Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection. From Oct 6th through Dec 30th, 2007.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota is presenting the exhibition Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection, as part of their Contemporary Art program. Howard Farber started collecting Cuban Art in 2001 after an unexpected visit to the island. At the time, he was mostly known for collecting American modernists and contemporary art from China. However, that trip made him realize that not only a thriving art scene existed in Havana, but that it was already internationally recognized. Today, Howard Farber holds a meritorious collection of Cuban Art that carries that same energy and strength that has characterized Cuban Art of the last two decades.
A significant amount of works included in the exhibition document one of the most representative periods of the island’s art history. During the early 80’s, a new generation of young, recently graduated artists exploded out of the art schools with innovation and experimentation, challenging the dogmatism that dominated the previous decade.
Although that movement didn’t last long, those artists paved the grounds for new artists to continue producing an art strongly committed to their socio-historical “momentum” without loosing the freshness. Some of the artists in the exhibition are Fernando Rodriguez, Tonel, José Bedia, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Gustavo Acosta, Belkis Ayón, and Abel Barroso. Cuba Avant-Garde was curated by Kerry Oliver-Smith, Curator of Contemporary Art at the museum. “The long-standing and intimate relationship that Florida has with Cuba and its people imparts particular relevance to this exhibition,” says Dr. Stephen Borys, Curator of Collections at the Ringling Museum. “The multifaceted and challenging works by native artists living in and outside of Cuba stand as testimony to this country’s unique and dynamic contribution to the international arena of contemporary art.”
The exhibition is accompanied by a 188-pages homonym book, published by The Harn Museum of Art. Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection will be on view through December 30th, 2007.
For more information, please call: 941.359.5700
Only few artists have transcended like Spanish Francisco de Goya has. A disturbed brilliant mind, a mysterious illness that left him deaf and a tempered personality gained him a reputation since early in his life. Beginning as a commissioned painter for Charles IV Entourage in the mid 1700s, his works manifested a marked disdain for the social, cultural, religious and courtly world in which he lived. Confronted by the polarized duality of the Spanish society of his time, Francisco de Goya rapidly acknowledged the communicative possibilities of his work. Seeking to make a statement through his art, perhaps in a rebellious gesture against the falsities of his surroundings, he turned his attention to themes less socially elevated.
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