Biography
Karlos Kaplan is the pseudonym of Carlos Fernández Sánchez (Almería, 1980), a visual artist and graphic designer since 1999. He studied at the Almería School of Art, in Spain, specializing in fine arts and Graphic Design. He has also completed complementary training renging from photography (at the CAF—Andalusian Centre for the Photography, and the Almería School of Art), graphic editing programs and web design, to real-time video manipulation and editing, including plastic expression and its different techniques.
For 9 years, he worked as creative director and designer at the design studio Globulart (of which he was a founding partner) for institutional clients like the Agencia Tributaria or the Junta de Andalucía, and companies or organizations like Barceló Hotels & Resorts, the magazine Fuerza 7 an DLR (Deutsche Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt), to name a few.
Since 2014 he lives and works as a freelance artist in Leipzig, Germany, under his personal brand “Karlos Kaplan”. He balances his work in design, photography and communication with the development of his more personal artistic work, which delves into the expressive possibilities of photography when combined with mechanical-analogical precesses and digital illustration techniques, as well as the use of formats and materials that deviate from the traditional world of photography. At the same time, he always leaves a door open to graphic research beyond the camera.
He has shared exhibitions with artists such as Ginés Parra, Antoni Tápies, Joan Miró, Javier Huecas, Rafa Manzano and Javier Mariscal, among others. In 2020 and 2023 he has been invited to participate in the official section of the prestigious international photography festival PHotoESPAÑA showing part of his work.
Exhibitions
2023 Official Section PHotoESPAÑA 2023. Group exhibition: “NO LIMITS (I)” Meca Mediterranean Art Centre, Spain
2023 “TON IN TON” Group exhibition. Westbahnhof. Leipzig, Germany.
2023 “ZSCHAU #1” Group exhibition. Galerie IRRGANG. Leipzig, Germany.
2022 “28. Leipziger Jahresausstellung LUX” Group exhibition. Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Germany.
2022 “Von Adam bis Zielonka. Die Kunstsammlung der Sächsischen Landesärztekammer” Group exhibition. Sächsische Landesärztekammer (Saxon State Medical Association). Dresden, Germany.
2021 “UNION”. Solo exhibition. Ely Dobritz Gallery. Leipzig, Germany.
2021 “DREI” Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany.
2020 “De aquí y ahora” Group exhibition. Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2020 Official Section PHotoESPAÑA 2020. Group exhibition: “Humano III. El tiempo” Meca Mediterranean Art Centre, Spain
2020 “Reapertura” Group exhibition. Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2019 “Weihnachts-Ausstellung” Ely Dobritz Gallery. Leipzig, Germany.
2019 “Offene Ateliers Leipzig 2019” group exhibition. Leipzig, Germany.
2018 “Weihnachts-Ausstellung” Ely Dobritz Gallery, Leipzig, Germany.
2018 “Stadt-Land-Schaft” Budde-Haus, Leipzig, Germany.
2018 “Suranda” Santa Ana Castle, Roquetas de Mar (Almería), Spain.
2018 “Ruptura” Solo exhibition. Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2017 “Bruch” Solo exhibition. Budde-Haus, Leipzig, Germany.
2017 “Rundgang Spinnerei – September” Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany.
2017 “Mediterráneo 2017” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2017 “Blue & Blue contemporary art” Vera, Spain.
2017 “Nuevos nómadas. Arte contemporáneo” Real Alcázar de Sevilla, Spain.
2017 “Elbhangfest” group exhibition. Hans Gallery, Dresden, Germany.
2017 “Rundgang Spinnerei – April” Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany.
2017 “Nuevos nómadas. Arte contemporáneo” Museum of Almería, Spain.
2017 “TERRITORIO SUR. Arte contemporáneo Andaluz” University of Almería. Spain
2017 “Rundgang Spinnerei – Januar” Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany
2016 “Gráfica Contemporánea 2016” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2016 “Rundgang Spinnerei – September” Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Germany
2016 “Rundgang Spinnerei – Mai” Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany
2015 “Karlos Kaplan – Estaciones”. Solo exhibition. Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2015 “JOSÉ GUERRERO y Artistas en homenaje” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2014 “42 Contemporary Art”. Online exhibition. New York & Miami.
2014 “BOX Arte contemporáneo”. Meca Mediterranean Art Center, Spain.
2014 “TERRITORIO SUR Arte Contemporáneo Andaluz”. Museum of Almería, Spain.
2014 “Mediterráneo 2014” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2014 “Arte Gira”. School of Fine Arts, Granada, Spain.
2014 “Gráfica contemporánea” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2014 “Experimenta”. Support Center for Business Development (CADE), Almería, Spain.
2013 “Mediterráneo” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
2012 “Work [in] Progress”. Art School of Almería, Spain
2012 “Arte contemporáneo Español”. School of Spain, Paris, France.
2012 “Arte contemporáneo Español” Art & Planète Gallery. Paris, France.
2011 “Room Art Fair”. Emerging Arts Fair. Madrid, Spain.
2011 “Arte Gira Moving”. IV International Meeting of Contemporary Art. Almería, Spain.
2011 “6 Arte contemporáneo” Acanto Gallery, Almería, Spain.
Grants | Awards
2023 Invited to participate in the official section of the “International photography festival PHotoESPAÑA”. Spain
2022 Finalist in the competition “28. Leipziger Jahresausstellung LUX” Group exhibition. Leipziger Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig, Germany.
2020 Grant “Denkzeit” Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen (Cultural Foundation of the community of Saxony). Germany
2020 Invited to participate in the official section of the “International photography festival PHotoESPAÑA”. Spain
2020 Participation in the official section of the “Luxembourg Art Prize”. Luxembourg.
Publications
2022 “28. Leipziger Jahresausstellung LUX” Catalog. Passage-Verlag Leipzig, Germany
2022 “Von Adam bis Zielonka. Die Kunstsammlung der Sächsischen Landesärztekammer”. Catalog. Sandstein-Verlag Dresden, Germany
2020 “PHotoESPAÑA. Official catalog 2020”. Spain