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El próximo 30 de Junio, 2011, a las 20.00 horas tendrá lugar la inauguración de la exposición colectiva EL FIN DE LA HISTORIA...y el retorno de la pintura de
historia. Veinte artistas reflexionan, en formato pictórico, sobre algunos de los últimos acontecimientos históricos sucedidos en el seno de nuestra
sociedad. ¡¡¡Os esperamos a todos !!!
Domus Artium 2002
Avenida de la Aldehuela s/n
37003 Salamanca
923184916
www.ciudaddecultura.org/da2
Siguenos en FACEBOOK
www.facebook.com/business/dashboard/#/pages/Salamanca-Spain/DA2-Domus-Artium-2002/138653957355
Alexis Esquivel will be in residence at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia from mid January until the end of March. He is available for presentations, seminars, exhibits until June 15 after that.
At the University of Georgia, Alexis is developing a number of artistic projects. During his stay he will be collaborating on a book project with musicologist Susan Thomas. The project looks at the role of artists and musicians in the last decade and examines how their artistic products and personal and professional experiences have participated in the processes of internationalization and have helped to shape ideas about Cuban identity
If interested, contact him at aesquivel_AT_cubarte.cult.cu [replace _AT_ with @]
Alexis is in residence in Boston for early 2001, until 4/15 and possibly
later.
Monday, the 26th of February Alexis and fellow artists Elio Rodriguéz and Andres Montalban, who all participated in the 1999 Queloides exhibit in Havana on race in Cuba, will give a talk and show slides on issues of race, identity, and art in Cuba. The talk will be at the Latino Center at 226 College Ave (corner of Professor's Row) on the Tufts campus Monday evening at 7 PM.
February 27th, Alexis will perform his work "La Soga Maravillosa" ("The Marvelous Soga") at the Aidekman Arts Center at 5:30 PM. The Soga is a rope that was used to separate black Cubans from white Cubans at a party. See La Soga for photos.
Cuban
musician Jose Luis Estrada is contributing to this performance. Jose Luis Estrada is an important musician of his generation, in Cuba he played with the duo Los Cachibachi and Alcohol de 90. On March second he will be playing with his band "90 Proof" at Club Europa 98-104 Meserole Ave (Manhattan Ave) in Manhattan, NY (The Nassau stop on the G train) for more information, www.hotelamazon.com.Alexis will have another exibit at Dudley House, Harvard University (right by Harvard Square) in March and April. The opening is March 16 at 7 PM and it extends to April 8th. The exhibit is entitled "La Luna Me esta
mirando," meaning "the Moon is watching me," of which we have here a sample (click on it to enlarge):
The 22nd of February 2001 at 6PM, Tufts University Gallery, situated in the Aidekman Arts Center, Medford, MA, an exhibit opened entitled Tufts University Collections Selections in which Alexis Esquivel has "La Soga Maravillosa" ("The Marvelous Soga," an installation from 1999) which now forms a permanent part of Tufts' collection.
| Carving Cultural Space [extracted from Eugene Robinson's article Cuba Begins to Answer Its Race Question, 11/12] "The first thing you're accused of when you do work like this," said artist Alexis Esquivel, fingering his long dreadlocks, "is that you're doing something to damage the image of Cuba." "Work like this" means the exhibitions that Esquivel, 31, and a group of Cuban artists, black and white, organized on the theme of race in Cuba. The first was called "Keloids," a reference to the raised scars that form when African skin is wounded. One artist, Manuel Arenas, showed two paintings that dealt with black Cubans' experience in the streets--one titled "Look Out, There's a Black Man," and the other titled "ID Card" and showing a black man, set against the national emblem, opening his identity card as if to show it to a policeman. Another artist, Rene Pena, played against the stereotype of the Cuban black man as sexually voracious with a photograph of a black man's nude torso in which the penis is replaced by a knife blade. Esquivel's work in this show, mounted at the Center for Development of the Visual Arts, centered on the soga--a rope that was used long ago at dances and other functions to separate blacks from whites. The soga is a theme he returns to again and again, sometimes installing a rope high in a gallery so that only the observant notice it, sometimes using the rope as a barrier, sometimes tying rope tightly around his face like a horse's bridle--or an instrument of bondage. To Esquivel's surprise, the exhibition was reviewed in the official Communist Party newspaper Granma. The review was generally positive, if somewhat cool, but the significant thing was that the show was acknowledged at all. Esquivel went on to help mount a second "Keloids" exhibition. Esquivel's own history is instructive. A mulatto by Cuban standards, he grew up in a small town in the interior. His artistic talent was recognized and he was sent to another province, Pinar del Rio, to attend a special school. Almost all of his classmates were white, and to hear him talk of the experience is like listening to a young black man talk about how he felt going to St. Albans or Sidwell Friends. "I had to suppress my musical tastes," he said. "I liked traditional music, music you could dance to, but my friends were all into rock. I was conflicted." "People would say something like, 'Those blacks, they're horrible.' Then they'd turn to me and say, 'Oh no, Alexis, we're not talking about you, you're fine.' Imagine what that does to a person." He recalls the moment of his radicalization: For an assignment in school, he read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." From that point, he identified himself as black. "I remember going home on a visit," he said, "and telling my mother not to use hair straightener anymore." Esquivel's partner in putting on the exhibitions was a Cuban art historian, Ariel Ribeaux, who wrote the manifesto for this gathering movement of black-themed art. Ribeaux's award-winning essay was entitled "Neither Musicians Nor Athletes." |
Alexis
Esquivel @ Tulane University 3/23/2016 Cuba Nola
ARTIST
TALK: Alexis Esquivel, Woldenberg Art Center, Tulane University 3/23/2016 Newcomb
Art Museum: "Alexis Esquivel is a Cuban visual and performance artist whose work
often explores themes of history, race, and identity, particularly in a Cuban
cultural context. Esquivel presents the sharp perceptions of the black
population's social reality in his paintings through his nonconformist readings
of history. His work details historical figures past and present that are
extracted from “official” photos to be juxtaposed with cultural artifacts from
the past, or repainted following conventions of famous Western artworks. His
works feature a surrealist flavor and a high dose of irony. Esquivel’s paintings
appear as dense layers where even fortuitous accidents of the painting process
are obvious."
Alexis Esquivel – “From Queloides to Drapetomanía: The Theme of Race in
Contemporary Cuban Art” 3/15/2016 University of Georgia: "Alexis Esquivel
is a Cuban visual and performance artist whose work has often explored themes of
history, race, and identity, particularly in a Cuban cultural context. This
lecture offers a reflection on the issue of race in Cuba and its historical
development, drawing from an analysis of some of the most important artists to
address these themes since the turn of the century. Esquivel will guide a
virtual trip through a series of exhibitions mounted in Cuba and abroad in the
last 18 years, examining the complexities of the debate over race in Cuba."
Exhibition Walk-Through: Memorial Garden by Alexis Esquivel 3/12/2015 Cuban
Art News: "DA2 (Domus Artium 2002) in Salamanca, Spain, is hosting Memorial
Garden, a show by Cuban artist Alexis Esquivel (La Palma - Pinar del Río, Cuba,
1968). The exhibition brings together recent works produced in the last five
years, mostly paintings and video."
El artista cubano Alexis Esquivel muestra 'Memorial Garden' en el DA2 de
Salamanca 2/20/2015 20 minutos: "Esta exposición propone una
reinterpretación contemporánea del género de la pintura de historia y en ella se
ha logrado reunir un conjunto de obras recientes del artista, producidas en los
últimos cinco años, fundamentalmente en medios como pintura y vídeo. En el
proyecto expositivo, adaptado y ampliado para el DA2, se incluyen dos murales
realizados 'in situ' sobre las paredes de la antigua cárcel en que está ubicado
el centro de arte, así como varias instalaciones nuevas que han sido realizadas
especialmente para el espacio."
"Unforgettable": Obama, Raúl, y una crónica de esperanza por Alexis Esquivel 12/18/2014 Cuban
Art News: "El día 10 de diciembre de 2013, mientras Sudáfrica y el mundo rendían
homenaje a Nelson Mandela, ex luchador contra el Apartheid, un hecho histórico
sucedía bajo el contexto del homenaje. Rompiendo una tradición de cincuenta años
de incomunicación pública entre ambos gobiernos, los presidentes de los Estados
Unidos, Barack Obama, y de Cuba, el general Raúl Castro, se daban la mano por
breves momentos. Incluso intercambiaron frases. “Yo soy Raúl Castro” enfatizó el
mandatario cubano, en caso el inquilino de la Casa Blanca no lo reconociese. El
apretón de manos recorrió en tiempo real las pantallas de los telediarios del
mundo, y asaltó las redes de Twitter y Facebook. Desde España, en la fría ciudad
de Salamanca, el artista cubano Alexis Esquivel contempla la inédita escena y
sonríe: ésta es -sin duda- una imagen muy especial. Él colecciona de manera
incesante las imágenes que producen los medios masivos de comunicación, y luego
las incorpora como base para sus obras. Conocido en Cuba desde fines de los años
80, se define como un pintor de Historia. O más bien, como un pintor que
interroga la Historia."
"Unforgettable:" Obama, Raúl, and Alexis Esquivel's Chronicle of Hope 12/18/2014 Cuban
Art News: "On December 10, 2013, while South Africa and the world paid tribute
to former fighter against apartheid Nelson Mandela, a historic event happened
within the context of the tribute. Breaking a fifty-year tradition of public
non-communication between the two governments, US president Barack Obama and
Cuba’s General Raúl Castro joined hands for a few moments. They even exchanged a
few words. “I am Raúl Castro,” the Cuban leader stressed, in case the White
House occupant didn't recognize him. The handshake spread worldwide, and took
Twitter and Facebook by storm. From Spain, in the chilly city of Salamanca,
Cuban artist Alexis Esquivel contemplates the unprecedented scene and smiles: it
is undoubtedly a very special image. Esquivel incessantly collects images
produced by mass media, and uses them as a basis for his work. Known in Cuba
since the late 1980s, he is defined as a history painter. Or rather, as a
painter who questions History."
Without Masks: Afro-Cuban art reveals the body at MoA 5/2/2014 Vancouover
Sun: "The exhibition includes a wonderful historical paintings by Alexis
Esquivel Bermudez. What’s immediately recognizable are two figures in the
foreground: Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela shaking the hand of Matt Damon as a
South African rugby star from Invictus, a film about the 1995 South African win
at home of the Rugby World Cup. The painting uses sports and popular culture to
tell a story about the Cuban involvement in the war in Angola. It was both a key
event in the eventual dismantling of apartheid and a conflict where 3,000 Cubans
were killed. Beautifully painted with figures set in a space resembling a sports
field, it includes Fidel Castro and Jimmy Carter as old men sitting on park
benches feeding pigeons."
Alexis Esquivel y ciertos conflictos con la Historia reciente 3/8/2014 Jiribilla: "Estamos,
en todo caso, ante una pintura para nada complaciente —verbigracia, la
recreación de El rapto de Europa con una Ángela Merkel montada en un caballo de
varias cabezas con la marca del euro al frente y al fondo—, que implica, por qué
no, algún matiz de desencanto, como cuando inserta la efigie de Barack Obama en
un contexto diferente al que se suponía se dirigiese si hubiera cumplido con su
retórica de campaña. Por demás, se nos hace visible el crecimiento del oficio de
Esquivel, lo cual junto con su reciente perspectiva temática, añade interés a su
trayectoria."
ALEXIS ESQUIVEL 'Memorial Garden' 2/27/2014 CAAM: "El CAAM de Las Palmas de
Gran Canaria presenta la exposición ‘Memorial Garden’ del artista cubano Alexis
Esquivel que permanecerá abierta hasta el 25 de mayo, en las salas de la planta
3 de este centro, dependiente del Área de Cultura, Patrimonio Histórico y Museos
del Cabildo de Gran Canaria, que dirige Larry Álvarez."
El artista
Alexis Esquivel habla de su exposición 'Memorial Garden', en el CAAM 2/26/2014 YouTube: "Las
Palmas de Gran Canaria. España"
Exposición
Alexis Esquivel. Memorial Garden 2/26/2014 YouTube - CAAM
Alejandro de la Fuente on the New Afro-Cuban Cultural Movement 11/14/2013 Repeating
Islands: "Professor de la Fuente succeeded in demonstrating the qualitative
differences between the discourse on race in the mid-twentieth century and that
of the ‘90s and the first part of twenty-first, providing a wide array of
examples of cultural products, especially, music, literature, and the visual
arts. The lecture included a discussion of rappers Hermanos de Causa, poetry by
Teresa Cárdenas Angulo, and visual artists such as René Peña, Alexis Esquivel,
Juan Roberto Diago, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, and Andrés Montalván Cuéllar,
among others, which led to an animated and productive conversation with the
speaker."
Julio 2013 7/1/2013 Noticias de Arte Cubano: QUELOIDES, LA SAGA /
conversando con
Alexis Esquivel, de Suset Sánchez, p 6;
Voces
para un silencio, de Claudia Laguna, p 4.
Alexis Esquivel 6/15/2013 SuzetSanchez_Blog: version larga de la entrevista
ALEXIS ESQUIVEL – LOS PRÓXIMOS HÉROES 10/15/2012 Disiarte: " Del 19 de
octubre de 2012 al 30 de noviembre de 2013 la galería La Lisa Arte Contemporáneo
de Albacete, Castilla la Mancha, España, presenta la exposición personal “Los
próximos héroes” del artista cubano Alexis Esquivel, quien reside y trabaja
desde hace algún tiempo entre Salamanca y La Habana. La muestra ha sido
comisariada por Omar Pascual Castillo, director artístico del Centro Atlántico
de Arte Moderno (CAAM) de las Palmas de Gran Canaria, y reúne una selección de
los trabajos realizados por el artista en los últimos dos años."
“Queloides” in New York: An Interview with the Curators 4/19/2011 Cuban Art
Newsx: "Queloides is a long-term collective project in Cuban art. It’s not a
project that belongs to me or to Elio, or to any of the artists who are
exhibitng now. This is a project that was born in the late 1990s. The first
exhibition was curated by Alexis Esquivel and Omar Pascual Castillo. It was a
modest exhibit, in 1997, at Casa de Africa in Havana. It got very little press
coverage, and very little recognition. Then there was a second, bigger exhibit
organized by the late Ariel Ribeaux Diago in 1999. Ariel Ribeaux began to expand
the project—gave it additional theoretical coherence. And then of course Ariel
Ribeaux died a few years later and the project got suspended. Nothing else
happened. When I learned about these exhibits, the first thing that caught my
eye was how little information was available about the exhibits themselves, and
about what I saw as a very important movement in Cuban art, and in Cuban culture
more generally. But the exhibits have been ignored—and continue to be,
actually—in the annals of Cuban art. If you look at the best books of Cuban art,
you’ll see that in most cases the exhibits are not even mentioned."
“Queloides: Race and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art” - A groundbreaking
exhibition makes waves in Pittsburgh 11/9/2010 Cuban Art News: "The whole
of the exhibition plays out these issues of representation and more, mainly
grounded in the cultural and iconographic specificities of Cuba's history and
present. The paintings of Alexis Esquivel mix layers of irony and specific
detail to comment on Cuba-U.S. politics. For example, in Smile you won! (2010),
the face of Obama, fragmented as if in a faded wall-poster and featureless apart
from the instantly recognisable grin, turns in the direction of two fighting
boxers (a major sport in Cuba), one with black skin and white shorts, the other,
his negative, with white skin and black shorts."
Cuban Artists Grapple with Local Racism on a World Stage 10/19/2010 Utne: "Pittsburgh’s
Mattress Factory: "Queloides: Race and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art"
(October 16, 2010, to February 27, 2011). As per the subtitle, “Queloides”
presents the work of twelve artists who deal with issues of race,
discrimination, and identity in Cuba."
Sugerencias para una dermatología nacional 10/17/2010 Enuentros: "El
vocablo “queloide”, del discurso médico, alude a las marcas o verdugones que
quedan en la piel después de una herida mal cicatrizada, y que parte del
imaginario popular cubano —probablemente el mencionado señor pertenece a este
grupo— asocia sólo a las personas negras. Pero “Queloides” ha sido acuñado por
el artista plástico Alexis Esquivel en el contexto de otras cicatrices
(simbólicas, extracorpóreas), que marcan nuestro devenir nacional. Lo usó en
1997, para dar título a una primera exposición en la Casa de África (Queloides
Parte I), con curaduría suya y de Omar Pascual Castillo. Desde entonces el
término ha obrado como hilo conductor entre aquélla y dos exhibiciones más con
similar título: la que tuvo lugar en 1999 en el Centro de Desarrollo de las
Artes Visuales, con Ariel Ribeaux Diago como curador (Queloides), y la que se
inauguró en La Habana el 16 de abril del 2010 en el Centro Wilfredo Lam
(Queloides: Raza y racismo en el arte cubano contemporáneo), con curaduría
(censurada) de Alejandro De la Fuente y de Elio Rodríguez."
EXPOSICIÓN
QUELOIDES, ARTE CUBANO, RAZA Y RACISMO EN EL ARTE CUBANO CONTEMPORANEO 7/28/2010 YouTube: "Exposición
de Arte, Centro de Desarollo de las Artes Visuales, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba,
1999."
Criollo Remix 8/25/2009 Art Nexus: publicado 12/07 - "Es cierto que como
diría Fernando Ortiz "sin el negro, Cuba no sería Cuba”, pero a la vez, como
también dice el refrán popular: “los cubanos: o no llegamos o nos pasamos”, de
ahí que el componente negro en nuestra nacionalidad siempre se ha sobrevaluado
dentro del mestizaje cultural, por encima del resto de los elementos raciales;
trayendo como consecuencia que se estabilice una visión cliché de la isla. Las
representaciones que hace la contemporaneidad de ciertos estereotipos raciales y
culturales guardan una conexión estrecha con los tipos de imágenes popularizadas
a partir de la esclavitud, y sobre ello comenta Alexis Esquivel en "Criollo
Remix", su reciente muestra personal en la Galería Habana Club del Museo del
Ron. Su propuesta mixtura lo “colonial” y lo “postcolonial” en un discurso
inteligente, que echa manos al humor característico del cubano. A él le preocupa
la manera distorsionada en que el mercado negocia dichos estereotipos, partiendo
del hecho de que Cuba es un país de economía precaria donde el turismo pasa a
ser inevitablemente el primer rubro exportable."
El retrato histórico de Alexis Esquivel. Herencia y ruptura: lirismo bad1 8/25/2009 Otro
Lunes: publicado 12/07
www.withoutmasks.org/index.php/artists/alexis-esquivel-bermudez.html
On the Way Out continues the themes of racial identity begun in the Queloides expositions.
www.thefarbercollection.com/artists/alexis_esquivel
artoncuba.com/tag/alexis-esquivel/
Calazada No 408, Primer Piso
Entre F y G
La Habana, Cuba
011.53.7.32.8075
aesquivel_AT_cubarte.cult.cu [replace _AT_ with @]
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