Slick Art Fair 2013

Slick Art Fair 2013
Eiffel Pavilion,
Booth B18
Claire RICHER,
[email protected]
+33 6 25 31 60 47
Under the bridge ‘Pont Alexandre III’,
Port des Champs Élysées, Paris 8e
About
Since December 2011, Uprising Art has been dedicated to promoting Caribbean contemporary art, aiming at contributing
to the sustainable emergence and international outreach of artists of this region and its diaspora.
This unique initiative is developed around three areas which offer visibility to artists on the international scene and an
unprecedented source of expertise for art lovers or curators: an online gallery, Uprising Art Gallery; a digital news
magazine, Uprising News, with exclusive reports and interviews (11th Havana’s Biennial, 55th Venice Bienniale); as well
as a web portal, gathering more than 260 artists and 70 experts representative of Caribbean contemporary art.
Uprising functions online and is grounded on the trust-based relationship established with all the actors of the Caribbean
art scene. Recognized and acclaimed for its role of platform, filling an indisputable gap at an international scale, Uprising
Art is also meant to be a partner for events and exhibitions – such as the next BIAC, Biennale Internationale d’Art
Contemporain in Martinique in 2013; or BE.BOP Black Europe Body Politics in 2013, or the Haïti Radical et Contemporain
exhibition at the Musée du Montparnasse in 2012.
After a successful launch at the FIAC in 2012, with a round table organized in the Grand Palais, bringing together artists
and experts; and a participation at the 2nd edition of the Art O’Clock Fair in 2013, Uprising Art Gallery wishes to present a
selection of established and emerging Caribbean artists at Slick Art Fair. So as to institute a continuity with the wellestablished dynamics on the American market, where artists of the Caribbean are already prized by collectors and
institutions, Uprising Art Gallery puts to the core the 4 following Cuban artists:
José Manuel Fors ; Glenda León ; Liudmila & Nelson and Mabel Poblet.
An archipelago and its memory:
A story narrated by four Cuban artists
The momentum generated by contemporary Cuban art finds its origins in the revolution which took
place in the local artistic production of the 1980s. Nevertheless, with inherent distinctive characteristics,
the current production echoes a period and a social context which are no longer the same as those which
have given birth to this transformation.
The following decade began with the collapse of the Socialist Block and Cuba’s entry in the “Special
Period”, the reinvention of a double-currency based economy, the development of the tourist industry
and, thanks to the latter, the opening to the international art market, among others. The situation of the
country at that time had an unprecedented social impact the aftermaths of which are still persistent
nowadays.
The artistic discourse has edged towards metaphor, allegory, polysemy and double languages. Artworks
began addressing themes linked to identity, memory, history, the political and economic context of the
country, emigration, insularity, relationship between the collective and the individual, with a marked
tendency for the production of pieces loaded with self-references.
It is in that sense that Uprising Art Gallery offers a selection of important artists, in the Cuban context,
whose artworks as much deal with local concerns as they are inscribed in international tendencies.
The artists exhibited approach the phenomenon of memory in a singular way. In a contemporary
perspective, the duo Liudmila & Nelson create photographs and videos where past and present
cohabitate within a context mingling the notions of local and global. The photographic installations by
José Manuel Fors are made up with fragments of images from his own family archives. The objects by
Glenda León deal with metaphysical and poetical questions associating them with the human being and
his spiritual universe. As for Mabel Poblet, the youngest of the selected artists, she reveals stories which
allude to personal or collected life experiences.
Sara ALONSO GOMEZ
Curator
JOSÉ MANUEL FORS
Born in 1956 in Havana, Cuba, where he lives and works.
Main media: photography, photographic sculptures
http://www.uprising-art.com/portfolio/jose-manuel-fors-cuba/
Objetos
2013
Inkjet print. Collage on plexiglas
67,5 x 179,5 cm
Círculo,
2006
Gelatin silver prints and
camera lens
200 cm diameter
Artwork not presented at Slick
EXPLORING METAMORPHOSIS AND EPHIMERALITY
An Accumulation of the Everyday in Fors' Works
José Fors is a poet of the physical world, a collector of bits and pieces, scraps and memories. […] Fors uses tokens of life turned into
brittle, brown memories. In the most understated and affecting of his work, "Las Ventanas" (The Windows), for instance, Fors
mounts more than 300 photographs, small as postage stamps, in neat rows along one long wall. Toned in nostalgic browns and
with marks of abrasion that push them deep into the past, the pictures coalesce into a diary of memories: family scenes, posed
portraits, but also fragments of leaves and trees, a ball of yarn, the slats of a fence, a feather, an eye. Each is, indeed, a tiny window,
framing a view of both the external world and internal experience. […] Fors often presents spectacular, giant wall-mounted
blossom built petal by petal from his toned and manipulated photographs (their size a solution, initially, to the shortage of
photographic materials in his native Cuba). Sometimes he retains the same format, with all of its radiant ebullience, but replaces the
photographs of small, ordinary things with the things themselves. "El Círculo: Los Objetos" (The Circle: The Objects) is a diary too,
a record of the humble things one touches over time - the buttons, coins, toys, shells, jar lids, paper clips, keys and bottle tops.
There's something tender about Fors' devotion to such mundane matter, his elevation of the inconsequential. But most of the objects
verge on the generic, so the assemblage as a whole carries less of the deliciously bittersweet emotional weight of its counterpart in
photographs.
Adapted from Leah Ollman
Resume
After graduating from the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, Cuba (1976), he completed his education at the
Institute of Museology of Havana, Cuba (1986).
Latest individual exhibitions: Fragments at the PanAmerican Art Project in Miami, USA (2011); Objetos at the Galería La Casona in
Havana, Cuba (2008); Objetos Fotográficos at the Auditorio de Galicia in Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2006); Historias Circulares at
the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana, Cuba (2006); Solo Exhibition at the Boy Cott Art Gallery in Brussels, Belgium (2005);
Largas Cartas at the Couturier Gallery in Los Angeles, USA (2004).
Latest collective exhibitions: Urbanitas at the PanAmerican Art Project in Miami, USA (2011) ; Cuban Visions at the Metropolitan
Pavillion in New York, USA (2011) ; Alicia Alonso Dances Here Tonight at the Magnan Metz Gallery in New York, USA (2010) ;
Encuentros at the Sala Retiro de la Caja Madrid, Spain (2010).
José Manuel Fors has also participated in the 11th (2012) and 10th (2009) Havana Biennial, Cuba and at the 9th Fotobienal in Vigo,
Spain (2000).
His work was presented at fairs such as ArtLA in 2011 & 2010 in Los Angeles, PINTA in London, Art Basel or Arteaméricas.
GLENDA LEÓN
Born in 1976, in Havana, Cuba, where she lives and works alternating with Madrid, Spain.
Main media: installation, photography, video
http://www.uprising-art.com/portfolio/glenda-leon/
Magical Found Object #1
2003
Reading glasses, dried flowers
Glass case : 18 x 20 x 38 cm
.
Magical Found Object #2
2003
Paintbrush, dried flowers
Glass case : 40,2 x 20,1 x 38 cm
BETWEEN CONTEMPLATION AND GESTURE: THE CONSTRUED WORLD OF GLENDA LEÓN
The world of Glenda León is made of small passages frozen in time, of recurrences in the subtlety of details. The genesis of this
interest – to scrutinize the small things of life - lies, as she states, in her own childhood, along with her curiosity to discover the
world.
Beginning as far as in her early works, we can devise how she delves not only into experimenting with visual resources but also
with sounds. [...] In this sense, she enters the world of images, combining media such as drawing, photography, video art,
installation and performance, in solutions that have given up traditional boundaries of “showing” in order to configure a speech
rich in references that stay intimate while collective.
Other times, this quality comes from a kind of archaeological vocation in which – as a cabinet of curiosities, she collects magic
numbered objects. Objects that seem to abandon their apparent function to tell us another story. Adding to that, Glenda uses
resources such as irony and plays with the apparent relativity of images in search of complicity and smile from the viewer.
Glenda León’s practice is beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, nearby. She reveals the wise balance between concept and appearance;
she deliberately plunges into a sensitive space that moves between the inside and outside, self and other. This projection such as an
"image cluster" can be seen as a visual poem of what we are.
Adapted from Yalicel Gabeira Londres
Resume
She graduated from the Academy of Superior Art and New Medias in Cologne, Germany (2007).
Latest individual exhibitions: Bruit Bleu at the Château des Adhémar in Montélimar, France (2013); Listening to Silence at the
Magnan Metz Gallery in New York, USA (2012); Delirios at the Galerie Dominique Fiat in Paris, France (2010); Un Ruido Azul at the
Galeria Habana in Havana, Cuba (2010); Mar Interno at the Parisian space Le Plateau, France (2007); El vuelo de la razón at the m:a
contemporary Gallery in Berlin, Germany (2005).
Latest collective exhibitions: Polityko: nie lubię cię, ale to ty mnie kochasz at the Laznia Center for Contemporary Art in Gdansk, Poland
(2013) ; Entre Trópicos – 46º05’: Cuba / Brasil at the Caixa Cultural in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2012) ; Cuban Visions at the Metropolitan
Pavilion in New York, USA (2011) ; La terre est bleue comme une orange at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Montréal, Canada (2010) ;
Polaridad Complementaria: recent works from Cuba at the New Orleans Museum of Art, USA (2010).
Glenda León represented Cuba in the 55th Venice Biennial, and participated in the 11th Havana Biennial and the Lisbon Biennial. Her
work has been presented in the fairs ARCOMadrid, Arteaméricas and LOOP Art Fair.
LIUDMILA & NELSON
Duo created in 1993, composed of Liudmila Velasco & Nelson Ramírez de Arellano Conde. They live and work in Havana, Cuba.
Main media: photography, video
http://www.uprising-art.com/portfolio/liudmila-nelson-cuba/
Monserrate y San Juan de Dios (Neptuno), Hotel Habana series
2012
Digital photography : Lambda print
61 x 80 cm
Edition : 5/9
Obispo y Habana, Hotel Habana series
2008-2009
Digital photography : Lambda print
61 x 80 cm
Edition : 5/5
Absolut Revolution : La Isla
2002-2012
Video still
th
th
(Artwork presented in the 55 Venice Biennale and in the 11 Havana Biennial)
Artwork visible on Ipad at Slick
Recognized mainly by the photographs from the series Absolut Revolution, which represent several thematic and technical directions
in the artists’ work, for which their starting point is the monument to José Martí, the writer laureate and revolutionary hero who
fought for Cuba’s independence from Spain (1898). The surrounding plaza, originally known as the Plaza Cívica José Martí, was
renamed Plaza de La Revolución José Martí after the 1959 revolution. The monument and the plaza have become the quintessential
symbols of both revolutions. The title Absolut Revolution cleverly plays on the registered trademark for Absolut Vodka, advertised
as being of premium quality, a vodka that by definition has no equal.
Their most recent project shown at the X Havana Bienal has also call attention for it beautiful display and its susceptibly sharp
theme, “Past-Present-Future” all seeing as one are the starting point to think about the possible future of the Island. Not an easy
task to accomplish especially when as part of the work one can see a video from the 50s showing us the New York Style future they
had plan for the city in opposition to the 50 years old revolutionary present is running synchronized aside.
Their most recent body of work “Hotel Habana” call attention to the experience of time from the city of Havana, time, fears and
expectations toward the future are the keys to understand this perturbing work.
Adapted from Moritz Neumüller
Resume
The duo has received grants from the ZKM in Karlsruhe in Germany (2007) and has completed residencies in the United States, in
the Vermont Studios (2005) and at the Watermill Foundation (2003).
Latest individual exhibitions: Cuba – Absolut Revolution at the Galería Arte x Arte in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2011); Trampas de Luz
at the Instituto Cervantes in Utrecht, Netherlands (2010); Tour de Force at the Gallery 659 in Toronto, Canada (2007); Absolut
Revolution at the Lieu Art Actuel Center in Quebec, Canada (2007) and Mare Nostrum at the Galeria Servando in Havana, Cuba
(2007).
Latest collective exhibitions: Fabrica de Arte Cubano at the Fototeca de Cuba in Havana, Cuba (2012) ; Cuba: Imagen y posibilidad at the
Galería Abierta Alvaro Obregón in Mexico City DF, Mexico (2011) ; Photography and Art – Cuba at the LAKMA – Latin American Art
Museum of Amersfoort, Netherlands (2011) ; in the travelling exhibition Polaridad Complementaria: Recent Works from Cuba in the
USA (2010) ; Killing time at Exit Art, New York, USA (2007) and 48 hrs Medienrally at the ZKM-HfG in Karlsruhe, Germany (2007).
Liudmila & Nelson represented Cuba in the 55th Venice Biennial in 2013. They also participated in the 11th (2012), 9th (2006), 8th
(2003) and 7th (2000) Habana Biennial. They were invited at Fotologia 6 in Colombia at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Medellin and
at the LA Galería, Bogotá (2008-2009); at the Cuenca Biennial (1998-1999) and to several photo festivals such as the New York Photo
Festival Fotovisura (2010) ; Thesaloniki Photo Festival (2010) ; ParisPhoto (2006) and PhotoEspaña in Madrid (2005).
MABEL POBLET
Born in 1986 in Cienfuegos, Cuba ; she lives and works in Havana, Cuba.
Main media : installation, photography, serigraphy
http://www.uprising-art.com/portfolio/mabel-poblet-cuba/
Ana
2012
Artificial blood, medical
bottles, plexiglas
480 x 240 x 6 cm
Suspiro
2013
Plexiglas case, screen, artificial blood, video
40 x 62 x 32 cm
Artwork not presented at Slick
Mabel invites us to an introspective journey, real and virtual, towards a decortication of the biological and psychological
dimensions of the human being. She provides the viewer with her own fantasies, fantasies which could belong to anybody, because
no one is free from the concern triggered by the necessity of maintaining a balance between the interior universe and the exterior
laws, whether they are called social conventions or human relationships of any kind. Her distinctive signs would be blood and its
inherent color, red. The color red has cultural senses ambivalent and antagonistic. It hints at danger, in the banking language it
represents debts, but it is also associated with the color of passion, and even – in China – with vitality and good luck. In politics, it is
linked to the left-wing ideas. As for blood, it can be the flow of life and death at the same time. Its own function within the body
system, transporting oxygen as well as impurities, lives up to its definition. Blood has been considered by numerous cultures as a
purifying liquid. In the Bible we reach forgiveness for our sins through the blood sacrifice of Christ, and in the religions of African
descent blood is used to “cleanse”, even to purify the believer; the pre-Columbian peoples offered blood to appease the anger of a
deity through human sacrifices so as to maintain a natural balance. With Mabel, blood can be a vehicle for the atonement of her
personal obsessions…/ Contrary to what one could think, Mabel’s work is not aggressive; at least not explicitly. It does not refer to
physical violence, and though one cannot deny its existence, this violence takes on a psychological characteristic, more disclosed,
and yet as dangerous. […] The artist’s intent was not to generate these states of horror or repulsion, but rather to recruit the visual
witness to turn him into the co-actor of her experience… The modus operandi of this creator could be summed up as follows: she is
both the hand that grabs the knife and the one who smarts the wound.
Excerpt from “Mabel Poblet, le moi et l’autre (ou le rouge comme stratégie)”, Chrislie Pérez
Resume
She graduated from the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro (2007) and the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in
Havana, Cuba (2012).
Latest individual exhibitions: Reverso at the CEART in Madrid, Spain (2013) ; Situación Limite at the Galería Raquel Ponce in Madrid,
Spain (2013) ; Hoy mi voz tiene sonido at the Galería Villa Manuela in Havana, Cuba (2012) ; De tus ojos la sal at the Galería Nuno
Sacramento in Ílhavo, Portugal (2011) and Recent Works at the Cuban Art Space. Center for Cuban Studies in New York, USA (2011).
Latest collective exhibitions: After the Void at the Edison House in London, UK (2013) with Ministry of Nomads ; Robando espíritus at
the Fototeca de Cuba in Havana, Cuba (2013) ; El olor que entra por mi ventana at the Museo del Ron in Havana, Cuba (2012) ; Arte
Cubano en Daejeon at the Daejeon Museum of Art in South Korea (2011) ; Huella Múltiple at the London Print Studio in London, UK
(2011) and Cuban Women Artists at the Cuban Art Space. Center for Cuban Studies in New York, USA (2010).
Mabel Poblet participated in the Primera Bienal del Sur in Panama in 2013, in several editions of the Havana Biennial, Cuba or in
LimaPhoto, Peru (2012). Her work has been presented in the fairs ARCOmadrid, Arte Lisboa in Portugal, Houston Fine Art Fair in
the USA and Artmonaco in Monaco.
More on the three axis of Uprising Art
Uprising Art sets up three sections in which several contributions are offered: exposure for the artists; a complementary tool
of commercialization; and a source of expertise for art lovers throughout the world:
 The portal : a space of identification and presentation of the actors of Caribbean art which gathers the profiles
(biography, the projects they led, photographs…) of artists, experts, gallery owners, but also the places and
publications linked to Caribbean Contemporary art ;
www.uprising-art.com
 The e-magazine : a space dedicated to the news of contemporary art that puts forward the artistic events, exhibitions,
conferences in which Caribbean actors intervene, in the form of an online review fuelled by daily articles, special
reports and exclusive interviews (11th Havana Biennial, 55th Venice Biennale) ;
http://blog.uprising-art.com/
 The online gallery : a space of commercialization, enabling to present and sale the artworks from Caribbean artists, be
they renowned or emerging talents.
Supported by experts, the gallery presents unique artworks from talented artists, such as Agustín Bejarano, José
Manuel Fors, Kcho, Glenda León, Liudmila & Nelson, Ibrahim Miranda, Santiago Olazábal, René Peña and emerging
artists Adrián Fernández Milanés, Osvaldo González Aguiar, Frank Mujica, Mabel Poblet and Niels Reyes for the
Cuban art scene. Henri Guédon, for Martinique. Elvis Áviles, Polibio Díaz and Luz Severino, for Dominican
Republic. Jean-Marc Hunt and Michel Rovelas for Guadeloupe. Édouard Duval-Carrié for Haiti.
The online gallery also has a physical storage in Paris, which allows it to present privately the artworks to arts lovers
and collectors.
http://gallery.uprising-art.com/
Uprising Art is an itinerant project that promotes contemporary artists from the Caribbean region through organizing events
and exhibitions as well as through its participation to several international art fairs.
Uprising Art’s team
The combination of key skills
Claire RICHER, Founder of Uprising Art
She graduated from Sciences Po Paris and obtained her MBA at HEC (Hautes Etudes Commerciales/ Business studies). After 20
years of professional experience in communication and marketing, Claire put her business expertise at the service of the
contemporary art of her region. Born in Martinique, she is also an art lover and collector, particularly of the Caribbean art, and she
was able to weave around her a relation network with experts of the contemporary creation of the Caribbean.
[email protected] / +33 6 25 31 60 47
Clelia COUSSONNET, Project Manager
She graduated from Sciences Po Paris and is passionate about Latin-American culture. She has been involved with Uprising Art
from the genesis of the project. Clelia is in charge of the editorial content of the Internet portal through in-depth articles and
interviews, putting to the fore the news of the contemporary Caribbean art. She is thus the contact of the actors of the portal and of
the artists.
[email protected]
Sara ALONSO GOMEZ, Curator and art critic
She graduated from Art History at the University of Havana and from a Master on Contemporary art at Sorbonne Paris IV. As
member of the Cuban Writers and Artists’ Union (UNEAC), Sara focuses on the contemporary art challenges in its transdisciplinary nature and process. Born in Cuba, she brings a critical approach to the artistic production of the Caribbean region in
regard to the today’s international scene. Her publications can be found in specialized catalogues and magazines.
[email protected]
Charles APANON, Strategy and Management Consultant
Charles is an economist who obtained a MBA ESSEC and a degree from Sciences Po Paris. He is experienced in management and
development in institutions and has been associated to this project from the beginning and is particularly in charge of its strategic
development.
Uprising Art is a project co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in the framework of the INTERREG Caribbean program.
Uprising Art – Slick Art Fair 2013 / Paris
Contact
Claire RICHER,
[email protected]
+33 6 25 31 60 47
www.uprising-art.com