Is “Plasticine” invading the Hispanic American Center? Para ver esta obra: Click here!
Introductory remarks.
Arlette Castillo
Art critic
Hangover, zen and suspense /
2008
Ironically, plasticine is not the primary material in the exhibition, however the works of Michel Pérez (Pollo), Niels Reyes, Yeny Casanueva, Orestes Hernández, Yornel Martínez, Junior Acosta (Jimy), Odey Curbelo, Irving Vera and Alejandro Campins come together like mortar to take over the spaces of the Hispanic American Center.
The exhibition is not conceived under a defined theme or concept, although the group’s formation recognizes a generational harmony between these young artists who have recently graduated or are still students at ISA. According to Campins himself, who is responsible for the curatorship, “we are not concerned with the grosso of the metaphor when it comes to producing. We rather attend to the possibility of digressing and poeticizing from the genre and about the genre, from the material and about the material. It is about seeing the image, the history, the materials and all the contents that can be attached to the work, as raw material that we have available for alchemy; not to direct attention to a fixed idea.”
Perhaps because of this creative game, not at all naive, we as spectators feel a childish breath in most of the pieces. This apparent wandering on the margins of the playful seems to be given by the lack of prejudice of this generation with identities and the multiplicity of cultural influences in contemporary society. Thus, almost all of them are projected from their beginnings towards a universal reading that moves away from the supports of conceptual density and social chronicle.
The proximity to the universe of the intuitive is also revealed by the presence of contrasts; either between the dimensions of the pieces, the variety of materials, the sometimes precise, sometimes casual stroke, or the use of colour, taken almost pure from oil tubes. Such is the case of two large-format works by Michel Pérez (Pollo) and other small ones in the room, as well as the ephemeral sculpture by Yeny Casanueva on the landing of the elegant staircase of the building that could only be enjoyed during the first days of the inauguration.
Also in this mixture of sharpness and analytical tangentiality, they allude to problems of modern man “Eugenics” by Niels Reyes (2007) with its version of the doctrines for the improvement of the human species, Campins with the ironic image of a gigantic gorilla wearing a watch on his arm, or Yunior Acosta with a picturesque ox skeleton in the middle of “Siesta” (2007) in the middle of the gallery.
On the second floor we find the installations of Yornel Martínez and Irving Vera. The former uses variations in yellow to construct an almost stage-like scene of the unstoppable passing of time with “Los soles y las sombras del tiempo” (The Suns and Shadows of Time) (2008). Nearby, Irving Vera shows a selection of his assemblages full of wit and a sense of humour. He is able to concentrate very witty narratives in those rustic little things, assembled with domestic objects, electric cables, rubber, paper, old toys and fragments of many other things..
Each piece is a direct consequence of the process of approaching the creation of these young artists, certainly an interesting proposal to see these days at the Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura.
The exhibition is not conceived under a defined theme or concept, although the group’s formation recognizes a generational harmony between these young artists who have recently graduated or are still students at ISA. According to Campins himself, who is responsible for the curatorship, “we are not concerned with the grosso of the metaphor when it comes to producing. We rather attend to the possibility of digressing and poeticizing from the genre and about the genre, from the material and about the material. It is about seeing the image, the history, the materials and all the contents that can be attached to the work, as raw material that we have available for alchemy; not to direct attention to a fixed idea.”
Perhaps because of this creative game, not at all naive, we as spectators feel a childish breath in most of the pieces. This apparent wandering on the margins of the playful seems to be given by the lack of prejudice of this generation with identities and the multiplicity of cultural influences in contemporary society. Thus, almost all of them are projected from their beginnings towards a universal reading that moves away from the supports of conceptual density and social chronicle.
The proximity to the universe of the intuitive is also revealed by the presence of contrasts; either between the dimensions of the pieces, the variety of materials, the sometimes precise, sometimes casual stroke, or the use of colour, taken almost pure from oil tubes. Such is the case of two large-format works by Michel Pérez (Pollo) and other small ones in the room, as well as the ephemeral sculpture by Yeny Casanueva on the landing of the elegant staircase of the building that could only be enjoyed during the first days of the inauguration.
Also in this mixture of sharpness and analytical tangentiality, they allude to problems of modern man “Eugenics” by Niels Reyes (2007) with its version of the doctrines for the improvement of the human species, Campins with the ironic image of a gigantic gorilla wearing a watch on his arm, or Yunior Acosta with a picturesque ox skeleton in the middle of “Siesta” (2007) in the middle of the gallery.
On the second floor we find the installations of Yornel Martínez and Irving Vera. The former uses variations in yellow to construct an almost stage-like scene of the unstoppable passing of time with “Los soles y las sombras del tiempo” (The Suns and Shadows of Time) (2008). Nearby, Irving Vera shows a selection of his assemblages full of wit and a sense of humour. He is able to concentrate very witty narratives in those rustic little things, assembled with domestic objects, electric cables, rubber, paper, old toys and fragments of many other things..
Each piece is a direct consequence of the process of approaching the creation of these young artists, certainly an interesting proposal to see these days at the Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura.