Carlos H. Matos (b. 1983, Mexico City), lives and works in Mexico City. Employing tools and methods from both architecture and sculpture, Matos deliberately places himself at an ambiguous point between the two disciplines. By stripping architectural elements of their context, he invites us to re-evaluate preordained notions of purpose and meaning, in a process of increasing abstraction that extends beyond the format of the building. Through an idiosyncratic vocabulary of forms, Matos’ work constellates a quasi-fictional realm—complete with ruins, rituals, routines, and characters whose existence is only hazily implied. His process and creations often come to be defined by site-specific contexts, materials and histories.
Matos graduated from London’s Architectural Association and subsequently founded and directed the AA satellite school Beton Machine from 2014-2017. The programme took place in Edward James’ surrealist garden in Las Pozas, Xilitla, MX; and served as a platform to research empirical casting techniques as well as drawing connections of the site to the layered history of monumental sculpture in Mexico. Matos, together with Lucas Cantú, formed TEZONTLE in 2016, a collaborative project that produces research-lead work based on an array of aesthetic and historical references. Using intensive material experimentation, they have constructed a distinct imagery that evokes a bucolic utopia, at once modernist, pre-Hispanic and primitive.
Matos is currently presenting his first solo show at PEANA, CDMX, MX; and has participated in projects such as Yendo de la cama al living, Salon Acme; CDMX, MX; Art of Noise, SF MoMA; SF, US. Casa Ideal, Proyectos Multipropósito; CDMX, MX; A Stubborn and a Hermit Walk into a Bar, Casa Nancarrow, CDMX, MX; Portrait of an Artist, PEANA, CDMX, MX; and Por debajo del árbol, PRAXIS, CDMX, MX. In 2023, Carlos completed Casa Monte, an experiment in shelter and seclusion on the coast of Oaxaca, OAX, MX. Most recently, Matos was selected for a space intervention project at LACASAPARK Art Residency, with construction scheduled for completion later this year. His works as part of TEZONTLE have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in places such as Friedman Benda in NY, US; Museo MARCO in MTY, MX; LIGA in CDMX, MX; Museo Tamayo in CDMX, MX; Kasmin Gallery, NY, US; and Richard Neutra’s VDL House in LA, US; as well as SF MoMA in SF, US, where his work is part of the permanent collection. Public projects include Tenaza, a monumental sculpture commissioned by the XIII Havana Biennial in HAV, CU, and Terma El Papelillo, a sculptural sauna located on the coast of Oaxaca, MX. TEZONTLE was also shortlisted for the Serpentine Pavilion in LDN, UK.