Carlos Cortes’ Visual Art works are based on the study of human nature,and how people relate to each other and to their environment.

This process will take different forms, but there are some common elements:

The exploration of the unconscious.

The use of recycled materials and found objects.

There is often a strong connection with movement and performance in the way the work is conceived or displayed.


Carlos uses the left hand when drawing creative stuff. This process, something he discovered quite late in life, brings up the unexpected and seems to provide a direct channel to the unconscious.


The use of recycled stuff and found objects is due to his interest in marks, scratches and broken bits, which he sees as traces of other people’s activities, a  kind of everyday archeology. In using them the artist is establishing a connection with the past and with the people who  owned them.

He uses these objects as “treasure maps”: There is a secret code he has to unlock in every scratch, dent and fold.


His own paintings, sculptures and installations often share a sense of narrative. In these individual works he combines text and storytelling with frequent and ironic references to saints, gods and myths, and a certain sense of humor.


But Carlos Cortes is also very interested in human groups and their activities. This is reflected mainly in his installations in which he explores collective creative processes through projects in which the public is made protagonist. There is also a concern for the built environment or the landscape, and site specific issues. The final outcome will often transform the way a space looks or how people interact with it.