Alexandre Arrechea

(he/him/his)

Alexandre is a contemporary Cuban artist whose work continues to move, surprise, and deliver the type of optimism that sometimes only art can provide. Alexandre’s mode of working site-specifically makes him explore the ideological and philosophical legacy of the surrounding context to create a more engaging interaction with the audience.

In 2022, Alexandre celebrated 20 years as a solo artist through the exhibition Landscape and Hierarchies, which opened at ArtYard in the fall. A summer residency there offered Arrechea the time to reflect, experiment, and create work. During that period, he became fascinated by Frenchtown and the Delaware River, creating works employing water from the Delaware River and drawings capturing moments in the community’s life.

Arrechea is widely recognized for Nolimits (2013), a monumental project composed of 10 sculptures inspired by iconic buildings in New York City and erected along Park Avenue, and Katrina Chairs (2016), erected at the Coachella Music Festival, Palm Springs, California. In December 2020, he created Dreaming with Lions, an immersive rotunda resembling an enormous forum-like library installed at Faena Miami Beach. A monolithic work that serves as a living monument to the sheer force of the human spirit. In 2022, Arrechea’s Orange Functional, a sculpture with orange branches 20 feet high that seems to blossom into 25 functional basketball hoops, opened at Art Omi, which commissioned the work.