Public Landmarks
Public Landmarks
Carbonell was selected in a competition in 1992, which was to create the largest landmark monument in bronze in the state of Florida, the art work for Miami’s Brickell Avenue Bridge, linking downtown Miami to the Financial District of Brickell. This was the first time that the Florida Department of Transportation incorporated architecture, art and engineering in a bridge design.
Master sculptor Carbonell created the 53-foot bronze public monument “The Pillar of History and the Tequesta Family”, located mid-span on the bridge. The bronze bas-relief column, 36-feet in height, illustrates a carved graphical narration of the lives of the Tequesta Indians, Miami’s first inhabitants, featuring 150 figures. At the top stands a 17-foot bronze sculpture, “Tequesta Family” portraying a Tequesta Indian warrior aiming an arrow to the sky searching for his place in eternity, as the wife stares into space in search for a better life, and the child aware of their eminent extinction covers his face with his hands, as he cannot face his future.
Four bronze bas-reliefs are located on the support piers, which honor Miami’s pioneers’ Henry Flagler and D.A. Dorsey, William and Mary Brickell, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas and Julia Tuttle. These pioneers are depicted in their historical settings. In addition, twelve bronze bas-reliefs of the Florida Fauna adorn the base of the flagpoles.
Pillar of History
Tequesta Family
Florida Pioneers
Florida Fauna
“El Centinela del Rio”, Brickell Key Point, Miami, Florida
This public monumental landmark sculpture is located at Tequesta Point on Brickell Key, at the entrance of the Miami River. This sculpture can be experienced on the island, and from downtown town as well as the open waters of Biscayne Bay.
Carbonell was commissioned in 1998 by the Swire Art Trust to create, a 21-foot bronze sculpture “El Centinela Del Rio”, this iconic landmark is depicting a Tequesta Indian blowing into a bronze and alabaster conch shell. This monument is perched upon a 6-foot pedestal covered in coral rock.
The statue is muscular, and of an immensely powerful Tequesta Indian that is serving as a welcoming figure to the magic city of Miami, and a luminous beacon of light at night. To highlight the symbolic nature of the conch shell you grasp anticipation, passion, celebration, sheer joy, unending joy, in sounding the spiral instrument again and again. This monument serves as a civil talisman.
National Blue Army Shrine of our Lady of Fatima, Washington, New Jersey
In 1978-79 Carbonell set out to create this 26-foot bronze sculpture of the Virgin of Fatima which rest atop the 150-foot shrine. It was one of the largest bronze sculptures cast in the United States during the 20th Century.
Analyzing this tremendous sculpture up close you will realize the proportion of the hands seem rather large, however this was intentional on Carbonell’s part because he completely understood the perspective and exactly what would happen in relation to where the sculpture was going to be placed. As you will notice once it is placed in position the hands have a unique attribute as though they are prominent without being prodigious.
At the time of creating this enormous monumental sculpture, Carbonell actually had his own foundry established in Miami to cast it. A fellow artist Guy Garcia helped to assist him as part of the team. Carbonell was 61 at the time and the difficulties of creating together with running a foundry became a bit overwhelming, and he came to realization he and his spirit would be better off subcontracting his bronze castings.
“The Manatee Fountain”, Brickell Key, Miami, Florida
Swire Properties commissioned this wondrous fountain, and it is a composition of three Indian children playing with two manatees, a mother with her calf. Manatees are also known as the “sea cow”, has a special relation in the area, as one of the two subspecies is the Florida manatee.
Their behavior is that of a gentle and slow –moving animal. Most of the time is spent eating, resting, and travelling, so it is a delight to experience them engaged with these children having a tender encounter enjoying the shared water.
This public landmark is in a serene setting overlooking the waterfront at the walkway between, Two and Three Tequesta Point condominiums, creating a special oasis of a water feature on Brickell Key, Miami. Florida. Complimenting further to Carbonell’s contribution to Miami first inhabitants.
