Fig 96
Theratos
Acrylic on canvas
104 x 129 cm
ANXIETY Social isolation is one of the most effective ways to prevent a disease from spreading, in our case COVID-19. At the beginning of my current confinement in Havana, I had a desire to explore, to experience the deserted city; but instead these anxieties were channeled in another way. In another city, to the east of the island, there was a friend who from time to time flooded the networks of photographs, of his recent bicycle trips through areas near the province of Holguín. Taking advantage of my confinement and photographing it was an effective therapeutic method that helped me assimilate this new reality in which we live. Working day by day on his transfiguration into a fast-looking THERATOS1, gave way to the dissipation of the tension and stress that the confinement generated. These days the virus lurks along with the new experiences and challenges imposed by the current pandemic. Anxiety 1. State of agitation or restlessness of mind. 2. State of anguish and fear that accompanies many illnesses and that does not allow the peace of those who suffer from it. 1-Teratology 1. Scientific discipline that, within zoology, studies abnormal creatures, that is, those natural individuals in a species that do not respond to a common pattern. 2. Study of anomalies and monstrosities.
Exhibitions with this piece
Jorge Rodríguez
Virtual Exhibition
Jorge Rodríguez starts from the meaning of the word "figure" to display an arsenal of images. The spectrum of the series is vast: from determined figurations to others that flirt with the abstract. From certainly expressionist visions to surreal delusions. The references are multiple: schools and artistic movements, design trends, scientific drawings ... That abbreviation, "fig.", Can include many things. A graphic, a portrait, a landscape, a daydream. This series could be taken as a sample of the possibilities of art, which is an area that resists typecasting (although to a large extent an art history can be narrated from common places). The artist trusts his ability to create senses, communicate, "explain" ideas, specify metaphors, tell stories ... without the need for words. The strength of the image. Of the pure image. The figures of Jorge Rodríguez, who do not even have titles beyond the simple enumeration, become independent from a literary body. They are autonomous, or so they claim. It may seem that we are facing amusement, but the forcefulness and transparency of certain "messages" makes us reflect. Sometimes a figure is enough to understand a concept.
PRISMA
The Colors of Crisis
From the unmitigated evocation to the less obvious metaphor: several Cuban artists have recreated the demanding circumstances we live in - the worldwide crisis that has also become personal history. The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted dissemination and commercialization of art; likewise, it has affected the artistic process and confirmed that artists do not live in ivory towers: context always matters. ArteMorfosis - Cuban Art Platform, launched a call for artists living on the island to create artworks related to the current pandemic: the challenges, hopes, desires, alternatives, the unexpected consequences of the universal lockdown. The initiative - PRISMA The Colors of Crisis - invites Facebook users to like and promote their favorite artworks. And it is more: facilitating potential buyers and artists to discover each other and enabling acquisition and sales of artworks that will become chroniclers of these challenging times. ArteMorfosis invites you to the online exhibition: The created works constitute inspired testimony, your likes convey relevancy, your shares help increase reach, and your purchases enable the artists to endure and hope for new normality.