Urbano's work is characterized by the creation of installations. He uses theatrical and cinematic techniques to affect the public's perception, often collaborating with lighting designers, scenographers and sound engineers to develop immersive environments. Within these spaces Urbano displays hyper-realistic sculptures that simulate plants of different types and everyday objects. Many of the recent projects by Urbano take inspiration in forgotten or destroyed architectural spaces. For his solo exhibition
El despertar, presented in 2020 at
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Urbano recreated the
Pabellón de los hexágonos. This was presented by
Spain at the
1958 Brussels World's Fair and it was designed by the architects José Antonio Corrales and Ramón Vázquez Molezún. The exhibition explored the possible intersections between modernist architecture and fascism, and more specifically with the
Franco regime in Spain. In 2023, Álvaro Urbano presented an exhibition in two parts in the Mexican outposts of the Spanish gallery Travesía Cuatro, in Guadalajara and Mexico City. For this project Urbano aimed to create a fictional encounter between the Spanish poet
Federico García Lorca and the Mexican architect
Luis Barragán. Urbano created realistic replicas of plants that can be found in Barragan's gardens and in Lorca's writings. The pairing of plants across the space suggested a possible conversation between the artists when Barragán visited the
Alhambra in 1924. Urbano explained the intention of the project as follows: "my objective was to transform the two characters into botanical sculptures, and that they could have a dialogue between each other". Urbano presented his solo exhibition
TABLEAU VIVANT in
SculptureCenter, Queens New York, in 2024. This project revolved around the figure of
Scott Burton, a relevant figure of the
New York art scene of the 70's and 80's. His legacy is mostly overlooked and many of his public sculptures are being removed or have fallen into disarray in recent times. Urbano managed to access the recently dismantled
Atrium Furnishment sculptural group that was exhibited within the lobby of the
AXA Equitable Center building in
Manhattan. After renovations, the disassembled piece was stored in upstate New York without a clear future. Urbano managed to loan it with assistance from Jeremy Johnston, who was in charge of the rescue and posterior storage and cataloguing of the artwork.
Atrium Furnishment was presented in a new arrangement within
SculptureCenter along with different botanical sculptures from Urbano that are representative of the flora that can be found in
The Ramble, a famous
cruising spot in
Central Park. Urbano intended to present this exhibition as an homage to
Burton, who died from complications due to
AIDS in 1989, and to bring attention to the conservation of his legacy.
Collaborative work with Petrit Halilaj Álvaro Urbano creates collaborative works with his partner, the Kosovar artist
Petrit Halilaj. They have presented exhibitions jointly in institutions such as Ocean Space, Venice (2023); the
Biennale of Sydney (2024); MACBA, Barcelona (2024); among others. They started to collaborate in 2012 when they published the fanzine
Kush te tu ta?, one of the first publications in the Balkans dealing with queer topics. Urbano and Halilaj often create animal alter-egos for their projects. For their residency at MAK Center in Los Angeles (2017) the artists wore raccoon costumes to roam across the streets of the city. In 2023 and 2024, Halilaj and Urbano presented their performance
Lunar Ensamble for Uprising Seas, first in Venice and later in Barcelona. The project involved a large group of metal sculptures representing different marine animals which also functioned as musical instruments. The artists dressed up as seagulls and accompanied the musicians throughout the exhibition space. In the 24th edition of the Biennale of Sydney (2024) Halilaj and Urbano dressed up as foxes wearing hyper-realistic costumes and performed within the White Bay Power Station and in different public areas of Sydney. == Selection of solo exhibitions ==