The Kendall Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MoCA-Americas) unveiled 'Carlos Albert, Towards the Unknown' by Alfonso de la Torre on Friday, November 24, with the Spanish artist himself in attendance. This volume was previously introduced to the public on April 26, 2023, at the Sabatini Auditorium of the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, featuring its author Alfonso de la Torre and the artist himself. The book has been sponsored by NG Gallery, Aquilaluna Gallery, and MoCA-Americas. Also present at the launch were Cécile de Froidmont, Director of Aquilaluna Art Gallery, Leonardo Rodríguez, Founding President and CEO of MoCA-Americas Kendall, and Nivaldo Carbonell, Director of NG Art Gallery.

With this project, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas continues a purpose that has been repeatedly interrupted by the coronavirus crisis and the war in Ukraine: the creation of MoCA-A Editions. Having its own publishing house has been a long-considered project aimed at publishing educational monographs on key artists from its collection, as well as specific topics of artistic and community interest. In the same vein, MoCA-Americas is also working on the creation of the editorial profiles for a visual arts magazine that will initially be published biannually, starting in the second half of 2024.

Carlos Albert

Carlos Albert (Madrid, 1978). The Madrid-born sculptor Carlos Albert began his work in forging in 1999 alongside Martín Chirino, from whom he learned not only technique and sculptural conception but also discovered new paths in his artistic creation. That same year, he founded the "Group 99" with other artists, a collective whose manifesto extols "the traditional values of art" at a confusing time for the sector.

He continued his education at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University with a degree and a Diploma in Advanced Studies, and thanks to a scholarship from the Madrid university, at the Camberwell College of Arts of the London Institute (1999-2000). Throughout his career, he has also been awarded scholarships by the Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg (2001), the Elsa Peretti Foundation in Girona (2002), and the Hong Hac Dai Lai JSC of the Flamingo Group of Vietnam (2017).

Albert's work revolves around iron and corten steel, shaping them in such a way that his pieces almost come to life, in a continuous search for movement, explorations of space and geometry, and reflections between the object and the void. Although his practice is firmly rooted in Abstraction, he considers himself a very traditional artist who adheres to classic canons and places great importance on drawing and composition. In his most recent phase, the incorporation of color stands out as an additional tool that reinforces the contrast between volumes and becomes a hallmark of his work.

Carlos Albert's work is found in numerous institutions, museums, public spaces, and private collections such as the National Heritage of Spain, the Complutense University of Madrid and that of Seville, the Infanta Elena Contemporary Art Museum of Ciudad Real, and the Art in The Forest Museum of Vinh Phuc in Vietnam, the City of Havana in Cuba, the collections of the Sevillana Endesa Foundation, the AguaGranada Foundation, the Venancio Blanco Foundation in Madrid, the FRIDE Foundation, the Royal Cavalry Armory of Seville, and Caixanova, and the city councils of Madrid, Santander, Salamanca, Soria, Segovia, Palencia, Cádiz, and Melilla, among others.

He has equally participated in numerous national and international contemporary art exhibitions and fairs, having been awarded significant accolades, among which the Sculpture Prize of the "Heritage Cities of Spain Group", the Gold Medal of the Autumn Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Santa Isabel de Hungary in Seville, the Endesa Sevillana Foundation Award at the LXI National Autumn Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Santa Isabel de Hungary, the First Prize from the Santander City Council, and the First "Victorio Macho" Sculpture Prize of the "City of Palencia" Awards stand out.
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Alfonso de la Torre

Alfonso de la Torre, born in Madrid in 1960, is a theorist and art critic, specializing in contemporary Spanish art. He has curated over a hundred exhibitions, published essays and poetry, and taught courses at various universities, museums, and institutions such as the Pompidou Center (Málaga), MNCARS, Teruel Museum, Universidad de los Andes, University of Córdoba, University of Granada, University of Castilla-La Mancha, UIMP-International Menéndez Pelayo University, or the Université de La Sorbonne. He is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). He has repeatedly published compilations on the poetry of Pablo Palazuelo and has written poetry books since the Ludwig Foundation's publication of "Diez poemas de papel" (1999). His most recent works include "Ulular del espacio" (Vuela Pluma Ediciones, Madrid, 2013), "carmencalvilia" (2014), and "Los sueños vagos" (2017).

Recognized as an expert on the work of Madrid-born artist Gerardo Rueda, he has produced a seminal biographical study ("Gerardo Rueda. Sensible y moderno", Ediciones del Umbral, Madrid, 2006), and is the author of the Reasoned Catalogs of painting for artists: Manolo Millares (MNCARS and Azcona Foundation, 2004); Manuel Rivera (Province of Granada and Azcona Foundation, 2009) and Pablo Palazuelo (MNCARS, MACBA, Palazuelo Foundation, and Azcona Foundation). In 2021, the Reasoned Catalog of paintings by Fernando Zóbel was published (Ayala Foundation, Azcona Foundation, and Juan March Foundation).

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