HAVANA.- Galleria Continua is showing the solo exhibition “ Estados ” by Cuban visual artist Osvaldo González. His work is crafted from spatial relationships, self-awareness and knowledge, and potential subjective connections between the viewer and the environment he recreates. Without a doubt, what identifies him are the elements with which he began to work some years ago and which have become his leitmotiv : adhesive tape and light.
Taking the use of adhesive tape to the extreme as a fundamental material in his work, the magic lies in evoking a sense of strangeness in almost everyone who encounters his works: how is the image we see constructed ?
Is it a photograph, a painting, or something unidentifiable at first glance ? Through the use of light and added layers, he creates spaces, compositions, interior landscapes that transform architecture into the focal point of his creations.
In “ Estados ” - the artist’s first solo exhibition at the venue of Galleria Continua in Havana - Osvaldo returns to intimate spaces through sensations based on four groups of works that evoke the seasons of the year thanks to the relationship with colors and the sensory universe : summer, autumn, winter, and spring. It is a study of the states of human beings during their adaptation processes, encompassing both the material and spiritual dimensions.
His best-known series “ Ambar ” will recall the joy of summer, the enjoyment of the sun through the intrinsic warmth of color and light that embraces the viewer on the main floor of the gallery.
The central space of the gallery is occupied by the site-specific “ Abantos ”, a staging that takes advantage of the almost twelve meters of height, to recreate from twenty-seven “ trees ” the Mount of Abantos, the mountain range where the artist currently lives in Madrid. The piece creates analogies with the forest, with the anatomy of the trees and their movement, and arises thanks to the necessary connection with nature that Osvaldo experiences in his daily life. It is then that the artist erects his own forest, one that he can move to any place, that he can share and that keeps him united to the space where he lives. “ Abantos ” takes us back to his Madrid autumn, to the ochre and orange colors, to the delicate movement of the wind and the falling leaves.
Two new series in “ Estados ” will surprise viewers : “ Hielo ” (“ Ice ”) and “ Primavera de Jade ” (“ Jade Spring ”). One reclaims winter and the other restores our faith in spring. Both are highly fortuitous, as has been the work of the artist for a long time. “ Hielo ” leads us to the well-known introspection evoked by winter. In this series, the tape is involved in the process ; but it vanishes in the final piece, leaving only its traces engraved on the resin plate. This creates a sense of three- dimensionality that is accentuated by the effect of the shadows.
“ Primavera de Jade ” will mark another significant evolutionary leap in Osvaldo’s career. It is not only a tribute to his daughter - as it happened with the Ambar series - but also the alignment of several factors that led him to experiment with new tonalities. “ Jade ” symbolizes rebirth, salvation, awakening, confidence in various positive situations that have influenced the course of his life and that of his family. They also convey a certain sense of nostalgia that can be associated in this exhibition with Cuban landscapes and the idea of returning home.
New explorations leading to the virtual world are evident in the virtual reality work “ Ambar ”. Obsessed with movement and how to transfer it to his installations, the artist has sought new ways to communicate his creative universe. However, what would happen if we were completely immersed in a bucket of Scotch?
From this questioning, arises the idea of an interactive work that generates waves from the virtual contact with its walls. In this case, “ Ambar ” will advocate a state of sensory exaltation, a new experience created by Osvaldo and exhibited for the first time in Cuba.
The Artist
Osvaldo González (Camagüey, Cuba, 1982), who graduated from the Higher Institute of Art (2006, Havana), lives and works between Havana, Cuba and Madrid, Spain.
Amongst his main solo shows, we mention : Restauración (2023, Galerie Aveline, Paris, France) ; La casa del Salto (2022, Tenuta Casenuove, Italy); Viaje (2021, San Gimignano, Italy); Ámbar (2020, NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia); El principio de todo (2019, Galería Servando, Havana); Autofagia (2016, Galería Servando, Havana); Como es lo que es (2014, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana); Una escena doméstica (23 y 12 Gallery, 11th Havana Biennial); Temas Aislados (2010, Galería Luz y Suárez del Villar, Madrid); Kunta (2009, Galería Guayasamín, Havana).
His work has been part of group exhibitions, such as: La Brèche and Truc à faire (2021, Galleria Continua, Paris, France); Maintenant ou Jamais! Special project. (2021, Ardian.
Paris, France); Mirador Circular (2020, Galleria Continua, Havana); Umbrales (2019, Galleria Continua, Havana); Art of Treasure Hunt (Tuscany, various venues, 2019); Ola Cuba (2018, Gare de Saint Sauveur, Lille); Diamante en bruto (2018, Galleria Continua, Havana); Cuba mi amor (2017, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France); ¿ Soy Cuba ? (2017, Palazzina dei Bagni Misteriosi, Milan); Nido sin árbol (2017, Unión Nacional de los Arquitectos e Ingenieros de la Construcción de Cuba, Havana); Las riberas del Aqueronte (2015, Museo Farmacia Johnson, 12th Havana Biennial); Reeditus II (2012, Raymaluz Gallery, Madrid); El extremo de la bala. Una década de arte cubano (2010, Pabellón Cuba, Havana); Bomba (2010, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana).
In 2018 he was granted the participation to New York City’s “Residency Unlimited” program by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and won the
Acquisition Award for Best Emerging Artist in Zona Maco art fair, Mexico City. A special project with his work, including an artist’s residency, was presented this year in New Delhi, within the framework of the India Art Fair.
Galleria Continua
Osvaldo González: ESTADOS
February 16th, 2024 - April 27th, 2024
