Orlando Estrada & Jacoub Reyes: Magos de la Tierra (Magicians of the Land)

In their debut exhibition, Magos de la Tierra, Orlando Estrada and Jacoub Reyes give form to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. The title references the 1989 exhibition Magiciens de la Terre, which took place at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and featured equal numbers of “Western” and “Non-Western” artists, challenging art-world hierarchies of the time. Estrada and Reyes’s translation of the title from French to Spanish signals a metaphorical reclamation: By highlighting a Spanish-speaking territory—in this case, Puerto Rico, a former Spanish colony—the artists emphasize their own cultural and lived experiences. Their collaboration mirrors the sentiment of the 1989 exhibition while shifting the post-colonial conversation toward a broader humanistic approach.

Estrada and Reyes both examine diasporic consciousness and the internal experience of otherness. Their perspective is informed by Puerto Rico’s ongoing status as an unincorporated United States territory, which fosters a sense of geographic and psychological liminality. This in-between state influences how place, power, and displacement imprint themselves on one’s psyche and inform identity. It is an influential part of the Puerto Rican experience, and it resonates across many colonial and formerly colonized contexts.

From this space, Estrada and Reyes explore questions of place and belonging and how these forces affect identity. Using sculpture, assemblage, painting, and printmaking, the artists take on the roles of the Alchemist and the Magician, creating material, spiritual, and psychological worlds. Magos de la Tierra unfolds as a journey through layered histories and collective memory, drawing on literature and Carl Jung’s concept of archetypes—symbols and patterns of thought that occur in myths and dreams—and revealing the deep connections between land, survival, and the formation of the self.

Estrada’s sculptures embody transformation, conjuring terrains that exist beyond and because of the forces shaping human cultural evolution. He combines found objects and 3D-printed forms to create dreamlike assemblages that explore the links between humans, technology, and nature. The sculptures seem to come from geological processes or mythology as much as from human design; they feel almost alive as they emerge, collapse, and reconstruct, displaying instability, motion, and change beneath their surfaces. Estrada channels the tension of physical and psychological displacement, reinterpreting Surrealist traditions through a diasporic lens.

Reyes’s work is deeply personal yet resonates with universal imagery and emotion. Through paintings and prints, he investigates the relationship between the natural environment and his own cultural background. He produces detailed, intricately carved woodblock prints that are often printed on fabric, creating richly textured surfaces where pattern, image, and material intertwine. As the child of immigrants shaped by colonial histories in the Caribbean and Pakistan, Reyes merges academic research with family stories and everyday practices—environmental stewardship, community engagement, sustainable artmaking—and develops visual metaphors that question and reimagine the ongoing impacts of colonization.

Both artists’ bodies of work suggest movement: Reyes’s forms sweep across surfaces, while Estrada’s sculptures shift and flow, evoking constant change. Their figures take on an almost godlike presence—large, hybrid beings that recall earth spirits, ghosts, and entities between worlds—yet they remain unmistakably human. This sense of hybridity reflects the unstable terrain of diasporic identity, pointing to a cultural inheritance shaped by colonialism and its enduring impact on identity, memory, and ways of being.

— David Rios Ferreira, curator

Generous support for this exhibition
is provided by The Onda Foundation

ABOUT THE CURATOR

David Rios Ferreira is a visual artist and independent curator with over 20 years of experience in the arts and culture sector. He has developed award-winning programs that nurture the next generation of creative professionals, including in his current role as director of the Young Learners program at The Museum of Modern Art. His curatorial work amplifies underrepresented narratives, providing a platform for voices, stories, and histories often overlooked in mainstream art discourse. He collaborates with artists who challenge preconceived notions of contemporary art and explore how diverse artistic practices and processes shape and transform the American imagination. His work aims to create space for new and imaginative ideas, approaches, and solutions that deepen our understanding of identity formation and development.

Rios Ferreira’s contributions to the museum field have been recognized through awards such as the Smithsonian Education Award, the Innovative Cultural Advocacy Fellowship from the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, and the Education Committee Award for Excellence in Practice from the American Alliance of Museums. In 2020, Rios Ferreira was named one of the curators for Virtual NYC Curator Collections, a collaboration between N.Y.C. & Company, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Orlando Estrada is an interdisciplinary artist based in Miami and Brooklyn whose work spans sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, and installation and engages with concepts of postnaturalism, identity, and the human condition. Having spent his childhood in the otherworldly setting of a military base on the coastal cliffs of Western Puerto Rico, Estrada moved to Miami during his teens, which ignited a fascination with the relationship between humans and the natural world. This connection inspires his ongoing series of assemblage sculptures that depict narrative scenes set within dreamlike terrain. Seamlessly blending natural and synthetic materials, Estrada’s work reconciles the human-versus-nature binary and engages Gothic themes as a lens for analyzing the diasporic experience.

Estrada holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and an MFA from the University of Florida. His work has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries: Chozick Family Art Gallery, Halsey McKay Gallery (East Hampton and Brooklyn), A.I.R. Gallery, The Latinx Project at New York University, Hordaland Kunstsenter, apexart, NADA House Governor’s Island, Aspen Ideas Climate Conference, Rachel Uffner Gallery, Launch F18, BFI Miami, and Marinaro Gallery. Estrada has participated in multiple residencies: Heat Exchange 2024 hosted by BFI Miami; Hordaland Kunstsenter in Bergen, Norway; the Bruce High Quality Foundation;  and the apexart Fellowship in Seoul, South Korea.

Jacoub Reyes is an artist and public academic based in Florida. His artistic research centers his Caribbean and Pakistani background as a way to expand on themes of colonialism, social response, and ecosystems. His projects with Alfred University, Hunter College, UCSF, and other institutions have garnered international acclaim. 

Reyes graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BFA in Drawing and Printmaking. He went on to receive multiple certifications in sustainable materials from Parsons School of Design. The intersections in his work have allowed him to travel and engage in lectures, workshops, and community events. He has received several notable awards and fellowships.

RELATED EVENTS

July 11, Saturday, 5 p.m. — Opening of New Exhibits
July 12, Sunday, 1 p.m. — Exhibit Tour: Magos de la Tierra

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