Grand Cayman
In Grand Cayman, Esteban combines two locally sourced materials to craft a work that harks back to the earliest pre-settlement history of the Cayman Islands. With this sculpture, the artist recalls the once ubiquitous namesake of these Islands, the Caiman reptile, whose evocation alone conjures the extraordinary. The same feeling of wonder is produced by the impressive dimension of the sculpture and the beauty of its raw rugged material, resulting in a spectacular creature that seems at once frozen in time and breathing with energy.
About the Artist
Horacio Esteban
b. 1963
Born in Cuba and raised in Cayman Brac, Horacio Esteban is a sculptor and jeweller known for his use of the local semi-precious stone Caymanite. A core member of the Native Sons artists collective, he was recognised by the Cayman National Cultural Foundation for Artistic Excellence in Sculpture (2002) and in 2017 received the Artistic Director’s Visionary Award. In 2004 Esteban was the recipient of the NGCI’s Artist Away Grant and in 2015, he was selected for residency in the inter-island artist lock-in project in Jersey, Channel Islands, produced by the Jersey Arts Trust in partnership with Jersey Heritage and Wild Works Theatre Company. NGCI exhibitions include Emergence (2005), Native Sons’ Fahive (2005), All Access (2015), Saltwater in their Veins (2017), a solo exhibition, Horacio Esteban (2017), Revive: Contemporary Caymanian Craft (2017), Cross Currents – 1st Cayman Islands Biennial (2019), Island of Women: Life at Home During our Maritime Years (2020), a solo exhibition, Alchemy (2020), and The People’s Collection: A 25-Year Cultural Legacy (2022).
