JUAN FRANCISCO ELSO’S RETROSPECTIVE AT MOCA NORTH MIAMI
Juan Francisco Elso: Por América offers a captivating retrospective of the brief, yet significant career of the late Cuban artist.
Based in Havana, Elso was part of the first generation of artists born and educated in post-revolutionary Cuba, who gained international recognition in the early 1980’s. Created mostly using natural, organic materials, his sculptural practice examines the complex forms of contemporary Cuban, Caribbean, and Latin American identities, as inflected by the cultural influences of Indigenous traditions, Afro-Caribbean religious beliefs, as well as the traumas of colonial oppression. Elso’s commitment to such histories presages current post- and decolonial perspectives. The exhibition examines such legacies and parallels by placing Elso’s prescient work alongside a multigenerational group of artists active in the Caribbean, and throughout North, South, and Central America.
-
Juan Francisco Elso, Caballo contra colibri [Horse against Hummingbird], 1988. Wood, paper, twigs, jute, wax, volcanic sand, earth, and iron. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Gift of Berezdivin Collection, San Juan Puerto Rico, 2021.
-
Juan Francisco Elso, La ceiba y La palma, 1956-1988. Mixed media installation (screenprint mounted on cardboard and wood). Courtesy of Fonda Magali Lara, Centro de Documentación Arkheia, MUAC.
-
Juan Francisco Elso, Pájaro que vuela sobre América [Bird that Flies Over America], 1985. Carved wood, branches, wax, jute thread, and basket elements. Courtesy of Mr. Reynold C. & Dr. Marlene L. Kerr, Miami.
The exhibition features over 70 works by Juan Francisco Elso and a multigenerational group of artists like Glenn Ligon and Belkis Ayón, and introduces new commissions from Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Reynier Leyva Novo. Por América presents the largest survey of Elso’s career to-date, showcasing the evolution of his practice, from his experimentation with new materials to incorporating Indigenous traditions, Afro-Caribbean beliefs, and post-colonial perspectives.
Presented through a contextual rather than monographic approach, Juan Francisco Elso: Por América is organized into several, interrelated thematic sections that explore vital crosscurrents between Elso’s art and the creative output of both close colleagues and others who, despite having not known him, demonstrate parallel affinities.
-
Juan Francisco Elso, Corazón, 1983-87. Clay. Courtesy of Rachel Weiss.
-
Glenn Ligon, Notes for a Poem on the Third World, 2022. Neon and paint. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris.
-
Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Se te subió el santo [2016-05-03], 2016. Digital C-Print. Courtesy of Tiona Nekkia McClodden.
-
Michael Richards, Element from Tar and Feather, 1999. Bronze. Courtesy of the Michael Richards Estate.
Artists participating: Belkis Ayón, José Bedia, Ricardo Brey, Tania Bruguera, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Luis Camnitzer, Los Carpinteros (Alexandre Arrechea, Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodriguez), Albert Chong, Papo Colo (Francisco Colón Quintero), Maria de los Angeles Rodriguez Jiménez, Jimmie Durham, Melvin Edwards, Carlos Estevez, Scherezade García, Silvia Gruner, Karlo Andrei Ibarra, Graciela Iturbide, Magali Lara, Reynier Leyva Novo, Kcho (Alexis Leyva Machado), Glenn Ligon, Rogelio López Marin (GORY), Ana Mendieta, Lorraine O'Grady, Marta María Pérez Bravo, Gustavo Pérez-Monzón, Michael Richards, Alison Saar, Leandro Soto, Renée Stout, Gerardo Suter, Ruben Torres Llorca and Tiona Nekkia McClodden.
May interest you
JUANA VALDÉS’ HISTORICAL AND PERSONAL NARRATIVES AT SARASOTA ART MUSEUM
The artist’s first solo museum exhibition presents selected works from throughout her 30-year career and explores the history of migration between the Caribbean and the United States, gender, race, and the representation of the female body.
A COLLECTIVE EXPLORATION ON TEXTILE TRADITION
To Weave the Sky: Textile Abstractions al Espacio 23 celebrates numerous textile-based works from the Pérez collection –many of which have never been publicly exhibited before – and engages these acquisitions as focal points from which to structure creative dialogues with artworks presented in other mediums.
FIGURATION AND CONCEPTUALISM IN CRAIG ROBINS COLLECTION
The Craig Robins Collection in Miami is comprised of over 1300 pieces of contemporary art and innovative design, and exhibited within the Dacra headquarters in the Miami Design District. The 2023-2024 exhibition is titled A Train of Thoughts, focusing on two core subgroups from the collection holdings: figuration and conceptualism.
PINTA MIAMI 2023: A NEW EDITION COMITTED TO THE DISSEMINATION OF CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICAN ART
Pinta Miami 2023 returns –from December 6 to 10th– to the Hangar in Coconut Grove, the venue that was a success in the last edition. The fair will feature the participation of 51 spaces and 15 countries.
