Exploring identity, spirituality, and the stories carried through ancestry, I use hand-built clay techniques passed down through generations, combining them with the symbols, gestures, and imagery that shaped my upbringing. I create sculptures that blend humor, devotion, and everyday life, moving between the earthly and the supernatural. Through my figures, I honor the people and traditions that came before me while imagining new worlds rooted in memory, ritual, and ancestral storytelling. I work across sculpture, installation, and mixed media, building pieces that feel both personal and universal.—Joel Gaitan
About the artist
Born in Miami, Florida, Joel Gaitan is a first-generation Nicaraguan American ceramic artist. He received his associate’s degree in art education from Miami Dade College in 2014. He has had solo exhibitions at Lefebvre et Fils, Paris, France (2025); Art Production Fund, Rockefeller Center, New York, NY (2023); NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL (2023); Fairfax Dorn Projects, East Hampton, NY (2022); 56 Henry, New York, NY (2022), and KDR, Miami, FL (2024, 2021). His works have been in group shows at Pace Gallery, Palm Beach, FL (2023); Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA (2023); El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY (2022); and The Pit LA, Los Angeles, CA (2022). Gaitan has been featured in Four Seasons Magazine (2025), Elle Décor (2025), W Magazine (2023), The Center Magazine (2023), Cultured magazine (2022), artnet.com (2022), and others. He was an artist in residence at The Residency Lefebvre et Fils, Versailles, France, 2025, and at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France, 2023. He was 2023's Art Production Fund Artist in Focus for the public art program at Rockefeller Center, NY. He is a 2024 USLA Forum Latinx Artist Fellowship recipient. His work is in the public collections of the NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL; The Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC; The Bunker, Palm Beach, FL; El Museo Del Barrio, New York, NY, and The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL. Joel Gaitan is represented by KDR, Miami, FL, The Pit, Los Angeles, and Lefebvre et Fils, Paris, France.
