person, rather they are the emotional translation of the world around me, of many people in one, including myself. They are the reflection of the world we live in and at the same time relate to. The color palettes are formed organically through a process of layering and reflect many states at any given moment. For example, a dark piece can at the same time seem sad and nostalgic as it can be hopeful and strong. Human emotion and the experience of that emotion are never manifested in one simple way, as such, the paintings and the drawings invite the viewer to find their own story within it, allowing for a sense of relatedness. In a world where there is much disconnection from each other, where we co-exist together in the same spaces and yet are not connected, my work hopes to connect us to those subtle experiences which make us all human.