Galeria Habana hosted, on Wednesday July 4, the inauguration of a refreshing exhibition of young Cuban art, titled Daiquiri sin azucar. These are the words of its curator, Gilbert Brownstone, an enthusiast of Cuban culture and collector.
Some reflections
After some cups of Daiquiri… of course, without sugar
One day, 3 or 4 months, Luis Miret asked me if I could curate an exhibition of young Cuban artists at Galeria Habana. I met Luis during my first visit to the island in July 2001 and he’s already a member of my family.
I told him that I wanted to think of it and give him an answer.
Why a reflection?… Organizing an exhibition with young artists or not, is always very hard, unfair, especially in a country like Cuba where there is so much talent, aside from doing it in the small space of a single gallery.
Another difficulty –"young artist"– some time ago, let’s say 20 years ago, at the museums –and I was in charge of some of them– 40 or 50 year old artists were considered young. The retrospectives were reserved for artists who were over sixty years old. It wasn’t a matter of age, but artists have a lot to deal with and they won’t organize retrospectives every ten years.
Furthermore, shedding light on too-young artists jeopardize them, in terms of expectations, creation, etc. The market of art is to be blamed for this exhibiting pressure, but… that’s another story.
We should remember that Pablo Picasso conceived his most important “cubist” creations when he was over 30 years old and his last and innovative creations (imaginary portraits that make up Brownstone collection, donated to the Cuban people), when he was almost 90.
So I agreed to organize this showcase not only with young artists, but also young art in Cuba, because I think that spaces are still limited in the capital and the prestige of Galeria Habana –with the hard work of its director, colleague Luis–, is going to provide an opportunity to put some "young artists" on the map, who are not as acclaimed as "other young artists"… such as: Alexis, Manuel, Carlos, Rocio, Esterio, Ivan, Yoan, Felipe, Rene, Abel, Jose, Eduardo, etc…
Art isn’t an easy task, it faces a continuous evolution. For someone like me, with eyes that have gotten used to artists from previous generations, making this curatorship has been a new and nice challenge, but at the same time I’m not very pleased because I knew in advance that I couldn’t include all the artists I wanted to or deserved to be taken in.
The visits I carried out to different workshops, my personal trips to the provinces and the work with Brownstone collection, gave me a fresher approach to Cuba… but I’d like to thank some "young" art critics for having opened my eyes for "young" art, critic as Sachie Hernandez, Piter Ortega and Andres D. Abreu. My gratitude for those previously mentioned not-so-young artists, as well as the less young and "young" that I couldn’t include in this exhibition.
Once again, thank you for your presence and understanding and now...
I invite you to have a Daiquiri… without sugar!!!!!
Gilbert Brownstone
Havana July 4, 2012
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