Augusto Esquivel is an Argentine-American multimedia artist based in Miami, Florida, whose work transforms ordinary sewing buttons into intricate suspended sculptures that challenge perceptions of material, memory, and value. Esquivel has spent more than two decades developing a distinctive visual language in which thousands of buttons, individually suspended on nearly invisible monofilament, coalesce into objects that appear to float in space.
Drawing from personal memories of his grandmother’s sewing box, Esquivel elevates one of the most humble domestic objects into monumental works that explore identity, labor, migration, consumer culture, and the emotional weight of everyday life. His sculptures occupy the space between drawing and sculpture, solidity and illusion, inviting viewers to experience familiar forms as if they were materializing from light itself.
Esquivel’s practice is rooted in repetition and patience. Each button is positioned by hand, creating works that reveal themselves gradually as viewers move around them. The resulting installations emphasize absence as much as presence, demonstrating how countless individual elements can form a unified whole while retaining their unique identities.
His work has been exhibited internationally at art fairs and galleries, including Art Miami and Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, and he has completed permanent public installations, notably at Spotify’s Miami offices. Esquivel has maintained gallery representation since 2008 and maintains his studio at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami.
Through an unconventional medium and meticulous craftsmanship, Augusto Esquivel invites audiences to reconsider the overlooked objects that shape our lives, revealing extraordinary beauty within the ordinary.
