CARLOS MADRIZ b. 1972 CARACAS – VENEZUELA
Born and brought up in Caracas, in the mid-80s Carlos started experimenting with
drawing, etching, silk-screen printing, design, painting and Street Art. It was at this
time that he developed the skills and techniques needed to handle the X-Acto blades
that became his constant companion for creating stencils, a defining characteristic of
his artwork. He began producing small and medium size prints, small, medium and
large paintings, and then murals.
In the early 90 s, Carlos began studying at Caracas Advanced School of Arts and at the
same time became involved in a number of projects born out of the local punk rock
scene, including the design and creation of fanzines and posters and band
merchandising activities such as designing and printing tee-shirts. In the mid-90,s he
moved to San Francisco, California, where he completed his studies in painting and
printmaking and took part in various collective mural projects, taught workshops and
exhibited his artwork in a number of group shows in spaces such as Balazo Mission
Badlands Gallery, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts MCCLA, Atelier Golgotha,
SoMa Gallery and City Arts SF.
Then in 2000 he moved to London. Here he worked teaching art workshops for young
people, painting murals and showing his work at exhibitions in socially-committed
cultural centers in Brixton, a neighborhood in south London.
In 2002 he moved to Lecrin Valley in the province of Granada, southern Spain, where
he lives and works today.
The inspiration for Carlos work comes from the Latino American popular culture in
which he grew up and from the rebellious, non-conformist energy which surrounded
him at the beginning of his career. These influences are still present in his work, spiced
up with a touch of biting, sometimes hard-hitting, humor.
Carlos does not consider himself so much an artist as a maker of images, free from
pretensions and power trips, and this makes his work accessible to a wide audience.