Profile
Carlos Zapata
Carlos Zapata makes idiosyncratic carved and painted sculpture and installation. His work deals with many challenging and potent themes from poverty, conflict, religion and race, yet paradoxically, the overriding characteristics of the work are of empathy and compassion. Zapata’s work belongs to and takes inspiration from Folk and Tribal Arts from all over the world but specifically from South America, from its indigenous populous and the trade routes and traditions that have fed it over the centuries. Many of his sculptures have evolved from personal experience of living in a foreign land and from his home country where civil issues continue to trouble its people.
Carlos Zapata is a Colombian artist born in 1963 and living in Britain since 1984, He lives in Redruth, Cornwall UK. Zapata has exhibited Internationally with works held in numerous private collections and museums around the world.
Self-taught
2025
Deep Midwinter, James Freeman Gallery, London UK
Sentinel, Tremenheere Sculpture gardens, Penzance UK
The land will call you home, Tremenheere Sculpture gardens, Penzance UK
Summa, Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives UK
2024
Nepantla, (Solo) Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives UK
PRESENCE, The Figure in British Postwar & Contemporary Sculpture, Messums West UK
Where the line / breaks, NSA, The Tremenheere Gallery, Penzance UK
Out of Darkness, into the Light, James Freeman Gallery, London UK
A Skin Made Porous, Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives UK
2023
Showcase NSA, Tremenheere Gallery Sculpture Gardens, Penzance UK
Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition (Invited Artist), London UK
2022
Diaspora, (Solo) Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives UK
Memory NSA, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Penzance UK
Teraphim, James Freeman Gallery, London UK
2021
Thresholds, Anima Mundi, St Ives UK
Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition, London UK
Group Exhibition, Withiel, Cornwall UK
Castles of Sand, Anima Mundi, St Ives UK
2020
Beyond Ourselves, Anima Mundi, St Ives UK
168 Annual Open Exhibition, RWA, Bristol UK
Ode to a Nightingale, Anima Mundi, St Ives UK
Sacred Book, (Solo) Anima Mundi, St Ives UK
2019
Ipswich Art Gallery, Ipswich UK
Mixed Winter, Anima Mundi, St Ives UK
The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco USA
2018
Falmouth Art Gallery, UKThe Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco USA
2017
The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, The mall Gallery London, UK
Hearing others Footsteps, (Solo) Anima-Mundi, St Ives UK
The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco USA
2016
Curious Contraptions, The Exploratorium Museum USA
From Silence, Anima-Mundi at Herrick Gallerry, London UK
The Musings of Creatures, Falmouth Art Gallery, UK
Carnival, (Solo) Victoria Art Gallery, Bath UK
2015
Exvotos, (Solo) Millennium, St Ives UK
Automata, Falmouth Art Gallery, UK
Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall UK
2013
Iconos : Sagrado y Profano, (Solo) Millennium St. Ives Cornwall UK
The Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London UK
Stage, Cornwall Art Biennale, Gunwalloe, Cornwall UK
Limbo, The Old Coffin Store, Truro UK
London Art Fair, Islington, London UK
2012
Child Soldiers, Millennium, St Ives UK
The Vickers Collection Aspen Co, USA
Handwerksform, Hannover, Germany
Mixed Winter, Millennium, St Ives UK
2011
The Kinetic Art Fare, London UK
2010
The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore USA
158 Autumn Exhibition, RWA, Bristol UK
The Edge, The Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth UK
2009
Museo Parque De Las Ciencias, Granada Spain
Expressions, Falmouth Art Gallery, UK
2008
Hilde Leiss Gallery, Hamburg, Germany
Tuke, The Falmouth Art Gallery, UK
Paul Spooner, The First Gallery, Southampton UK
Automates Galerie, Brussels, Belgium
Art Science and Philosophy, The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore USA
2007
A Piece of the Action, Bridport Art Centre, Devon UK
Kinetica Museum, London UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London UK
Magical Mechanical Machines, Shire Hall, Stafford UK
Made, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield UK
2006
Brunel 200, Falmouth Art Gallery, UKMechanical Magic, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe UK
The End Of The Pier, Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire UK
Gadget, Gears and Whirligigs, Charles River Museum, Waltham MA, USA
2005
Tree-mendous, Falmouth Art Gallery, UK
Mechanics Alive, Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery, Suffork UK
CMT Exhibition, The Oxo Gallery, London UK
Holy H 2 0, The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, USA
2004
CMT Exhibition, The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, USA
Jeux D’ Automates, Musee Des Automates, Nevilly-sur-seine, Paris, France
Sculpture out of the Ashes, National Maritime Museum, Falmouth UK
CMT Exhibition, The Oxo Gallery, London UK
2003
Summer Show, The Medici Gallery, London UK
Automata, The Rufford Gallery, Nottinghamshire UK
Fur and Feathers, Falmouth Art Gallery, UK
Automata, Royal Pump Rooms Art Gallery and Museum, Warwick UK
CMT Festival, The Oxo Gallery, London UK
2002
Out Of The Box, The Air Gallery, London UK
Summer Show, Hitchcocks Gallery, Bath UK
Natural History Museum, London
The American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, USA
The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, USA
The Arima Museum, Kobe, Japan
Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth
The Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, USA
The Gumma Museum, Japan
Hyunggi-do, Heyri Artvalley, Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
Museo Parque De Las Ciencias, Granada, Spain
The Wrexham County Museum, WalesGloucester Museum, Gloucester
Tudor House Museum, Southampton
The Museum of Cornish Life, Helston
Many private collections around the world
2022 – 23 Develop Your Creative Practice Grant, Arts Council England
PRESENCE, The Figure in British Postwar & Contemporary Sculpture Catalogue, Messums West UK
The Mestizo Art of Carlos Zapata, By Dennison Smith, Publish by Blackwell’sSagrado y Profano, Millennium
Raw vision magazine, RV # 49, pg. 66
Raw vision magazine, RV # 50, pg. 88
Times Newspaper (Monday 5th July 2004)
Carlos Zapata by Andrew Lanyon, 2009
Carlos Zapata, Blurb, 2008
2004 July-September, The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, USA
2005 May, The Visionary Arts Museum, Baltimore, USA
2017 November, The Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, USA
