Cuban artists expose revival of racism on the island
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Armando Marino's "The Raft," part of the "Queloides" exhibit at the Mattress Factory. -
"The Supper", a 1991 collagraph by the late Belkis Ayon, part of the Mattress Factory exhibit "Queloides." -
"Black Marat", a 2009 photograph by Rene Pena, who posed for the image. -
Elio Rodriguez's "Black Ceiba," 2010, inflatable and soft sculpture atop the Mattress Factory's 1414 Monterey satellite gallery. -
Douglas Perez's five-panel "Ecosystem", a 2009 oil on canvas. -
Detail of Douglas Perez work "Ecosystem." -
Meira Marrero & Jose Toirac's "Ave Maria", a 2010 installation of sculptures representing Cuba's patron Virgin of Charity of El Cobre. -
Armando Marino's 2001 oil on canvas diptych, "The Anxiety of Influences."
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Rebellion is in the air. Whether in the cities of Africa and the Middle East, or within disparate communities of artists, people are examining the current status of human rights and finding it lacking.
While street crowds are forcing political change, the literÂati are prodding more benign conversation about perceived inequities.
A case in point is the taboo-bashing exhibition "Queloides: Race & Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art" at the Mattress Factory. "Queloides" translates as "keloids," protruding scars caused by trauma, which exhibition curators apply to the wounds racism has inflicted upon the body politic.
This show, which opened last year at the prestigious Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam in Havana, hit a nerve within the island's bureaucracy, which projects an image of social harmony. When Pittsburgh-based co-curator Alejandro de la Fuente tried to visit family in June, he, his wife and child were turned back at the airport by Cuban authorities.
- Where: Mattress Factory, 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side
- When: Through Feb. 27.
- Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1 to 5 p.m Sundays.
- Event: 4-6 p.m. Saturday -- guest curator Alejandro de la Fuente will sign copies of the exhibition catalog ($40 paper, $65 cloth); free admission
- Admission: $10, students $7, seniors $8, children under 6 and members free.
- MF Cafe: Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
- Information: 412-231-3169 or www.mattress.org.
PDFThe exhibition can be seen on multiple levels dependent upon one's familiarity with Cuban culture, history and contemporary politics. But none of that is necessary to be seduced by the effervescent artworks that herald it. In the museum parking lot is Armando Marino's classic 1950s Plymouth, its chassis replaced by multiple pairs of bare-footed, dark-skinned legs. Elio Rodriguez's inflated black protuberances -- a cross between alien invasion and suggestive body parts -- wind across the roof and upper story of the satellite gallery at 1414 Monterey. Both are startling, a bit surreal, and certain to stimulate the imagination -- vintage Mattress Factory.
First Published February 9, 2011 12:00 am
