SandyBeach
02-19-2005, 10:26 PM
Cuban Artists Show In US
Cuban artists stride confidently from repression to provocation
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Mary Thomas
Saturday, February 19, 2005
PHOTO click to enlarge
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOSaavedra_230.jpg (http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOSaavedra_450.jpg)
In the Mattress Factory's Cuban artists exhibition is Lazaro Saavedra's "The Last Supper," top, which uses televisions, DVD players, a generator (representing Christ), acrylic table, wires and electrical outlets to plug into viewers' deepest attention.
"New Installations, Artists in Residence: Cuba" is the most difficult exhibition the Mattress Factory has put on in its quarter-century history, which is saying a lot for a museum that thinks nothing of finding a source for batches of fly eggs, sawing a mountain of bricks into 16,000 units or melting down 15,000 pounds of paraffin in the service of art.
The snag that hampered the museum's current exhibition -- securing visas for its 11 artists -- was embedded in bureaucracy and far more difficult to surmount. Contrary to expectation, the denials were made on the American side of the process: The artists couldn't get into the United States from Cuba...
...The museum pulled off the show despite language barriers and frequent power failures in Cuba that delayed communications. Museum Executive/Artistic Director Barbara Luderowski found herself frequently consulting with lawyers for advice on how to stay on the correct side of procedure...
PHOTO click to enlarge
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HORamos_230.jpg (http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HORamos_450.jpg)
Sandra Ramos' "The Uncertain Road"
...The turned-down bed of Glenda Leon's "Habitat" is empty, backed by a sunny sky but facing a black night diamond-studded with stars. Rows of PVC pipe bleachers in Rene Francisco's "March without Perspective" wait for occupants. Deserted are the rusting metal boat and house forms of JEFF's (Jose Emilio Fuentes Fonseca) "Sentimiento" and "Pensamiento" -- which have a strange affinity with Bill Woodrow's nearby permanent installation.
In Yoan Capote's "Impotence," a speaker booms "No!" across a narrow aisle to another that quietly insists "Si." The voice of government strong-arming its citizenry? The personable Capote -- the only artist at the opening due to a quirk unrelated to the Pittsburgh show -- demurs, insisting that the visitor make his own interpretation. That's certainly in accordance with post-modern practice; but might it also be that he realizes the price of dissent?
PHOTO click to enlarge
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOCapote_230.jpg (http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOCapote_450.jpg)
Yoan Capote's "Impotence"
...A short film represents the artists in absentia, and a video made at the opening will transport some of the evening's excitement to them. But there's no way to compensate for the loss of exchange that would have occurred here, or the artists' inability to see in person their concepts realized...
..."Cuba" continues through April 24. For information on events including Part 3 of a Cuban film festival in April, call 412-231-3169 or visit www.mattress.org.
more at
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05050/459732.stm
Cuban artists stride confidently from repression to provocation
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Mary Thomas
Saturday, February 19, 2005
PHOTO click to enlarge
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOSaavedra_230.jpg (http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOSaavedra_450.jpg)
In the Mattress Factory's Cuban artists exhibition is Lazaro Saavedra's "The Last Supper," top, which uses televisions, DVD players, a generator (representing Christ), acrylic table, wires and electrical outlets to plug into viewers' deepest attention.
"New Installations, Artists in Residence: Cuba" is the most difficult exhibition the Mattress Factory has put on in its quarter-century history, which is saying a lot for a museum that thinks nothing of finding a source for batches of fly eggs, sawing a mountain of bricks into 16,000 units or melting down 15,000 pounds of paraffin in the service of art.
The snag that hampered the museum's current exhibition -- securing visas for its 11 artists -- was embedded in bureaucracy and far more difficult to surmount. Contrary to expectation, the denials were made on the American side of the process: The artists couldn't get into the United States from Cuba...
...The museum pulled off the show despite language barriers and frequent power failures in Cuba that delayed communications. Museum Executive/Artistic Director Barbara Luderowski found herself frequently consulting with lawyers for advice on how to stay on the correct side of procedure...
PHOTO click to enlarge
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HORamos_230.jpg (http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HORamos_450.jpg)
Sandra Ramos' "The Uncertain Road"
...The turned-down bed of Glenda Leon's "Habitat" is empty, backed by a sunny sky but facing a black night diamond-studded with stars. Rows of PVC pipe bleachers in Rene Francisco's "March without Perspective" wait for occupants. Deserted are the rusting metal boat and house forms of JEFF's (Jose Emilio Fuentes Fonseca) "Sentimiento" and "Pensamiento" -- which have a strange affinity with Bill Woodrow's nearby permanent installation.
In Yoan Capote's "Impotence," a speaker booms "No!" across a narrow aisle to another that quietly insists "Si." The voice of government strong-arming its citizenry? The personable Capote -- the only artist at the opening due to a quirk unrelated to the Pittsburgh show -- demurs, insisting that the visitor make his own interpretation. That's certainly in accordance with post-modern practice; but might it also be that he realizes the price of dissent?
PHOTO click to enlarge
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOCapote_230.jpg (http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/20050219HOCapote_450.jpg)
Yoan Capote's "Impotence"
...A short film represents the artists in absentia, and a video made at the opening will transport some of the evening's excitement to them. But there's no way to compensate for the loss of exchange that would have occurred here, or the artists' inability to see in person their concepts realized...
..."Cuba" continues through April 24. For information on events including Part 3 of a Cuban film festival in April, call 412-231-3169 or visit www.mattress.org.
more at
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05050/459732.stm