Latin American and Caribbean Artists Today

Special Exhibition Featuring Art Work By: ANGEL DELGADO/CUBA – ANGEL RICARDO RICARDO RIOS/CUBA - CIRO QUINTANA/CUBA – FRANK MARTINEZ/CUBA RODOLFO DE FLORENCIA/MEXICO – LUIS REYES GUZMAN/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The painting as an artistic genre has never really gone out of production. However, from the 1970s until today, most critics and the general public mainly drew their attention to the discourse generated by artists through space. Surprisingly, there is now a renewed interest in painting, which has placed this medium right back at the heart of media attention, critical texts as well as exhibitions in galleries and institutions. The return of the painting is not the result of an intensification of painterly activity, but rather a willingness on the part of the artistic community, mostly young artists, to resume attention on painting as a research technique to express new ideas. Interestingly enough, the reemergence of painting among young artists has come somewhat unexpectedly, for it happened after a years-long search for new techniques and nontraditional artistic languages, such as the media-video-art. Although painting may have been considered as something of the past, it is once again at the forefront of the art world in connection with the street arts. The renaissance of this technique has also created a newly-formed tradition and relationship between the artist, art and society. The idea here is to create a dialogue between emerging and established artists from Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico, Dominican Republic and Cuba). And the final aim is to highlight matter and figuration as languages to express and connect the similar realities of those cultures to the artists’ socio-political and economic perspectives. – Marisa Caichiolo