THE MULTIVERSES OF CUBAN HISTORY AT DUQUE ARANGO
Metanarratives by Ariel Cabrera is a pictorial exploration that challenges the linearity of time and history, weaving fragmented narratives where past, present, and future converge on the same stage.
Through scenes that combine historical archetypes with contemporary elements, Cabrera creates parallel universes where memory and imagination intertwine. His work, influenced by his journey between Cuba and exile, reflects the fragmentation of knowledge and the complexity of identity. This exhibition not only highlights his technical and narrative mastery but also invites the viewer to question the ways in which history is constructed, reinterpreted, and appropriated in art and collective memory.
"Like visual alephs, the pieces in Metanarratives are not closed stories but spaces in constant negotiation, where memory and imagination intertwine in a perpetual dance between what was, what is, and what could have been. Cabrera builds multiverses, territories of infinite possibilities, to reinvent history and identity. His works function as incomplete maps, where both what comes from the island and everything it no longer contains coexist," explains curator Yuneikys Villalonga.
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Ariel Cabrera. Sin título, 2024. Óleo sobre lienzo, 120 x 116 cm. Cortesía de Duque Arango Galería
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Ariel Cabrera. Encuentro con George Bellows, 2025. Óleo sobre lienzo, 218 x 243 cm. Cortesía de Duque Arango Galería
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Ariel Cabrera. La siesta, 2024. Óleo sobre lino, 122 x 122 cm. Cortesía de Duque Arango Galería
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Ariel Cabrera. Focus, 2024. Óleo sobre lino, 107 x 107 cm. Cortesía de Duque Arango Galería
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Ariel Cabrera. Historical mall, 2024. Óleo sobre lino, 278 x 396 cm. Cortesía de Duque Arango Galería
Ariel Cabrera Montejo (Camagüey, Cuba, 1982) recreates theatrical scenes inspired by Cuban historical periods, particularly the years between wars (1879–1895) and the War of Independence (1895–1898). Using traditional painting techniques, his works contrast with conventional historical literature, offering alternative perspectives and functioning as a visual record. Cabrera’s scenes often depict military events (1868–1898), creating simultaneous occurrences and hypothetical dialogues. He employs sarcasm to deconstruct the ideological representations of the heroic mambises, presenting recurring characters to explore paradoxes and question the boundaries between truth and simulation.
Inspired by Impressionist techniques and influenced by Spanish, Italian, and American academic painting, Cabrera enhances the realism of his scenes while reinterpreting Cuban history from a critical perspective.
Metanarratives will be open to the public until April 11 at Duque Arango Galería, located at Cra. 37 #10 a -34, El Poblado, Medellín (Colombia).
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