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Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection provides a rare opportunity to glimpse the extraordinary diversity and quality of Cuban art created from the mid-1980s to the present. On view at the University of Miami Lowe Art Museum through April 4, 2010, these works of art will illustrate how contemporary Cuban art transcends the limits of geography and nationality, while engaging and enriching a much larger global artistic discourse.
The exhibition’s more than 50 works reflect the cultural mixing and diverse styles that characterize international contemporary art, but that also emerge from the distinct circumstances of Cuba itself. Cuba Avant-Garde presents large scale paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs and mixed media works—many not seen previously outside Cuba—by forty Cuban-born artists. Using irony and metaphor, the exhibition’s artists explore themes ranging from the history of colonialism, to emigration, and exile. They take an unflinching, at times humorous approach to such topics as political and economic crisis, religion, gender and race. Subtle devices of satire, allegory and ambiguity are used to challenge accepted artistic and political discourses, at the same time employing a rich variety of experimental and postmodern strategies.
All of the artworks in the exhibition were selected from a more extensive collection of contemporary Cuban art assembled by Howard and Patricia Farber of New York City and Miami Beach. With broad experience as a major collector of American modernist painting and contemporary Chinese art, Howard Farber began collecting contemporary Cuban art after a visit to the island in 2001. Mr. Farber was soon trotting the globe to find the very best Cuban contemporary pieces available, resulting in a collection that truly encapsulates a period of great significance.
“I’m not a politician, I’m an art collector,” says Mr. Farber. “There’s an energy and passion in these works that I find very compelling, and I’m pleased to share them in this exhibition.”
A fully illustrated bilingual publication accompanies the exhibition. The publication features essays by Abelardo G. Mena Chicuri, Curator of Contemporary International Art at The National Museum of Fine Arts of Havana (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana), Harn Museum Curator Kerry Oliver-Smith, and Magda González-Mora Alfonso – a founder of the Havana Biennial.
Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection is organized by the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida and toured by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions (CATE), Pasadena, California. Sponsored at the Lowe Art Museum by Howard Farber, Northwestern Mutual, HSBC Private Bank, Baja Ferries, and the Cowles Charitable Foundation.
The Lowe Art Museum is located at the University of Miami at 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables. Gallery and Museum Store hours: Tuesday-Saturday: 10-4; Sunday: 12-4; Monday: Closed. Regular Admission (not including special events) is $10; $5 for Seniors and Non-UM Students; Free for Lowe Art Museum Members, University of Miami students, faculty and staff, and children under 12. For more information, call (305) 284-3535 or visit www.lowemuseum.org.
UPCOMING EVENTS
ARTIST SYMPOSIUM
SATURDAY MARCH 6, 2010, 1:30 PM AT STORER AUDITORIUM, UM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
Contemporary Cuban Art
Will be followed by a viewing of exhibition and a reception at the Lowe. Free for Lowe members; $10 non-members
Featuring artists from the exhibition Cuba Avant-Garde, including Gustavo Acosta, Carlos Estevez, Rueben Torres Llorca, and Glexis Novoa. Moderated by Helen Ferre of WPBT2 and El Diario.
Sponsored by HSBC Private Bank
CURATOR LECTURE
SUNDAY, MARCH 28, 2010, 2 PM AT THE LOWE ART MUSEUM
Free for Lowe members; $10 non-members
Presented by the curator of Cuba Avant-Garde, Kerry Oliver-Smith, Curator of Contemporary Art, Harn Museum of Art
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Click on images
to enlarge
Carlos Cárdenas
Untitled, 1989
Oil on board
12 x 10”
Carlos Alberto Estévez Carasa
The World We Live In
1996
watercolor
38.75 x 28”
Ana Mendieta
Untitled
(from Sandwoman Series)
1983
Gelatin silver print
8 x 10”
Tonel (Antonio Eligio Fernández Rodríguez)
The Chair, 1993-2000
wood and acrylic
39.375 x 43.25 x 12.5”
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