We thank, PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, Miami, and their staff for there kind help, we also thank the artist for there creative phenomena.
Carlos Quintana: The Diamond’s Shadow, Pan American Art Projects,Miami, 2019
Carlos Quintana: The Diamond’s Shadow, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, 2019
Carlos Quintana: A Mood
The Good (artists) only exist in what they do.
Oscar Wilde
The work of Carlos Quintana is the result ...of his mood. His world is his work, and all of it is, at the same time, cumulative. Accurate separations between series or epochs are not possible in terms of the essential, in each there is everything that comes out of itself. The only possible identification is given by the appearance of new elements, which are added to the body as a branch to a tree, literally. Another essential element of Carlos Quintana’s work is his condition as subject. He himself does not see his oils as paintings, he sees them as a whole, and that is why he stains everything: the frames, the study, himself. His work is also visceral, as visceral is his attitude towards art, and towards life. He does not try to please anyone. In a context where personal relationships are fundamental, … and they are! -I refer here to the world of art and “the selfie” as a manipulative weapon of legitimation-, having a work like this allows you to work without having to please anyone, because today, more than before, being solid in what you do saves you from giving concessions of every type, and these, unfortunately, many times are defining.
The creative world of Carlos Quintana is airtight, it is a place where only he enters, and that is where his work is, from which we see what he decides that we can see, and which we will never decipher either. All this world that “we do not see” is precisely what surprises us because it always appears suddenly, in forms and colors apparently out of control, and that is its best tool: creative insolence, being at peace only with itself. In the end that is the only thing that makes you free and that is what is most perceived in front of a work by Carlos: the guy is free; he is completely free.
Another aspect that makes a big difference for me, is that he is a voracious reader, and that is not seen, but it shows. He grew up among books, his father worked at the National Library of Cuba -there Carlos spent much of his early childhood- among huge bookcases and the smell of ink and old paper. And that is a big difference, because culture is cumulative and feeds on itself, and once again the essential is what is not seen: in this case the background of a work that impacts us because of everything behind it, and which also feeds on itself. Because always, and in art too, everything is a matter of attitude.
This show is all of that, until today: and perhaps that is the only way to place it in time.
Carlos Quintana is undoubtedly, along with another artist that I do not have to mention because this show is by Carlos, the best living painter in Cuba, because you can be insolent with a profession only when you completely bend it, dominate it.
Carlos Quintana: The Diamond’s Shadow, Pan American Art Projects,Miami, 2019
Carlos Quintana: The Diamond’s Shadow, Pan American Art Projects, ...
Carlos Quintana: The Diamond’s Shadow, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, 2019
Carlos Quintana: A Mood
The Good (artists) only exist in what they do.
Oscar Wilde
The work of Carlos Quintana is the result ...of his mood. His world is his work, and all of it is, at the same time, cumulative. Accurate separations between series or epochs are not possible in terms of the essential, in each there is everything that comes out of itself. The only possible identification is given by the appearance of new elements, which are added to the body as a branch to a tree, literally. Another essential element of Carlos Quintana’s work is his condition as subject. He himself does not see his oils as paintings, he sees them as a whole, and that is why he stains everything: the frames, the study, himself. His work is also visceral, as visceral is his attitude towards art, and towards life. He does not try to please anyone. In a context where personal relationships are fundamental, … and they are! -I refer here to the world of art and “the selfie” as a manipulative weapon of legitimation-, having a work like this allows you to work without having to please anyone, because today, more than before, being solid in what you do saves you from giving concessions of every type, and these, unfortunately, many times are defining.
The creative world of Carlos Quintana is airtight, it is a place where only he enters, and that is where his work is, from which we see what he decides that we can see, and which we will never decipher either. All this world that “we do not see” is precisely what surprises us because it always appears suddenly, in forms and colors apparently out of control, and that is its best tool: creative insolence, being at peace only with itself. In the end that is the only thing that makes you free and that is what is most perceived in front of a work by Carlos: the guy is free; he is completely free.
Another aspect that makes a big difference for me, is that he is a voracious reader, and that is not seen, but it shows. He grew up among books, his father worked at the National Library of Cuba -there Carlos spent much of his early childhood- among huge bookcases and the smell of ink and old paper. And that is a big difference, because culture is cumulative and feeds on itself, and once again the essential is what is not seen: in this case the background of a work that impacts us because of everything behind it, and which also feeds on itself. Because always, and in art too, everything is a matter of attitude.
This show is all of that, until today: and perhaps that is the only way to place it in time.
Carlos Quintana is undoubtedly, along with another artist that I do not have to mention because this show is by Carlos, the best living painter in Cuba, because you can be insolent with a profession only when you completely bend it, dominate it.
Jose Toirac: Waiting for the Right Time, PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, 2019-20
Jose Toirac: Waiting for the Right Time,PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, ...
Jose Toirac: Waiting for the Right Time,PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, 2019-20
About “Waiting for the Right Time”
The work of José Toirac is defined by its ability to observe and dismantle historical ...and political processes. His references, therefore, are always essential characters of politics and history, through which he relates the universal, to the reality that surrounds him. His intention is to show the zones of the silence of the official history, the truth that always hides behind the power. His work is strongly censured by the authorities in Cuba. Part of his creative process is to use images from the public domain (magazines and official newspapers), because once they are published, supposedly they passed the censorship of the State. His work travels along the line that separates politics from reality, exposing that intermediate zone where manipulation mechanisms are visible. This series is entitled “Waiting for the Right Time”, and represents a summary of years of work, of trial and error, negotiation and censorship. For years, for all his censored projects, he always heard a government official say, as an excuse for the censorship, “I’m sorry, the project has nothing wrong, but it is not the right time for it to be shown”. Toirac still lives in Cuba, a political artist needs to live in front of the powers that be, otherwise, it would be easy to create political art. Finally, it is worth saying that this series has been censored in Cuba, and has been waiting for its right time.
“Waiting for the Right Time” consists of combinations of the image of Fidel Castro with classic advertisements of consumer products: politics and advertising have in common that both have something to sell. We are also presenting a historical review of other censored works over a career of 25 years. Included in this review are “Vanitas” (a compilation of portraits of the first ladies of Cuba, a position not recognized by the revolution); “Alma Pater” (a series of portraits of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ important male figures caught in moments of tender embrace with their children or grandchildren; and “Mid-life Crisis” (a series of pornographic selfies taken by university students with government-issued cell phones, hidden behind delicate watercolors of the typical Cuban products displayed in the photographs). Finally, in our Video Room, we will present the new edition of the artist’s iconic piece – “Opus” showing on the screen a series of numbers pronounced in a single speech given by Fidel Castro at a school opening. Below is a complete list of the censored woks which are included in this show.[+] Show More
Beyond Paper Boundaries, PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, Miami
Beyond Paper Boundaries, PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, Miami We are ...
Beyond Paper Boundaries, PAN AMERICAN ART Projects, Miami
We are pleased to announce the opening of our group show, Beyond Paper Boundaries. Paper is an ironic material, at once delicate, yet ...resilient. It is so thin and fine, and yet the content on it can carry so much weight. Paper has been the base upon which we record our history, reveal secret loves, mark victories and disasters, express sorrow and joy. Paper is so fragile, and yet some of our most important remnants of our past have been preserved on this fine material.
The purpose of this show is two-fold. First, in our main gallery we look at the way that artists can manipulate and contort paper to bring actual dimension and weight to it sculpturally, through folding, shadow play, and layering, The act of complex engineering converts the two-dimensional paper into a three-dimensional object. These pieces push the physical boundaries between the second and third dimensions. Artists in the main gallery include: Ariamna Contino, Yaya Firpo, José Manuel Fors, Carlos Gallardo, Ana Meneses, Ronald Morán, Andrés Paredes, Adislen Reyes, Graciela Sacco, Rusty Scruby, and Toña Vegas.
Second, we will introduce our Grey Salon, a space which gives us the opportunity to exhibit highlighted works on paper from our collection creating the perfect setting for beginning collectors.[+] Show More
Jorge Rios: The Age of the Wind Pan American Art Projects
Jorge Rios: The Age of the Wind Pan American Art Projects is pleased ...
Jorge Rios: The Age of the Wind
Pan American Art Projects is pleased to announce The Age of the Wind, a solo show of Cuban-born artist Jorge Rios. We will be ...presenting a new body of work, with several paintings and watercolors. The show opens on May 1st and closes on July 10th.
The artist describes these paintings as composed of two main elements: “Nature as a metaphor for the substantive real-world and text as a symbol for knowledge. The paradox of describing natural phenomena – that not only precede humanity but are by definition untraceable – is a metaphor to our contradictory instinct of understanding the universe and the narrow limits of this understanding. The structure of the text is always the same grandiose phrase This was the first… This intentional repetition acts as an echo to the repetitive rhetoric and language structure common in religious narratives.”
Jorge Rios’s work transcends the flatness of ordinary visual language reaching the subtlety, ambivalence, and complexity that we perceive more clearly in other art forms such as music or poetry. Rios tries to establish through his art a link between the individual experience of reality and the totality of existence.
He currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.[+] Show More
three “Americans”, Pan American Art Projects
In this exhibition, we are delighted to bring together three prominent ...
In this exhibition, we are delighted to bring together three prominent women artists from three regions of the Americas.
The work of these three artists turns stereotypes on their heads ...both in terms of gender and geography. In the United States, we tend to be myopic in thinking only of ourselves as “American”, negating the reality of a long history of civilization to the South. Instead, we celebrate here the diversity of the Americas, which has been a longstanding mission of our gallery, by exhibiting concurrently Carolina Sardi from Argentina, Mabel Poblet from Cuba, and Carolyn Mara from the U.S.: three “Americans”. The way that these three artists work also turns on its head the gender stereotypes associated with women. The work that these three women produce has a physicality to it which belies any stereotypes of the “fairer sex”.[+] Show More
"CHILL" Afro-Caribbean works, @Pan American Art Projects
CHILL is a celebration of the faces and bodies of the Caribbean. We ...
CHILL is a celebration of the faces and bodies of the Caribbean. We have carefully selected works from our collection of Afro-Caribbean works that celebrate the people of the region ...and bring to light the images of people and communities representing the complexity of Afro-Caribbean identity.
These pieces cover a vast array of styles, from the hyper-realistic to the surreal from the regions of Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica. In the presentation of these diverse works, we reflect upon the reality that Afro-Caribbean identity is not monolithic, and the aesthetics of these regions cannot be contained in a single movement or style, rather are as varied and nuanced as the cultures that come together in the Caribbean. We take the opportunity to re-contextualize works from our collection of over 20 years in a way that is relevant to contemporary discourse on Afro-Caribbean identity and iconography through the face and the figure[+] Show More
Lisandra Ramírez "Memories". "Carbon", by Serlian Barreto, Pan American Art Projects
Lisandra Ramírez "Memories". "Carbon", by Serlian Barreto, Pan ...
Lisandra Ramírez "Memories". "Carbon", by Serlian Barreto, Pan American Art Projects
Carbon, by Serlian Barreto, curated by Claudia Taboda, is a series composed of work produced over the last two years ...as a homage to his grandfather, who is a lifelong producer and exporter of coal in Cuba. Barreto grew up with his grandfather and has in-depth knowledge of the specific procedures to convert organic materials into coal, to later be used as fuel: from gathering raw materials to the characteristics of the ecosystem in which the burning takes place. His paintings resemble a giant notebook depicting this process: what is often overlooked is magnified through his eyes.
Serlian Barreto was born in Cuba and lives and works in the United States. He graduated from the San Alejandro Art Academy, Havana. His work has been exhibited in several galleries in Cuba, at the Havana Biennial, and at institutions in Naples, Italy. Despite his short career, Barreto is a talented emerging artist who analyzes each of his works with an old-fashioned perspective, much like Renaissance artists: notes, sketches, reference clippings, etc. Most of Barreto’s works are in private and public collections as well as in The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, FL, USA; Jorge M. Perez Collection, Miami, FL, USA; and, El Oficio: Revista de Arte y Literatura Magazine Collection, Havana, Cuba.
Lisandra Ramírez was born in Havana in 1986. Her childhood was encompassed by the rupture of the Cuban utopia – the end of prosperity and Soviet influence, the fall of the socialist system, and the resulting socio-economic crisis of the era known as the "special period." Within this milieu, Ramírez grew up in the Cerro neighborhood of Havana amid a kaleidoscope of colonial tiles, neoclassical and eclectic colonnades, and the rich ornamentation of the former aristocracies.
In the imagination of the child, this space of evaporating artifacts and stories merged with images from Soviet cartoons, toys, and books. As the world depolarized, images seeping in from American and Japanese cultures collided with the visual language of her childhood. In concert with the architecture, furniture, and decorations of the colonial and republican past of the Cerro, these influences had a decisive impact on the formative visual memory of the artist.[+] Show More
Pan American Art Projects 'Abcdefg, Collective"
Abcdefg, Collective Exhibition View worksPan American Art Projects is ...
Abcdefg, Collective Exhibition View worksPan American Art Projects is excited to announce ABCDEFG, a group show featuring the works of mainly Miami based artists Paul Amundarain, Rigoberto Diaz, Filio Galvez, ...Delvin Lugo, Marlon Portales, Jorge Rios, and Leticia Sanchez Toledo. ABCDEFG will be on view from June 25 to August 20, 2022, with an opening reception for the artists on Saturday June 25, from 6 to 9 pm. ABCDEFG brings together seven practices through which artists articulate their own forms of commons with different artistic manifestations, such as painting in its most academic representation, an expanded and contemporary version, as well as non-traditional interpretations involving drawing, and installation. This show is a frivolous ode to the complexity of culture of our days, its meta definitions, hypersensitivity, automation: it is a call to attention to the details of life, to what we are. It is why we quote Rosalía's song “ABCDEFG”, where the singer returns to the primitive and simple way of associating the letters of the alphabet with words, expressions and events that are in popular slang. She omits letters, she makes up words or “miswrites” them. It is a break from over-thinking the conceptual searching in life, which looks more beautiful the simpler it is. ABCDEFG will be accompanied by a scheduled programming of movie screenings curated by Filio Galvez. –“ABCDEFG” - RosalíaA de Alfa, Altura, AlienB de BandidaC de CoquetaD de DinamitaE de Expensiva, Emperatriz, Enigma, EnteradaF de Flux AeonG de GuapaH de HonduraI de Inteligencia ArtificialJ de JinetaM de Motomami, Motomami, MotomamiMotomami, MotomamiN de "Ni se te ocurra ni pensarlo"O de OrquídeaP de PatronaQ de Qué reinonaR de Racineta, Racineta, RangoRacineta, RangoS de SataT de TitánicaU de UltrasonidosV de VendettaW de Willy ColonDe Winterfall tambiénX de "Te despejo la X en un momento"Y de Yenes, de YantasY Z de Zarzamora, o de Zapateao' o de Zorra también[+] Show More
"The Life of Meanings", Carlos Estevez, Pan American Art Projects
"The Life of Meanings", Carlos Estevez, Pan American Art Projects Pan ...
"The Life of Meanings", Carlos Estevez, Pan American Art Projects
Pan American Art Projects is delighted to announce The Life of Meanings, a solo show that introduces the newest works by ...Carlos Estevez, who has received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant, the Cintas Foundation Fellowship in Visual Arts, The Ellies Creator Award, and the Grand Prize in the First Salon of Contemporary Cuban Art in Havana, among other recognitions. The exhibition presents different micro-universes of memory, small spaces of the artist's identity and for everyone who builds their own “life of meanings”. Estevez narrates his dreams through interactive works; cabinets of curiosities, paintings of imagined cities and drawings conceived as intellectual maps.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog with a principal text by Maritza Lacayo, Assistant Curator of the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) and one of the most important critical voices in the artistic context of Miami; and texts by Claudia Taboada, the exhibit curator, and Janda Wetherington, the person who has been the Director of Pan American Art Projects for more than twenty years and has followed the artist’s trajectory since then. Also, we will be offering for sale some copies of the monograph written by the well known art critic Carol Damian on the work of Carlos Estevez on the occasion of his exhibition at the Tucson Museum in 2019, a book that offers a broader and retrospective overview of his work.
Carlos Estevez was born and raised in Cuba and moved to Miami in 2004, where he lives and works. He graduated from the University of Arts (ISA) in Havana and solo exhibitions of his work have been presented at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana; Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona; The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami; Center of Contemporary Art, New Orleans; Lowe Art Museum at Miami University, Florida; and the Stoors Gallery at University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Estevez has participated in group exhibitions presented at the 6th and 7th Havana Biennials; the 1st Biennial of Martinique; Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; Maison de l’Amerique Latine, Paris, France; Casa de América, Palacio de Linares, Madrid, Spain; and several others.[+] Show More
Power Couture, Pan American Art Projects
Power Couture, Pan American Art Projects Power Couture, curated by ...
Power Couture, Pan American Art Projects
Power Couture, curated by Claudia Taboada, attempts to conceptualize the relationship between art and fashion and to analyze the convergence of their languages in ...the discourse of power relations. Historically, the expressions of art and fashion have manifested themselves under certain socio-political circumstances. In the visual arts, this evolution may have been reflected in something as "simple" as a change in color or in a radical transformation of the medium of execution. In fashion, we introduce an aluminum corset and then a very mundane, but with great significance, “pants revolution” for women. Human skin has been the “canvas" on which attitudes, critical positions, and social advances have been drawn.
Both fashion and art, in their haute couture and finest categories, have been an expression of nationalism, terrorism, surveillance, and individualism, as well as a symbol of capitalism... but also of decolonization and a profound criticism of power and its mechanisms of domination (think the uniform gray outfits in Mao’s Revolution).
The exhibition presents works in dissimilar mediums, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, objects, videos, and installations, with historical documentation and photographs as a reference. It also contains, on a physical or representational level, artist-designed actual clothing items and allusions to brands from the fashion world.
Artists: José Benito, Los Carpinteros, Ryder Cooley, Carlos Estévez, Jenny Feal, Ernesto J. Fernández, León Ferrari, Wanda Fraga, Lorena Gutiérrez Camejo, Roldán Lauzán, Mariana Monteagudo, Cecilia Paredes, Ivan Perera, Santiago Porter, Lisandra Ramírez, Sandra Ramos, Gabriela Reyna, Jorge Ríos, Graciela Sacco, Katrin Schnabl, and Tracey Snelling.
The Entrance Room was dedicated to the work of fashion designer Kiki Borlenghi (Brera Art Institute of Milan) and her mentor Germana Marucelli.[+] Show More
Pan American Art Projects was established in 2001 with the mission to exhibit and promote established and emerging artists from North, Central and South America, providing a context for dialogue between the various regions. We represent a strong roster of contemporary artists of the Americas and hold a collection of important works from Cuba, Argentina, the U.S. and the Caribbean. Our programming reflects these complementary arenas providing a comprehensive historical context for contemporary tendencies in the visual arts from these regions.
