Kendall Art Center (KAC) is proud to present “CUBAN SLUGGER” an exhibition of the Cuban artist Reynerio Tamayo.

Tamayo is a Cuban-born artist who studied at the National visual arts school and the higher Institute of Art in Havana Cuba and is considered one of the most important Cuban artists of his time. Identified four his love of infusing the socio-economic phenomenon that is baseball with portraits of popular cultural icons.

Reynerio Tamay, Postales del Béisbol Cubano, mixed on canvas, 2017

Cuban Slugger dresses up for a party in Miami.

By Gary A. Anuez.
Reynerio Tamayo was always a chronicler, as any good Cuban, “a jodedor” (A joker), a type of artist who narrates, that makes stories and at the same time legitimizes the story and almost always through laughter. He put things in place, but on that place where the art makes it simple. His great and long career always noted the Cuban man, in this case, with all its contradictions, its culture, its joys and woes without taking sides in ideologies or trends only in its almost religious zeal of a constant artistic practice that goes beyond the trends, gestures, positions or tourist needs, and attitudes that move Cuban arts within or outside of the island today.

In his disadvantage he has an advantage, in his pain and his limitations is the springboard to that height which can only be reached in this constant reinvention that the Cuban people practice in their desire to transcend an era, a time, a moment.

Cuba is baseball (among other things of course) and baseball has always been to Cuba the sublime. The practice of making a game, the moment of ecstasy and the sublime, a reminder to the needs of the day-to-day, what is lacking as the antithesis of what is left over, and a lot of talent in the history of this sport. In this time interval, which defines to generations of Cubans, and this artist exposes it as an educational and historical document on those past glories, but not forgotten of our national sport.

Reynerio Tamayo, Good bye Big Papi, acrylic on canvas – 48 x 60 in. – 2017

There are ingredients in Tamayo’s work, intertextual dialog from the appointment to the reiteration as a symbolic element to define a counterpoint that places us in this geographical space. In a rare animal of an island that survives due to the repercussions of the times, to the history, and geopolitics. Our history is static, immobile (aplatanada), but always hopeful and looking for ways for the resurgence, but collective at least individual that is where is the beginning of all restorative and creative work, the emancipation of all the darkness that precedes and exceeds life, the history itself.

The value of the art of Tamayo is that constant movement and interaction of the values of his culture, that continues to prevail in the political shocks and cyclones, molding his work in one direction. The importance of men in their constant becoming, in their struggles and battles for the spaces and moments that history and society forces them to face in this life.

In this example the sport is in celebration, and through art, the two spaces become authentic overcoming the social impact as the living memory that defines and absorbs several generations of Cubans who were great exponents of this sport, so rooted in the Cuban cultural tradition.

Reynerio Tamayo, Luis Tiant, acrylic on canvas – 39,5 x 33,5 in. – 2017

There is no better concern that defines an artist, and Reynerio, has always had the grace of melting languages and traditions into his artistic work, and not only from an aesthetic perspective, but from the cultural anthropological ingredients that have defined his artistic production for more than twenty five years.

Humor has always been the bridge to hope, the relief of life, the channel of harmful energy that; as humans, we change and transform into a battle where you always win with a smile, and make the journey of life a more pleasant place. It’s where the value of this visual offer that he presents to us, through the KENDALL ART CENTER, as a parenthesis to the transcendent; to this time and his vision beyond earth or space, but an experience of life.

Reynerio Tamayo, Hank Aaron, acrylic on canvas – 18 x 18 in. – 2017

Kendall Art Center (KAC), is dedicated to promoting the work of contemporary artists, and to the exchange of art and ideas throughout the Miami region and internationally. Through an energetic calendar of exhibitions, programs, and its collections, KAC provides an international platform for the work of established and emerging artists, advancing the public appreciation and understanding of the art.

 

An opening reception will be held on Friday, July 7th from 6:00 – 11:00 PM.

The exhibition will remain on view until Augusto 7, 2017

http://www.kendallartcenter.org | 305 778 7739 | info@kendallartcenter.com

Kendall Art Center 12063 SW 131st Ave. Miami, FL, 33186