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ARTDISTRICTS REVIEWS l NEWS l ART & MUSEUM GUIDE l MAPS august-SEPTEMBER 2017 WWW.ARTDISTRICTS.COM FLORIDA NO. 49 ARTDISTRICTS NO. 49 AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2017 WWW.ARTDISTRICTS.COM FLORIDA Director / Publisher 8 NEWS José E. López-Niggemann Ciudad Mágica (Fabien Castanier Gallery, Editor Miami) / Carlos Luna (Boca Raton Museum of Raisa Clavijo 16 Art) / Carlos Betancourt (Southeast Museum of Contributing Writers Photography, Daytona Beach) / Within Genres Denise Colson (Pérez Art Museum Miami) / Possible Worlds Claire Fenton 22 Suzanne Cohen (Frost Art Museum, Miami) / Virtual Views: Raisa Clavijo Digital Art from the Thoma Foundation (Orlando Legal Contributor Museum of Art) / Arno Rafael Minkkinen: Mind Octavio Robles, AIA, Esq. Over Matter (Southeast Museum of Photography, Copy Editor Daytona Beach) / Photorealism (Tampa Museum Gregg Lasky of Art) / Lost Springs (Museum of Contemporary Translator Art, Jacksonville). Diana Scholtz Israel 26 Art Director & Graphic Designer 14 ASK THE ART LAWYER Hugo Kerckhoffs Public Art / By Octavio Robles, AIA, Esq. Photography Antonio Vanni - Néstor Arenas - Leo Di Tomaso FEATURES Advertising 16 Ernesto Capdevila: The Game / By Raisa Clavijo [email protected] ARTDISTRICTS is published bimonthly, 22 Eduardo Chillida: Memory, Mind, Matter / By (6 issues per year) Denise Colson Subscribe online at www.artdistricts.com 26 Rainbows Inside the Museum / By Claire Fenton For editorial inquiries: [email protected] Contact us 30 Patricia Nix: American Baroque / By Denise [email protected] Colson Published by: 30 ARTDISTRICTS LLC P.O. Box 960008 34 Time as Landscape / By Suzanne Cohen Miami, Fl. 33296 786 274 3236 40 Art GUIDE - FLORIDA ARTDISTRICTS LLC, is not responsible for and does not necessarily share the opinions expressed by its contributors, nor does it assume 48 SOCIAL SHOts any responsibility for unsolicited materials or contents of advertisements. No portion of COVER PAGE: Ernesto Capdevila, Victory, detail, ARTDISTRICTS may be used or reproduced in 2016, polychrome wood and paintbrushes, 70” x 72” x any form without the express written permission 28.” Photo: Antonio Vanni. Courtesy of the artist and Pa- of the publisher. All rights reserved. tricia Jimenez Art Space. Ernesto Capdevila: 16 ARTDISTRICTS l www.artdistricts.com THE GAME Ernesto Capdevila, Check and Balance, detail, 2016, polychrome wood and golf balls, 62” x 51” x 20.” Photo: Antonio Vanni. BY RAISA ClaviJO sance painting and Surrealism. However, The selection of furniture parts as a Miami-based Ernesto Capdevila presents to create the three-dimensional pieces on starting point for these works is not acci- the exhibition “The Game” at the Carlos display today, he has decided to eschew dental. Furniture is a temporary-use item Albizu University gallery, which consists of the tethers that can come from academic that responds to a need for consumption a selection of works from his most recent training and mastery of a craft. guided by fashion. Capdevila rescues dis- series of sculptures. The exposition takes He has preferred to leave everything cards and gives them a “second chance” its title from one of the pieces on display to chance, to learn, to discover the po- by ascribing a spiritual and aesthetic val- depicting a golfer swinging at human tential of the wood as he works with it. ue to them. In this way, he reinserts them heads instead of golf balls. He started by experimenting with furni- into the consumption chain, this time in Capdevila prefers to call these works ture he acquired in Miami’s thrift stores. the form of a work of art. “stuff” instead of “sculptures” because He analyzed the form of the furniture To utilize an object is to interpret it. they are the result of an empirical pro- fragment and, from there, was able to The Duchampian gesture of starting cess of creation in which experimenta- obtain a heart, a torso, an arm and a with an object made by others displaces tion predominates. Born in Havana in human face. The works that comprise difficulties in the creative process, plac- 1970, Capdevila graduated from the Es- the “stuff” represent complete figures ing the emphasis on the way the artist cuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Ale- for the first time. He gathers fragments, looks at the object in question. In this jandro” with a specialization in engraving. carves them, transforms them and as- way, the mere act of selection is enough He has become known mainly as a painter sembles them to create a form reminis- to give rise to an artistic act, which is as and draftsman. He demonstrates notable cent of depictions of the Catholic saints valid as the traditional act of painting a sensitivity and technical mastery in works of the Middle Ages, figures with rough picture or carving a sculpture. Repur- through which he has constructed his own surfaces, carved by artisans who, like posing an object is already a means of visual language that, among other influ- Capdevila, also learned sculpting tech- creation. The act of inserting said ob- ences, is inspired by Gothic art, Renais- niques empirically. ject into a new scenario, of considering AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2017 17 Ernesto Capdevila, Penitencia, detail, 2014, polychrome wood and mixed media, 46” x 19” x 2.” Photo: Antonio Vanni. 18 ARTDISTRICTS l www.artdistricts.com it a protagonist in a new context, also cisions and bad. Since his early days as rest of the body merely defined, outlined, represents an act of creation. Howev- an engraver at El Taller Experimental de without overworking it. Stylistically, they er, Capdevila does not merely stop at Gráfica de La Habana, he has learned are reminiscent of the Gothic sculptures the act of selecting parts of discarded to value and exploit the magic of those this artist has always valued for their ap- objects in order to repurpose them as “accidents” that occur during the pro- parent naiveté. There is also an undeniable works of art; he also showcases all of cess that, far from constituting setbacks, reference to folk art, specifically to erotic the value that craftsmanship has within turn into opportunities for the artist. African folk art, which he studied inten- the creative act. Little by little, he has Each piece in this series has emerged sively in order to create these works, mar- learned how to work with the wood; with its own concept, and this in turn has veling at the simplicity of the forms with he has gotten to know the different generated a text that has turned into po- which those artists were able to develop techniques. He tries to take each step etry. At times, the messages might appear and communicate such complex concepts. in the most artisanal way possible; he cryptic, but they always call for reflection. Victory is a tall sculpture with out- does not want to be labeled a sculptor, “As I poetically develop a word, an idea, stretched arms measuring more than 70 because he is fascinated by approaching I begin working and creating the piece,” inches across. The torso and extremities the material without being contaminat- the artist says. In this sense, the interpreta- have not been worked in detail. The art- ed by the aesthetic tendencies in vogue tion of reality is transformed into poetic ist has preferred to concentrate on the or by academic canons. Capdevila tries construction. The result is that Capdevila details of the two faces, one at the front to adapt himself to the possibilities reflects and offers his opinion on themes and a different one at the back of the offered to him by the tools he knows affecting today’s world that include rela- piece. “Two faces: one to show; the other how to use, which are only those he tionships between human beings, the rela- to support,” proclaims the accompany- has within reach. Furthermore, he tries tionship of man with nature, as well as his ing text. The work appears to commu- not to utilize tacks or nails to join the stance with respect to the mechanisms that nicate a paradoxical and elusive notion fragments; rather, he fits together the govern art and culture. of victory. “What you offer me can fill furniture parts in order to create these The works that comprise “The Game” my eyes, my arms and my heart” com- figures, complex in their very simplicity. are characterized as being of large and me- municates the text that accompanies the Capdevila never starts with sketches; dium format, featuring figures with elon- work Solo veo lo que me ofreces (I only he always starts with a fragment of fur- gated extremities and large feet. In their see what you offer me), which shows a niture, and that is how he develops each creation, Capdevila concentrated mainly character with long extremities, stand- step. The forms of the piece arise slowly, on the details of the faces, of the hands, ing on a table, with numerous brushes making the most of both the good de- of some element of clothing, leaving the clustered together on outstretched arms. Ernesto Capdevila, Solo veo lo que me ofreces, detail, 2016, polychrome wood and paintbrushes, 68” x 40” x 28.” Photo: Antonio Vanni. AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2017 19 Ernesto Capdevila, Strong Heart, detail, 2016, polychrome wood, 39” x 33” x 19.” Photo: Antonio Vanni. 20 ARTDISTRICTS l www.artdistricts.com Ernesto Capdevila, Victory, detail, 2016, polychrome wood and paintbrushes, 70” x 72” x 28.” Photo: Antonio Vanni. “You cannot take from me what I cannot give,” says Ofrenda, of the university’s cultural program, aimed at “strengthening the a piece that shows a figure with big feet, with one of the arms human spirit through education and the arts.” outstretched, on which many brushes of different sizes are also clustered together.

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