Patina Gallery is thrilled to introduce a brand-new architectural-inspired sculpture by New Mexico artist Roberto Cardinale.

Cardinale was an early artist to the gallery, going back over 20 years where he showed sculptures inspired by churches and cathedrals around the world. Inspirations for his work that are set closer to home pay tribute to New Mexico missions and churches such as the Loretto Chapel and El Santuario de Chimayó, among others.

Now Cardinale presents Marcel Breuer’s Whitney, honoring one of New York City’s most notable buildings designed by Hungarian-born, Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer.

“Roberto and I go back to the early 90s but got to know each other better during the Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference when it was held in New Mexico in 1997. He’s a talented, renaissance artist with history as a jeweler, and with deep knowledge of architecture and art. Allison and I adore working with Roberto once again!”
Ivan Barnett

An early life as a Benedictine monk, Roberto Cardinale was inspired by the design of sacred spaces, which would manifest later in his sculptures. He left college to enter a monastery, where he began his studies in ecclesiastical architecture and pursued a life of religious devotion. Cardinale has been a ceramicist, sculptor, metalsmith, professor, and president of both the Art Institute of San Antonio and the New Mexico Museum of Art. Today, in addition to his work in sculpture, he’s a Realtor for Sotheby’s in Santa Fe.

“My first visit to the former Whitney Museum of American Art by Marcel Breuer in NYC was an epiphany of architecture and sculptural form for me. This love affair with sacred forms took off in the mid-1980s when I started to build wooden sculptures of churches, synagogues, chapels, and towers.”
Roberto Cardinale

Like Breuer’s masterpiece, Cardinale creates a daring and innovative modernist statement.

A notable 20th-century cathedral for American art, the artist’s interpretation of the museum honors the site for the modern and organic revelation that it is. Striving to capture the emotion that is imbued in the architecture itself, he creates soft mixtures of color and texture. Exterior embellishments all expertly honor the scale and proportion, capturing elements that nod to the original structure.

A portion of the proceeds from Marcel Breuer’s Whitney will benefit Cornerstones.A nonprofit dedicated to restoring historic structures and preserving cultural landscapes across New Mexico & the greater Southwest.

Adding to the exhibition, Cardinale hand carves the St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, singular for its hyperbolic paraboloid form and brutalist design, and the Bell Tower of the Annunciation Benedictine Monastery, which Breuer called Bell Banners. An interplay between artistic expression and sacred devotion, Cardinale’s interpretation of the chapels honor both sites for the modern and organic revelation they are.

Cardinale's handmade sculptural objects are beautiful examples of contemporary art documenting a spiritual and architectural legacy while stirring the soul.

For more information on the work, please email: allison@patina-gallery.com

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