Body Memories
Body Memories
by Cirenaica Moreira & Adonis Flores
217 E 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
May 26, 2011 – June 25, 2011
Tuesday-Saturday, 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
The Cuban Artists Fund in collaboration with chashama is pleased to offer the exhibition, Body Memories, a photography exhibit featuring the work of Cuban artists, Cirenaica Moreira and Adonis Flores.
Cirenaica Moreira and Adonis Flores, two young members of the current Cuban visual arts community, are part of this international trend of creative thinking that revisits canons of action and ideology. In his work, Adonis Flores regards war as a cornerstone of creation, especially in the existential vicissitudes of human beings. Cirenaica Moreira questions the alleged banality of the feminine universe and criticizes the cultural yokes historically imposed on women, which dictate their confinement in the bosom of their families. Both artists use their work to address national politics and history, gender and sexuality, nature, culture and society. In doing so, both artists reflect on the social construction of both genders, the roles historically assigned to them, and the differentiated place they occupy within the separate spheres of what is public and what is private, with the usual, almost exclusive, participation of men in the first one and the relegation of women to the second.
When these two artists action their camera’s shutter, they provocatively question the classical myth of men going to war for the honor and glory it brings them and their people, while their wives wait in the still, absolute calm of their homes. Turning the critical focus of their lenses to these matters, as others refute the need to make war or dispute the sterility of women’s domestic space, turns art into a platform for transformation. Works of art then become invitations for creative expression or critical dialogue that, under the delightful guise of visual or aesthetic considerations, target notions that are cultural, psychological, sociological and anthropological in nature. It is at this precise juncture that their value and use in present times can be found.
Artists' Bios:
Cirenaica Moreira (b. Havana, 1969)
Mrs. Moreira graduated from the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) in Havana in 1992 with a focus in the performing arts. Among her most outstanding individual exhibitions are Cowhide (2010), Servando Gallery, Havana, Cuba; Sand Im Mund (2010), Gedok Gallery, Munich, Germany; Upside Down Instep (2006), 9th Havana Biennial, Miramar Trade Center, Havana, Cuba; Wet Dreams: Documentations and Memoirs (2005), 4th Contemporary Art Exhibition, La Casona Gallery, Havana, Cuba; Letters From Inxile (2002), La Casona Gallery, Havana, Cuba; Imaging the Spirit (with Albert Chong and Juan Carlos Alom, 2001), Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, Colorado, USA; Refrigerate After Opening (2001), Gallery 106, Medaid, Org/Art, Austin, Texas, USA; Metallic (1999), Habana Gallery, Havana, Cuba; Lobotomy (1997), Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba; and EyesThat Beheld You Leave (1995), at Espacio Abierto Gallery, Revolución y Cultura Magazine, Havana, Cuba. Her work has also been displayed in many institutions around the world, such as the Space for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China; the Claramatte Parkhouse, Basel, Switzerland; the Excelencias Cultural Space, Madrid, Spain; the Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, USA; the Musee Quai du Branly, Paris, France; the Clairefontaine Gallery, Luxemburg, and the Kunsthalle Aterres, Austria. Her works are part of the important institutional and private collections.
Adonis Flores (b. Santi Spiritus, Cuba, 1971)
Mr. Flores graduated in Architecture from Central University in Las Villas, Cuba, in 1997. His artistic practice includes different disciplines. He has presented solo exhibitions, as Memorial in 2010, Deeper Touch in 2009 and Cannon Fodder in 2007, all in Havana; Camouflages in Montreal, Canada (2008) and Mexico DF, Mexico (2007); and made his performances in Cuba, Canada, Colombia and United Kingdom. Group shows he has participated in are Complement Polarity, at Newcomb Art Gallery and New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 2010; Camouflages at Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain, 2009; VIVA! Art Action, Performance Art Festival, Montreal, Canada, 2009; Fotologia 6, International Festival of Photography, Bogota, Colombia, 2008; European Media Art Festival, Germany, 2007; Sideshow Festival, in parallel to British Art Show, England, 2006; and CAFKA, Kitchener, Canada, 2004-2005, among other exhibitions and internationals fairs and festivals. His works are part of the funds in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba; the Gilbert Brownstone Foundation, France, and different private collections in various countries.
More info: www.cubanartistsfund.org
