Sebastián (born Enrique Carbajal González on November 16, 1947) is a Mexican sculptor best known for his monumental works of steel and/or concrete in both Mexico and abroad. These include a number of “gate” sculptures such as the Gran Puerta a México in Matamoros, Tamaulipas but his most famous sculpture is the “Caballito” located in downtown Mexico City. His works are found in various countries outside Mexico, such as Japan where two are now used as city symbols.
Early life and career
Sebastián was born Enrique Carbajal González on November 16, 1947, in Santa Rosalía de Camargo, Chihuahua in northern Mexico. He knew he wanted to be an artist since he was a small child. He lived in Chihuahua until he began studying in the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Mexico City in 1964. When studying in Mexico City, he survived by working at restaurants and buying clothing to sell it for a profit in Chihuahua. Heavily influenced by the work of Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso, he won first place in the 1965 Annual Exposition of the National Plastic Arts School at UNAM.
He was 21 and a student at ENAP when the 1968 student strikes broke out. After the October 2 massacre, he was detained along with many other students for his participation in the movement. That same year Sebastián had his first individual show featuring his ceramic work in the Museum of Art of Ciudad Juárez.
He adopted the pseudonym Sebastián after the painting of Saint Sebastian by Botticelli.
He lives and has his workshop in Mexico City. His art career has also led him to work with various organizations such as the Worlds Arts Forum Council in Geneva, the Artists Council in Defense of the Lascaux Caves in France, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, the board of the State of Mexico Symphonic Orchestra, the administrative board of the Fundación Margarita Miranda de Mascareñas and the International Sculpture Council. In 1977 he was a founding member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Derechos de Author and in 1985 he was president of the Asociación Nacional de Artistas Plásticas in Mexico.
Career
He began his career near the end of the 1960s. After completing his formal studies he continued his work with short-lived schools and movements such as the "Salon Independiente". He put on his second individual exposition, where he displayed ostensibly simple paper carton works that he called "desplegables" (folders). These smaller works became the base of ideas for his later monumental works made with tons of iron and concrete. Since 1968, he has had over 120 individual exhibitions of his work in Mexico, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, England, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Canada, Finland, the US, France, Japan, Switzerland and Venezuela. His work has been shown in the main museums of Mexico including the Museo de Arte Moderno, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Museo Tamayo, the Museo de Ciencias y Artes of UNAM, the Palacio de Minería and the Museo de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. In 2012 he held an exhibit at the Museo de Bellas Artes of the State of Mexico in Toluca. He has served as a jury member at the North American Sculpture Exhibition in Colorado (1986, 1991), the Concurso Nacional and Triennial Americana de Escultura en Madera in Argentina (1993) and the Alexandria Biennial (2001) .
He was the artist in residence for Dartmouth College (1990) and he received a fellowship from the Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (1994-1996) .
In addition to the creation of sculpture and other art, he has worked as an academic, giving courses, workshops and conferences at various universities and other institutions in Mexico and abroad. In 1973 he was a guest lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design . In 1985 he became an academic associated with the Academia de Artes in Mexico. In 1992 he presented at the Universidad Autónoma de la Laguna in Torreón. For over twenty five years he has been a professor and researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. He also teaches sculpture, visualization and multimedia classes at the Institutio Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico City.
