(EFE) Rubens, Velázquez, Caravaggio, Da Vinci and Goya.
“After so much chaos that there is now, I wanted to return to the essence of the profession of acrylic on canvas,” Ávila told EFE about his exhibition, in which, through 24 pieces, some of them large, he presents a “summary” of his life.
the way (El Camino) uses, however, a contemporary and pop language at the same time, according to a statement from the David Rosen Galleries gallery, in the artistic district of Wynwood, where Ávila is exhibiting starting tomorrow, Wednesday.
The exhibition also reflects the personal trajectory of the 32-year-old artist, who left his native Guantánamo behind to make the leap to New York, where he has lived for 6 years and has made an artistic mark in Time Square.
“After so much chaos that there is now, I wanted to return to the essence of the profession of acrylic on canvas”
the way leaves the eye riveted on untitled boxes with a strong visual reference to The kidnapping of the daughters of Leucippusby Peter Paul Rubens Las Meninasof Velázquez, or the Mona Lisaby Leonardo DaVinci.
According to Ávila, despite the fact that “a great distance between classical and baroque art separates us, the same message has been maintained.”
“My painting is a return to the trade. I have always been attracted to the classics, I am a consumer of classical art, for this reason, beyond representing the beauty of the piece itself, I let spontaneity and vividness escape through time, with a more contemporary language”, commented the artist shortly before inaugurating his exhibition.
Ávila not only uses a spatula and brushes, but “all kinds of instruments” that he believes may be valid, and sometimes he even paints with his own hands.
Of course, he points out, each stroke is spontaneous so that his works represent his personality, and in each painting he spends between 5 and 15 pounds (2.26 and 6.8 kilos) of paint, he explained.
“The pieces are very physical, they have a texture and a realization that you have to see them in person,” he warns.
“Beyond representing the beauty of the piece itself, I let spontaneity and liveliness escape through time, with a more contemporary language”
According to his promoters in Miami, “ the way it is a baroque, multicultural and cynical exhibition”, as is the journey that took Ávila from Cuba to New York.
“Being in Art Basel is a goal accomplished, dreams come true,” says the Cuban about his exhibition at this important art fair that opens its doors to the general public from December 1 to 3, and annually brings together important international artists and galleries.
“I was born in Cuba in the 90s, I have managed to get out of Guantánamo to Havana and then to New York. This project speaks of that link and how I have managed to achieve my first personal exhibition in Art Basel,” says Ávila.
In 2017, the New York gallery Foley Gallery, focused “on building the careers of lesser-known or less-recognized artists,” according to its website, hosted Ávila’s first personal exhibition, in which the Cuban showed his beehive project.
“It’s a very nice project that I want to present next year at Art Basel in a retrospective exhibition,” the artist promises.
Unlike the pictures of the wayhis honeycombs are three-dimensional sculptures made of silicone, wood and “plexiglass”.
“The pieces are very physical, they have a texture and a realization that you have to see them in person”
Also in 2017, Ávila already showed part of his personal work in a collective exhibition at Art Basel in Miami, together with works by the renowned Spanish plastic artist Domingo Zapata, the singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz and the actor Jordi Mollà.
Zapata, with whom he collaborated on the largest mural in history in Times Square in New York, is his mentor and from him he learned “dedication to work and friendship.”
With more than 3,000 square meters, the canvas wraps three fifteen-story walls of the emblematic One Times Square, the building that welcomes the New Year with the mythical crystal ball.
“It was a very ambitious project, of an unimaginable scale. It was an experience without equal due to the danger we ran. Thank God everything went well,” recalls Ávila about that work that also recreates a menina, the iconic figure of Velázquez.
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