Sebas

Enrique Carbajal González (born November 16, 1947), known professionally as Sebastián, 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 El 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. That same year Sebastián had his first individual show featuring his ceramic work in the Museum of Art of Ciudad Juárez.

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. 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). These works are mostly based on smaller earlier works such as Leonardo 4, Durero 4 and Brancusi 4. Other monumental sculptures by the artist include the El Torreón al Porvenir for Torreón 100th anniversary and the Arcos del Milenio in Guadalajara for the nation's 200th anniversary of its independence. These include "El Quijote" in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, the Phoenix Arch for the city of Sakai, Japan, used as its symbol, a similar piece called "Tsuru" for the city of Kadoma, Japan, and a sculpture for the Kadona Sports Center, all done in the 1990s. He also received the Gral. Angel Trias Alvarez Medal from the Sociedad Chihuahuense de Estudios Históricos (1998), recognition from the Parlamente Cultural de MERCOSUR (2005) and the keys to the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas (2005). Much of his style can be traced to his second individual exhibition where he displayed ostensibly simple paper carton works that he called "desplegables" (folders). These seemingly small works became the base of ideas for his later monumental works made with tons of iron and concrete.

The Museo Sebastián is located on one side of the Plaza Merino in the city of Chihuahua, which used to be the site of a large market in the 18th and 19th centuries. The building was constructed in the 1880s as a mansion. After the Mexican Revolution it became a commercial building. In 1995, the city acquired it to create a cultural center as well as a museum to honor Sebastián. It contains several exhibition halls and a permanent collection of Sebastián's work on display as well as areas for cultural and other kinds of events.