Raúl De Nieves: Eternal Return & The Obsidian Heart
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami
October 15, 2020 – March 21, 2021
As the lead designer, I created the graphic identity and exhibition wall graphics for Raúl De Nieves: Eternal Return & The Obsidian Heart, the most comprehensive survey of the artist’s work to date. The exhibition wove together de Nieves’s ornate sculptures, operatic performances, and ritual-inspired installations—exploring cycles of time, transformation, and transcendence.
The logo became a site of tension and transformation in itself. The artist envisioned typography inspired by Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, illuminated manuscripts, and mythic symbology—complete with an ouroboros snake encircling the title and his signature fly. Meanwhile, MOCA’s Executive Director requested a modern, minimal treatment. My solution was a careful synthesis: elegant serif lettering grounded in editorial precision, encircled by hand-drawn symbolism, with a discreet fly tucked beside the artist’s name. That small detail—drawn from studying the recurring fly motif in his work—resonated deeply with de Nieves, who felt seen in a way design rarely allows.
The resulting identity reflects the exhibition’s layered themes: opulence and DIY, ritual and punk, celestial geometry and queer divinity. The wall graphics were installed within the museum’s atrium, opening a portal-like threshold that mirrored the show’s own meditations on time, rebirth, and spiritual reflection.
Curator: Risa Puleo
Installation Photography: Daniel Bock