An exhibition at the LnS Gallery in Miami since Friday brings together works from the 90s of the cuban painter Rafael Soriano (1920-2015), considered a pioneer of Latin American modernism.
Transcendentalism, Distilled highlights the last prolific decade in the long and renowned career of Soriano, who trained in San Alejandro, in Havana, and went into exile in the United States in 1962. He became director of the School of Fine Arts in Matanzas.
Last weekend to view Rafael Soriano: Cabezas(Heads) in Washington DC@AMAmuseumbefore traveling to Miami. pic.twitter.com/VGejbocuiT
— Rafael Soriano (@RSorianoArtist) September 28, 2019
In total there are 15 representative paintings of a style that appeals to classical roots and that Soriano embraced in his maturity, according to a presentation text of this posthumous tribute to the artist, whose work is part of private and public collections in the US and other countries. including Cuba.
“The use of stark, chasm-like backgrounds to frame his subjects, and meticulous layers of paint that evoke the atmosphere found throughout the Renaissance, are refreshed with an introspective lens developed by modern theology,” LnS notes. Gallery in a statement.
The exhibition, which opens to coincide with Miami Art Week and the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, has been organized in collaboration with the Rafael Soriano Foundation, which is directed by the artist’s daughter, Hortensia Serrano.
Because of Transcendentalism, Distilledthe foundation, based in Coral Gables (Miami-Dade), has announced a Curator-in-Residence Program to promote the study of the works of Soriano, who was an exponent of geometric abstraction and created a body of work that has as its objective “to show the luminosity of existence, memory or raw emotion”.
As Alejandro Anreus states in the essay, Rafael Soriano: The last decadethe works of that period “evoke a different transcendence exploring a serene acceptance”.
“The late period that we have the honor to present here at LnS can be seen as a representation of the abundant wisdom accumulated throughout life, translated through oil painting on canvas,” says Luisa Lignarolo, co-director of LnS Gallery. .
Soriano was born in Cidra, Matanzas. He is considered a precursor of Cuban abstract art.
Efe/OnCuba.
