Jorge Mayet
1962
Habana, Cuba
Jorge Mayet’s sculptures and installations draw from his experiences living as a Cuban exile in Spain. Suspended in midair, his photorealistic floating landscapes and uprooted trees offer ethereal, dream-like visions of his homeland. The exposed roots of the trees serve as a metaphor for diaspora, questioning the function of homeland. Mayet’s technique expands upon the region’s local craft traditions and honors the mysticism of the Yoruba religion, which was proliferated in Latin America by the Atlantic Slave Trade.
“Maybe subconsciously, I live like a tree pulled from its roots and in that way my installations are a metaphor for my life, but on a conscious level, I believe that we have to value each part of this Earth that belongs to us, because it is from she that we are able to live.”
Jorge Mayet Works
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El primer beso que te di
2016 Wire, paper mache, sponge, acrylics and textile 15 x 42 x 18 in. (38.1 x 106.7 x 45.7 cm.) -
Cuando Llegue ya no estabas
2016 Wire, paper mache, sponge, acrylics and textile 21 x 59 x 15 in. (53.3 x 149.9 x 38.1 cm.) -
El Ritual está dentro de mi
2016 Wire, paper mache, sponge, acrylics and textile 52 x 32 x 34 in. (132 x 81.3 x 86.4 cm.) -
Obatala
2017 Electric wire, paper mache, paper and textile 48 x 26 x 26 in. (121.9 x 66 x 66 cm.) -
Broken Landscape
2016 Wire, paper mache, sponge, acrylics and textile 72 x 51 x 49 in. (190.5 x 129.5 x 124.5 cm.)
Exhibitions at the gallery
Delicate Industry
Frances Goodman Jorge Mayet Pascale Marthine Tayou Eric van Hove
May 1 - July 13, 2019
Press links
August 20, 2016 Hi-Fructose: Cuban Exile Jorge Mayet Builds Tiny Worlds as Tribute to His Homeland
Jorge Mayet’s miniature floating sculptures serve as compelling metaphors for the artist’s complex relationship to his native country. Mayet was born in Cuba, yet has been living and working in Mallorca, Spain as an expatriate. Despite the circumstances, his sculptures…
August 5, 2016 Time Out New York: Broken Landscape
Nature is given a surreal lift in these sculptures by Mayet, a Cuban artist based in Spain. Three-dimensional landscape vignettes, and trees pulled from their roots, are suspended to created the illusion that they are floating in space. The results…
June 29, 2016 Neolillusion: Broken Landscape :: Jorge Mayet
Trees suspended in space mystique, roots dancing free of ground, branches reaching upwards towards spot lit auras revealing graciously that as it is above so it is below. That which is hidden is the structure that gives birth to…
March 30, 2016 Colossal: Suspended Tree Sculptures Connect an Artist to His Cuban Roots
Jorge Mayet’s tree sculptures produced from paper, wire, fabric, and acrylic showcase the ways in which a tree’s roots often mimic the branches that spread above ground. In these suspended works the underground systems are far more expansive than what…
March 28, 2016 Trendland: Hanging Tree Sculptures by Jorge Mayet
Cuban expatriate artist living and working in Mallorca, Spain, Jorge Mayet recreates with beautiful precision trees and root structures using papier-maché, paints, wires, and metals. Devoided of political connotation Mayet’s work is a reminiscence of his native Cuba as well…
March 28, 2015 My Modern Met: Miniaturized Landscapes by Jorge Mayet Appear to Float in Mid-Air
Artist Jorge Mayet sculpts miniature landscapes that look like they’re islands floating in an infinite abyss. The small works, which appear against white gallery walls, create the illusion that they’ve splintered from the ground. Their roots and soil are exposed…
March 9, 2015 Visual News: Tiny Worlds Float on Gallery Walls. Sculptures by Cuban Artist Jorge Mayet
Cuban artist Jorge Mayet is creating his own miniature worlds. Attached to white walls, many of his sculptures seem to float in the sky, their bottom sides revealing raw soil and roots as if they have ripped free from all…
June 17, 2014 The National: Cuban artist Jorge Mayet has first gallery exhibition in Dubai
Without even a single glimpse of his work, Jorge Mayet’s story is compelling. The artist, a Cuban exile living in Mallorca, Spain, has a photographic memory that allows him to paint photorealistic landscapes based on scenery seen years ago. He…
