Sunday, Jan 25, 2015
"Printmaking in Cuba Today" features works by nine Cuban artists Feb. 5-March 1
The ߲ݴý Art Gallery will present an exhibition titled “El Grabado Cuba Hoy” (Printmaking in Cuba Today), featuring contemporary works by Cuban artists from Thursday, Feb. 5, through Sunday, March 1.
Curated by Marilyn Sampera Rosado, curator for the Center of Visual Arts in Havana, Cuba, the exhibit will include works by Adislen Reyes Pino, Alex Hernandez Dueñas, Ariamna Contino Mendoza, Gustavo Del Valle Ramirez, Kelvin Lopez Nieves, Marcel Molina Martinez, Yamilys Brito Jorge, Osmeivy Ortega Pacheco and Yacel Yzquierdo Díaz.
The exhibit will include an opening reception on Thursday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m. and artists’ talk with Marilyn Sampera Rosado and Kelvin Lopez Nieves on Thursday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Marilyn Sampera Rosado has written about of the exhibit, “Displayed are the works of a small group of artists who, in works of great originality and diversity, share as their essential definition of printmaking as an expression of their personal discourse. To contribute to the dissemination of knowledge about the dynamics of art in Cuba, and to do so motivated by an appreciation for contemporary visual arts, is a praiseworthy initiative of ߲ݴý.”
Artist Kelvin Lopez Nieves’s new series of prints titled This is Your House Fidel is included in the exhibit. “I utilize phrases and slogans that defined the beginning years of the Revolution in Havana of the 1960s,” he has written about the series. “Impressed into stamps, the phrases and slogans are used as tools to draw scenes and specific contexts of this city, where past and present reorder the perception of our surroundings and redefine our socio-cultural profiles.”
Plans for exhibit began when Gallery Director Professor Harry I. Naar and his wife, Barbara, visited Cuba and met Sampera Rosado in Havana. She arranged for them to visit a number of artists in the area.
“We were truly surprised to see the creative, high quality work that was being produced,” Naar recalls. “The work spaces we saw were amazing - spacious, light-filled and well-equipped, and the artwork created reflected traditional realistic images, inventive abstraction, computer art and, to our surprise, political images, satire and social commentary.”
While Marilyn Sampera Rosado and Kelvin Lopez Nieves are at Rider, they will also meet with several classes and international student organizations.
The Rider Student Government Association, the Latin American Student Association, the Rider International Student Association and the Center for International Education provided additional funding for the exhibit.
The ߲ݴý Art Gallery is located in the Bart Luedeke Center on ߲ݴý’s campus, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, in Lawrenceville. It is open Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, visit .