Miguel Harte was born in Buenos Aires in 1961. Thanks to his father—who in the late sixties co-directed with poet Julio Llinás one of the avant-garde galleries in Buenos Aires where artists including Federico Peralta Ramos, Antonio Berni, Pablo Suárez, Roberto Jacoby, Ricardo Carriera, Oscar Bonny, and Emilio Renart exhibited—Harte was exposed to the art world from an early age. During this time, he painted under the supervision of his grandmother, an amateur painter devoted to the art of copying. Following these experiences, already in his adolescence, he realized that his future would be related to the visual arts. Without attending any art school or private workshop, he trained through his own practice and exchanges with Pablo Suárez—an Argentine artist and family friend.
In 1981, he went into exile in Brazil, holding his first exhibitions in Rio de Janeiro. From 1983 onwards, with the return to democracy, his visits to Buenos Aires became frequent. During these visits, he connected with the local scene and began exhibiting in the underground circuit. Already settled back in his native city, in 1988 he was invited to participate in various group exhibitions. It was then that he abandoned expressionist painting to embrace an objectual art of mural and sculptural nature, aspects that have characterized his work to the present day. This character, combined with the caricaturesque, the popular, and the local in his imagery, quickly caught the attention of critics and curators. Harte distanced himself from the trans-avant-garde and neo-expressionist painting that had defined Argentine art since the early eighties.
Following this path, Harte would become one of the most representative artists of 1990s art and of the Galería del Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, a space indissociable from that period.
The caricaturesque, popular, and local qualities that characterize his early Buenos Aires works appear either through surface-objects featuring semi-humanized animals or in the sculpture-objects that Harte has called "monstruos tiernos” (tender monsters). These are unclassifiable beings, hybrids in which those traits are combined with something sinister and abject.
Oscillating between surfaces and object-sculptures—a characteristic he would maintain throughout his career—from 1990 onwards, the animal or natural universe already present in his earlier works becomes literally manifest.
In relation to the natural world, the industrial, and the dystopian, from 1992 specifically, Harte began developing extensive surfaces painted with hammered synthetic enamel into which he inserted polyester resin capsules containing insects and small plants and minerals; capsules that protect these life forms from calamity produced by some type of toxic liquid or magma spill.
During the period between 1994 and 1996, his production was limited to a few, though laborious, works. A chess enthusiast, he created a board of enormous artisanal effort—crafting each piece by hand without the use of a lathe—and recovering the character of works by his friend and artist Sebastián Gordín, he constructed a series of hemispheres with minute scenes in their interior, which can be observed from different viewpoints thanks to small perforations extending around their surface.
In 1997, he began combining the use of polyester resin—a material that defines his work—with two-coat automotive paint. Continuing with the theme of tension between nature and industry, Harte employed this paint to create monochrome and immaculate surfaces that would be breached in different ways. In some cases, by protruding organic reminiscent bulges—as if something from behind the plane were struggling to break free. In other cases, by horizontal gashes from which a sort of slimy liquid or magma spills, dragging along microworlds composed of the same natural elements that the resin encapsulates on his hammered synthetic enamel surfaces.
Around 1997, Harte also began giving these microworlds or microscenes their own space by making them autonomous from the painted surfaces and converting them into small three-dimensional representations. For the moment, it is landscape that he miniaturizes: profuse and fantastical gardens, clifftop plateaus, or simply rocky geographies. The following year, he would amplify the scale of the scenes, endowing them with human dimensions.
From 2000 to the present, reworking aspects of his "monstruos tiernos" (tender monsters) he has developed the series of so-called "monstruos" (monsters). Connected to the dystopian, these beings evade any possible biological classification. In fact, in addition to exhibiting a cross between the animal and the vegetal, whether through the use of two-coat paint or the general character of their construction, there is something machine-like about them—an aspect that becomes even more pronounced when he equips them with electric light.
But Monstruos (monsters), or the monstrous, also appear in the human. Recovering once again the genre of self-portraiture, the fantastical, and the uncanny, from 2004 to the present day, Harte has intermittently represented and replicated himself as a hybrid dwarf in terms of age range; as a being whose body intertwines characteristics of child and old man. Situated in different spaces and situations, the multiple Hartes carry out different actions.
In line with the nature-industry tension that traverses his work in different ways, and more specifically, in continuity with the abstract-biomorphic pieces he began creating in 1997, in 2007 he initiated the production of a significant number of works that combine forms from the natural universe—volcanoes, branches, fins, flaps, etc.—with a pristine and shiny factory-like finish.
Likewise, the inclusion of natural elements that he undertook in 1990 with chicken eggs also continues to the present day—such as tree trunks and branches, beetles, stones, corals, etc. As this last case exemplifies, the themes and procedures that Harte undertakes at different moments continue in alternating fashion over time. In this sense, it is not a matter of opening and closing periods of works—of opening and closing series—but rather of opening and developing ideas intermittently.
Finally, it should also be noted that throughout his career, Harte has trained different generations of artists through his teaching work. He lives and works in Buenos Aires.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Más allá en la espesura y otras obras. 2006–2022, Nora Fisch Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2022
Como una piedra que sueña, Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection, Buenos Aires.
2021
Pal mar. Together with Guido Orlando Contrafatti, PM Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2019
Pacha Mama. Together with Florencia Böhtlingk, PM Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2017
Mi amigo especial, MCMC Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2016
La salida, Big Sur Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2013
Miguel Harte, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2008
Brillábamos, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2007
El mundo Harte, Rivadavia Hall, Argentine Consulate in Cádiz.
2005
Mundo Harte, San Martín Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
La luz sellada, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Madrid.
2003
Miguel Harte, National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires.
1998
Miguel Harte, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
1992
Críticos y Pintores, Clásica y Moderna Bookstore, Buenos Aires.
1991
Miguel Harte, Ibero-American Cooperation Institute, Buenos Aires.
1986
Anibal, o la descomposición afectiva de un muerto, Museum of Contemporary Art, Bogotá.
1985
Miguel Harte. Pinturas, Contemporánea Gallery, Río de Janeiro.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Energía y optimismo para toda la vida. 60 años de Ruth Benzacar Galería de Arte, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Nora Fisch Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Pedro Roth: como en casa, Casa Victoria Ocampo – National Endowment for the Arts, Buenos Aires.
Incluso el apocalipsis es fugaz, Quimera Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Patrimonio junto a Donaciones y Adquisiciones 2023–2024, Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires.
2024
Libro de artista. Punto de Contacto-Point of Contact (POC) Gallery, National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires – Syracuse University, New York.
2023
A 18 minutos del sol, Modern Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
Los años ´80. El arte en democracia, National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires.
2022
Arte cosa. Discreta historia local de la deformidad, Roldan Moderno Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Mueble Escultura, Forest Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
2021
Simbología. Prácticas artísticas en un planeta en emergencia, Néstor Kirchner Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Colecciones y Coleccionistas. Mundos privados en diálogo, Museum of Contemporary Art, Salta.
Arte en Juego, PROA Foundation Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
Pensamiento Mágico, PM Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Destino. Del Balneario al Cosmos, Bienal Sur International Biennial of Contemporary Art of South America, MAR Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Museum, Mar del Plata.
La Espada y la Cruz, Enrique Larreta Spanish Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, PM Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2020
Solsticio, Pólvora Contemporary Art Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Hogar, dulce hogar. Hábitos artísticos contemporáneos, Tres de Febrero University Museum, Buenos Aires.
2017
Pozo bajo el agua, Bienal Sur International Biennial of Contemporary Art of South America, Rubén Darío Park, Buenos Aires.
¿Qué ves?, Timoteo Navarro Museum of Fine Arts, Tucumán.
106 Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales, Palais de Glace National Palace of the Arts, Buenos Aires.
La Imaginación del Desastre (…o qué y cómo hacer con la maldad), Arte x Arte Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Premio Braque (trayectoria 1963–1998), Tres de Febrero University Museum, Buenos Aires.
Naturaleza Naturaleza: refugio y recurso del hombre, Néstor Kirchner Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Objeto móvil recomendado a las familias, OSDE Foundation Exhibition Art Center, Buenos Aires.
El argentino ilustre, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Madrid.
2016
Salón Nacional del Bicentenario de Artes Visuales, Timoteo Navarro Museum of Fine Arts, Tucumán.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Roldan Moderno Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Disrupción, Roldan Moderno, Buenos Aires.
2014
Fantasía fantasma, Lebensohn Foundation Contemporary Artistic Practices, Buenos Aires.
Filiaciones, National Endowment for the Arts, Buenos Aires.
Imagine Malvinas (con espíritu amateur), Paco Urondo Cultural Center, Faculty of Philosophy and Literature - University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.
2012
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Fernando Pradilla Gallery and Oscar Cruz Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Vergel, María Casado Art Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2011
Recovering Beauty. The 1990’s in Buenos Aires, Blanton Museum, Austin.
Premio Fundación Andreani 2011/12, Juan Carlos Castagnino Arts Museum, Rosario; Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires; Dr. Juan R. Vidal Museum of Fine Arts, Corrientes; Contemporary Arts Museum, Salta.
Fotografía Iberoamericana Contemporánea, El Museo Gallery, Bogotá.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2010
Ficciones y Fantasía, El Museo Gallery, Bogotá.
El Espacio en Cuestión, OSDE Foundation Exhibition Arts Center, Buenos Aires.
Paisaje y Memoria, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
2009
El Rojas: 20 años de artes visuales, Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Argentina Hoy, Banco do Brasil Cultural Center, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Premio Fundación Andreani 2009–2010, Auditorium Theater, Mar del Plata and Emilio Caraffa Museum of Fine Arts, Córdoba.
Estados de la Materia, Federico Jorge Klemm Foundation, Buenos Aires.
Salón Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca, Contemporary Art Museum, Bahía Blanca.
Species, La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences, La Plata.
Premio Pintura 2009, Alberto J. Trabucco Foundation – Fine Arts Academy, Borges Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Federico Jorge Klemm Foundation; Fernando Pradilla Gallery y Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2008
Las entrañas del arte. Un relato material, OSDE Foundation Exhibition Arts Center, Buenos Aires.
Putas, Ricardo Rojas Cultural Center Art Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Museo Salvaje, Spain Arts Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.
The Dreamy Dreamer, The Hogar Collection Gallery, Brooklyn.
Sumergido, Volumen 3 Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Buenos Aires.
La tierra en el cielo, National Endowment for the Arts, Buenos Aires.
Límite difuso, Santa Cruz José Ingenieros Cultural Center, Rio Gallegos.
Salón XII Premio Fundación Federico Klemm, Federico Jorge Klemm Foundation, Buenos Aires.
2007
Sumergido, La Guarda Art Center, Salta.
Desplazamientos. Entre la escultura y la instalación, Casa de la Cultura Art Center, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2006
Jet Lag Trío, Spain Arts Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.
Maestros del Arte Argentino. Colecciones Privadas, El Ancasti Newspaper Exhibition Art Center, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca.
2005
Naturaleza artificial, La Casona de los Olivera Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Spain International Contemporary Art Fair – ARCO, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Madrid.
Premio Argentino de Artes Visuales 2005, OSDE Foundation, Buenos Aires.
2004
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Spain International Contemporary Art Fair – ARCO, Fernando Pradilla Gallery, Madrid.
2003
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, National Endowment for the Arts y Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
2002
Últimas Tendencias. Donaciones, Buenos Aires Modern Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
II Bienal Internacional de Buenos Aires, Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
El suelo por asalto, The House of Culture Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
2001
Banco Ciudad Award, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Harte, Pombo, Suárez IV, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Salón Bienal Nacional de Arte de Bahía Blanca, Contemporary Arts Museum, Bahía Blanca.
2000
Banco Nación Award, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
1999
Fortabat Award, Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
Constantini Award, Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
Balance 98, Proa Foundation Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
1998
Imágenes de Argentina. Analogías, Santillana Foundation, Santillana del Mar.
Autorretratos-Biografías, Centoira Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Spain International Contemporary Art Fair – ARCO, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Madrid.
1997
Fortabat Award, Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
El Tao del Arte, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
1996
70-80-90, Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
1995
Art from Argentina 1920–1994, Sudwestdeutsche Landesbank, Stuttgart; Royal College of Art Galleries, London; Fundação das Descobertas-Belém Cultural Center, Lisboa; Borges Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
XI Mostra da Gravura Cidade de Curitiba. Mostra América, Fundação Cultural Curitiba-Museu da Gravura, Curitiba.
Premio Braque, Banco Patricios Foundation, Buenos Aires.
1999 – Fin de siglo, Banco Patricios Foundation, Buenos Aires.
1994
Art from Argentina 1920–1994, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
Uno sobre el otro, MUN Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
90-60-90, Banco Patricios Foundation, Buenos Aires.
Torneo Mundial de Ajedrez Lev Polugaevsky, organized by Max Euwe Association and Banco Patricios Foundation, Banco Patricios Foundation, Buenos Aires.
1993
Ilusiones de Artista, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Álvarez, Ballesteros, Harte, Pombo y Siquier, Juan Sánchez Fine Arts Museum, Gral. Roca.
Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
1992
Ciclo de Clásica y Moderna, Buenos Aires Modern Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
Harte, Pombo, Suárez III, Banco Patricios Foundation, Buenos Aires.
Algunos Artistas, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Instalaciones, Contemporary Arts Center, Córdoba.
Entre Trópicos, Sofía Imbert Contemporary Art Museum, Caracas.
Neo 90, Ruth Benzacar Gallery, Buenos Aires.
1991
Fortabat Award, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Braque Award, Modern Art Museum, Buenos Aires.
Menor o igual a 30, Banco Patricios Foundation, Buenos Aires.
Ritos y Mitos. Symposia on Criticism, Centoira Gallery, Buenos Aires.
1990
Harte, Pombo, Suárez II, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
De vuelta al Centro, Recoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
1989
Harte, Pombo, Suárez, Rojas Cultural Center Art Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Exhibición de Pinturas, Juan Carlos Castagnino Arts Museum, Mar del Plata.
Arrojados al Vacío, Rojas Cultural Center Art Gallery, Buenos Aires.
Avello, Garófalo, Harte, City Library, Mar del Plata.
1988
Las Voces Emergentes, Buenos Aires City Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Movado Award, Spinetto Shopping Mall, Buenos Aires.
Pizzería Harte. Instalaciones, Jornadas de la Crítica, Buenos Aires City Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
Harte, Marrone, Schiavi, Buenos Aires City Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
1987
La Nueva Imagen Argentina, Forum Gallery, Lima.
Harte-Urbinati, Contemporánea Gallery, Río de Janeiro.
20 años del MAC, Contemporary Art Museum, Bogotá.
1984
Passa na Praça, muestra itinerante, Río de Janeiro.
Kriptonita Verde, Juan Carlos Castagnino Art Museum, Mar del Plata.
Los Últimos, La Zona Cultural Center, Buenos Aires.
AWARDS AND HONORS
2024
Distinction for Career, National Endowment for the Arts, Buenos Aires.
2017
Sculpture Third Prize, 106 Salón Nacional de Artes Visuales, Palais de Glace National Palace of the Arts, Buenos Aires.
2016
Grand Prize of the Bicentennial of Independence, Salón Nacional del Bicentenario de Artes Visuales, Timoteo Navarro Museum of Fine Arts, San Miguel de Tucumán.
2015
Third Prize, Banco Central National Painting Award, Buenos Aires.
2012
Konex Platinum Prize. Sculpture and Object 2007–2011, Buenos Aires.
2011
Fundación Andreani First Prize, Juan B. Castagnino Arts Museum, Rosario.
2008
First Prize, XII Federico Klemm Foundation Prize, Buenos Aires.
2004
ArteBA–Petrobras Visual Arts Award, Buenos Aires Contemporary Art Fair – arteBA, Buenos Aires.
2002
Mention Award II Sculpture Prize Boulevard Azucena Villaflor, ArteBA Foundation – Corporación Antiguo Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires.
Konex Awards. Merit Diploma Mixed Media, Cervantes National Theatre, Buenos Aires.
1999
Sculpture First Prize. Fortabat Award, National Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
Leonardo Award. Artist of the Year, National Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
1997
Fortabat Mention Award, National Fine Arts Museum, Buenos Aires.
1996
Visual Arts Scholarship “Creación”, National Endowment for the Arts, Buenos Aires.
Artistic Creation Grant, Antorchas Foundation, Buenos Aires.
Acquisition Award Pintura Joven, Telefónica de Argentina Foundation, Buenos Aires.
1993
Second Prize, Deliberative Council Hall, Buenos Aires.
1991
Barón de Ramefort Prize “Al Artista joven más promisorio de 1990”, Clásica y Moderna Bookstore, Buenos Aires.