Author: Pedro Vizcaino
Title: "JAAA HAA"
Year: ***
Media: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 X 40 inch
ABOUT THE ARTIST
The creative coordinates of Pedro Vizcaíno’s art stem from the late 1980s. The explosion of the Volumen I exhibition and the subsequent emergence of a “Cuban avant-garde theory” steeped in the contributions of Western postmodern thought—boldly defying official cultural models from the Eastern bloc—as well as the rise of a new model of art education around the workshops of the Instituto Superior de Arte, brought about a gradual but permanent change (not without its own contradictions) in the paradigms of Cuban art. All of these directly influenced the artist’s métier.
Succeeding generations of artists replaced the slogan of the 1971 First Congress of Education and Culture—”Art is a weapon of the Revolution”—with a critical view of their social context and the idea of the artist and his sources of inspiration as active forces. Whereas in the 1960s, it was cinema that had been the creative, heretic protagonist of the Revolution, the visual arts now moved to the forefront of Cuban culture, and have consistently remained there ever since.
Pedro Vizcaíno is a graduate of the San Alejandro Academy and later of the School of Artistic Education in Ciudad Libertad. Along with colleagues such as Pedro Álvarez, Alexis Esquivel, Armando Mariño, and art teachers such as Tanya Angulo, José A. Toirac, and Elio Rodríguez, Vizcaíno managed to avoid the lure of neo-conceptual, sociological trends entrenched in certain areas of Cuban art. His works remained faithful to two-dimensional painting, an approach shared by some of his fellow students. But instead of “bien fait Cuban paintings” (whether abstract or realist), ready to hang in serene living rooms or museum halls, Vizcaíno—together with the members of the ArteCalle group—opted for an art that is expansive and “coarse.” This work demonstrated a non-hierarchical use of composition, transformed into a visual diary capable of expressing the fleeting character of thought—always a work in progress. In this manner, the canvas became for him an energetic, heterodox surface, straightforwardly depicting the very images that inspire him, even reproducing them without regard for copyright.
“Doomed” to discover international art in the glossy pages of art magazines and old slides from History of Art courses, Vizcaíno transmuted his inability to travel and lack of first-hand access to key artworks into a critical, ironic distance from the traditions of art. Vizcaíno used characters borrowed from American and Cuban comics, imbibed (from books) New York graffiti of the 1970s that had been praised by Norman Mailer, and chose as authoritative sources such contemporary figures as Kenny Scharf, Keith Haring, and Jonathan Borofsky, as well as German Neo-Expressionism and Pop artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Ray Johnson. He distilled these sources through his peculiar Neo-Expressionistic temperament and his urgent need to express the convulsed dynamics of a reality both internal and external.
From its very title, The Sentimental History of Cuban Art (1993) presents an explicitly non-academic vision of its subject, filtered through an autobiographical prism and a caustic sense of humor. Painted after his trip to Mexico and Miami, this canvas is a great visual palimpsest, a slate on which he accumulates an apparent disarray of works appropriated from other artists: icons like the eye that pops up throughout the piece, fragments of Marvel Comics characters, human silhouettes that evoke Egyptian art. The reference to Roy Lichtenstein—the tearful girl—becomes the central and most recognizable motif in an ensemble put together literally as a collage. This allows Vizcaíno to show, without any sense of hierarchy, a tumultuous mood, a flow of sensations stemming from a Romantic root.
—Abelardo G. Mena Chicuri
Solo Exhibitions
2010
"Gangueros y Taxis".Nkisi Project.Miami.Florida
2008
"Matter Attacks".Farside Gallery.Miami.Florida.
"Wild Child Graffiti".Figarelli Contemporary.Scottsdale,Arizona.
2007
"ADN-ALIEN".Ardex Gallery.Miami.Florida.
2005
"New Works".Miami Dade-Community College.Miami.Florida.
2004
"Works on Paper" Buena Vista Galleries.Design District.Miami.Florida
2002
"Airplane",Casa Di Mobili.Miami.Florida.
2001
"The Palace of The Lost Children",A+Resources Fine Art Gallery.Miami.Florida
1999
"Route No.2",Box Forum for the Arts.Miami.Florida.
"Solo Show",Casa Di Mobili.Miami.Florida.
"Guns,Kisses and a Cuban Kamikaze".Ambrosino Gallery.Miami.Florida.
1992
"Rockoco".Nina Menocal Gallery.D.F.Mexico.
"Neo Pop",El Sax.D.F.Mexico.
1991
"Espartaco",Taller de Serigrafia,Rene Portocarrero,Havana,Cuba.
1988
"Individual Exhibition",El Pasillo gallery.I.S.A.Havana.Cuba.
Selected Group
Exhibition
2010
"ATOPIA".Arte de la Ciudad en el siglo XXI.Centro de Cultura
Contemporaneo de Barcelona.Barcelona.España.
2008 "
Miami Ciudad Metafora".The Spanish Cultural Center.Miami.Florida
2007
"More Bad Paintings on 8 Street".Contemporanea Fine Art.Miami.Florida
" Group Show".Kunsthaus Gallery.Miami.Florida.
2006
"Layers:Collecting Cuban-American Art".University at Buffalo Art Gallery.Center
for the Arts.Buffalo.NY.
"Contemporary Cuban Drawing".Paul Sharpe Contemporary Art.New york.
"A Well Kept Secret:40 Years of Collecting.Miami Dade Galleries.Miami.Florida.
"MOLAA,Auction 06,Contemporary Latin American Art.Long Beach,CA.
2005
"Rampa:Signaling New Latin American Art Initiatives exhibition".ASU Art Museum
Arizona State University.Tempe.Arizona.
"WET".Edge Zones-Contemporary Art.Miami.Florida.
"Arteamericas Art Fair",Coconut Grove.Miami.Florida
"Aerial Terrestrial:Contemporary Art".Miami Dade College.Kendall Campus.
Miami.Florida.
"Pedro Vizcaino,Pablo Gonzalez Trejo,Florencio Gelabert".kunsthaus Gallery.
Miami.Florida.
"Portraits".Maxoly Gallery.Miami.Florida
"Cave Monster Land Mass".Factory Model.Art Bassel,Miami.Florida.
"Latin American Art in Georgia Collections".Sturgis Library Gallery.Kennesaw State
University.Kennesaw,Georgia.
2004
"There is a Time in Mexico",Cultural Institute of Mexico.Miami.Florida.
"Aniversario",Gomez Fine Art Gallery.San Juan.Puerto Rico.
"American Dream".The Ignatian Center for the Arts.Miami.Florida.
"Respite",Shade-Projetcs.Phoenix.Arizona.
"Six Art Now".Murano Grande.Miami.Florida.
"Arteamericas Art Fair",Coconut Grove.Miami.Florida.
"Index Miami".Edge Zones-Contemporary Art.Miami.Florida
"Miami Citizen".Cultural Institute of Mexico.Miami.Florida.
"Miami Now".Edge Zones-Contemporary Art.Miami.Florida.
2003
"Drawing Conclusion",dacra,Mellin Building,Miami Design District.Miami.Florida.
"The Outsider Art Fair",Bourbon-Lally Gallery.Soho.New York City.
"Los Tesoros del Molaa",Molaa Museum.Los Angeles.California.
"
Arteamericas Art Fair,Trends-Latin American Contemporary Art.Coconut Grove.
Miami.Florida.
"Inside the Paper",Hispanic Cultural Center.Miami.Florida.
"Beyond the Skin",Sono Gallery Fine Art.New York City.
"Contemporary Cuban Art in New York 2003",Bill Maynes Gallery.New York.
2002
"Why don't we do it in the road",Ambrosino Gallery.Miami.Florida.
"Cafe II:The Journeys of Cuban Artist",Gallery of Contemporary Art of Colorado.
University of Colorado.Colorado.
"Purim Ball 2002",Jewish Museum of Florida.Miami.Florida.
"No Show.Frederic Snitzer Gallery,Miami.Florida.
"No Home Show",Eugenia Vargas House,Miami.Florida.
2001
"Emerging Perspectives",Espirito Santo,Miami.Florida.
"The Sears Building",The House,Miami.Florida.
"Mixed Media Collective",Alpha Gallery.Miami.Florida.
2000
"Palmas Reales Y Vitrales",Jose Alonso Fine Art.Miami.Florida.
"Home Invasion",Eugenia Vargas House,Miami.Florida
1999
"Art Gang",The Warehouse.Miami.Florida.
1998
"Cuban Performance Art of the 1980's[Cronology],Miami-Dade Community College
Interamerican Gallery.Miami.Florida.
"Group Show on the Roads",The Roads.Miami.Florida
1995
"One Group Show",Javier Lumbreras Fine Art.Miami.Florida
"Trying the Trap",Gutierrez Fine Art.Miami Beach.Florida.
"On a Somber Note",Museum of Art.Ft,Lauderlade.Florida.
"Ramson",La Boheme Fine Art.Miami.Florida.
1994
"The Unknown Face of Cuban Art",Northern Center for Contemporary Art Sunderland,
Gran Britain.U.K.
1993
"Son",Design Center of The Americas.Dania.Miami.Florida.
1992
"Los Cubanos Llegaron Ya II",Nina Menocal Gallery.D.F.Mexico
"Mientras Somos Jovenes IV",La Agencia Gallery.D.F.Mexico.
"La Decada Prodigiosa",Museo del Chopo.D.F.Mexico.
"The Fithth International Drawing Triennale",Muzeum Architektury.Wroclaw.Poland.
1991
"Nuevas Adquisiciones Contemporaneas:Muestras de Arte Cubano",Museo Nacional
de Bellas Artes.La Havana.Cuba.
"Nacido en Cuba",Caracas.Venezuela.
"Madeencuba",Tate-Tate Gallery.Madrid.Espana.
1990
"El Objeto Esculturado",Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales.Havana.Cuba.
1989
"Ojo Pinta"Arte Calle.L Gallery.Havana.Cuba.
"Pintores Jovenes Cubanos",Enrico Bucci Gallery.Santiago.Chile.
Awards
1991
"Premio Beca Ciudad de Mexico",Secretaria General de Desarollo Social.D.F.Mexico.
1988
"Honorable Mention in Painting",Salon 13 de Marzo.Havana.Cuba.
Public
Collections
National Museum of Fine Art,La Havana. Cuba
Ninart,Cultural Center.Mexico.D.F
Lowe Art Museum,University of Miami,Campus,Miami.Florida.
MOCA.Museum of Contemporary Art,Miami.Florida.
DACRA,Miami Beach.Florida.
Miami Dade College.Frances Wolfson Gallery.Miami.Florida.
MOLAA.Museum of Latin American Art.Long Beach.CA.
Museum of Art.Fort Lauderdale.Miami.Florida.
Selected
Bibliography
De La Nuez,Ivan."Arte en Miami":Redefiniciones en los 90",Lapiz,.Espana.1996
Fusco,Coco."Cuba Cultural Policy,Cultural Politics",Impulse.Toronto.Canada.1987
Camnitzer,Luis."New Art of Cuba".University of Texas,Press..Austin.Texas.1993
Derbel,Angela."Pedro Vizcaino:Guns,Kisses and a Cuban Kamikaze,1999.
El Venezolano.Miami.Florida.
Levin,Jordan."A New Miami Generation",The Miami Herald,.Miami.Florida 1997
Murphy,Jay.''Testing the Limits",Art in America,New York.1992
Sanches,Osvaldo."Rockoco",Nina Menocal Gallery.D.F.Mexico.1992
Triff,Alfredo,"Fights of Fancy",New Times,.Miami.Florida.2001
Birbragher,Francine."Pedro Vizcaino",Art Nexus,Bogota.Colombia.2001
Pau-Liosa,Ricardo."Continuity in Visual Thinking:Painting and Sculpture",Herencia.
Miami.Florida.2001.
Weinsteing,Joel."New Work:Pedro Vizcaino".Gallery Notes.A+Resources Fine Art.
Miami.Florida.2001.
Turner,Elisa."Drawings cross the line in imagination,controversy".The Miami Herald.
Miami.Florida.2003.
Bello,Milagros."Arteamericas Miami 2003".Arte al Dia.Miami.Florida.2003
Turner,Elisa."Art Bites"The Miami Herald.Miami.Florida.2003.
Turner,Elisa."Antics in The Forbidden Zone".Art News.New York.2003
Turner,Elisa."Arteamericas Goes for Quality".The Miami Herald.Miami.Florida.2004
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