How to speak about Havana’s seawall without it? We should ask Juanito Delgado, curator of Behind the Wall, exhibition opened in late September in the galleries of Donald Rubin Foundation. The fact is that the curator of this sample, which was exhibited as ¨Detras del muro¨, in the 11th Biennial of Havana, has taken the new Cuban art to the universal contemporary art house: New York, nothing more and nothing less than the city of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) or the Guggenheim NY.
And apparently it has had quite success, when the media has echoed the presence of Cuban artists such as Fabelo (father and son), Aimee Garcia, Alejandro Gonzalez , Alexandre Arrechea , Arles del Rio and Carlos Martiel Delgado. Also the young Carlos Montes de Oca and Donis Dayan, Elizabeth Cervino, Esterio Segura, Florencio Gelabert, Humberto Diaz, Inti Hernandez, Jorge Wellesley, Mary Magdaena Campos Pons, Marianela Orozco, Rafael Domenech and Reinier Leyva.
Behind the wall, colossal intervention of Havana’s seawall in 2012, and major hit of last year Biennial, has now reached the vicinity of Manhattan and Central Park with 22 of the 25 original artists, whom with sculptures, interventions , installations and performances try to talk about the big sofa of Havana, near the sui generis Chrysler and Empire State buildings , but very far from Havana’s large wall.
Despite the distance, in time and kilometers, a sample returns as perfect Deja vu offering visions, tears and inspirations raised by “the most intimate public place of Cubans, witness of happiness, sadness, companies and loneliness, a space of the city which is the city itself, start and end of a country, dreams, hopes and disappointments-Juanito Delgado, who along with Rachel Perera, became curator of this remake and the first work, said.
Behind the wall is erected on a wonderful opportunity to bring together in one space to artists of various generations and trends who reflect from the multiplicity of styles, poetry, medium and formats the enormous talent and potential of young Cuban contemporary artists, who have in this expo a great opportunity for the presentation and promotion of their works, in one of the strongest places of universal contemporary art.
Among the creators who exhibits by these days in Donald Rubin Foundation highlights the always surprising Duvier del Dago, one of the emerging Cuban artists with greater international recognition, who shows a papier -mâché replica of an old Parriott cannon . A piece, which according to the author, aims to become a criticism of the warmongering-topic that tormented and fascinated him for some time, ” Dissection recreates a flesh and bone cannon divided into two halves, as the lives that were intended for its disposal “.
Rachel Valdés Camejo, although without the magic of the seawall’s reflects, also displays as part of the project her installation N ° 1 Happily Ever After, the rectangular mirror installed waterfront near Marina and Principe Streets. Another artist who joined this meeting was Adonis Flores, with a replica of his metallic fence with the letters that symbolize the iron element in the periodic table and the word that designates the set of beliefs of a religion, a person or a group: FE (Faith). It also highlights the presence of installations such as “Nadie Escucha” by Alexandre Arrechea and “Bancontodos” by Inti Hernandez.
As part of the project Behind the Wall, it will also be presented a documentary of the same name which will be premiered in the next Festival of New Latin American Cinema, as well as a brochure with all the images of the exhibited works on Havana’s seawall and texts signed by two of the great voices of art criticism in Cuba: Elvia Rosa Castro and Mario Coyula- Juanito Delgado, director of Cuban Art Project, announced.
For: Roberto Miguel Torres/ CubaSí
