Curator: Carine Fabius

 

To present a select group of artists from choice Caribbean and neighboring Latin American countries which share a history of slave-trading from Africa and European colonial masters with the purpose of jumpstarting a conversation on the relevance of the Caribbean—not as a vacation destination—but as fertile ground and overlooked hub for important contemporary art.

 

Haiti is synonymous with poverty; Cuba with Fidel Castro, and Brazil with carnaval and Samba-dancing.  But there’s more.  These countries (to name but three), in addition to sharing African-based and Catholic influenced religions—Voodoo, Santeria and Condomble—are also repositories of rich, cultural resources in the realm of art.  It is said that Haiti is the biggest source for Black art in the world (plastic arts) and its well-documented “primitive” art movement back in the forties influenced a multitude of artists whose works are highly sought-after and collected worldwide.  But self-taught artists painting in the “primitive” style is merely the tip of the iceberg; and contemporary Haitian artists exhibiting in important cultural institutions worldwide is as commonplace as with artists from any other nation.  However, those who are uninformed on the subject far outnumber Haitian art enthusiasts.  

 

For several years, there has been a surge of interest in the United States and Europe in Cuban art—a source of great pride to the Castro regime, which supports its much-valued artists with numerous well-funded art universities throughout the island.  But again, the phenomenon of Cuba’s seemingly endless pool of artists, both celebrated and unknown, is of significance only to the relatively small number of those impassioned with the arts in general.  Of the three, Brazil is the only country that does not offer up a long legacy of widely collected artists throughout the world.  But its media image of scantily-clad women, strong cocktails and dance-‘till-you-drop festivities followed by lazy days at the beach is buttressed by a strong, and getting-stronger-still art community which makes that image more realistically complete.

 

The idea behind this exhibition is that’s not all there is!  The general public is already familiar with and seduced by the charm and mystery surrounding these countries.  Introducing their cultural significance through their art feels like the next logical step.