As part of the WOMEN IN ART program, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas in Kendall opened the collective exhibition 'Carmen Sends Me' on Friday, March 10, 2023, as a heartfelt tribute to the Cuban artist Carmen Herrera, who passed away just over a year ago in New York City. Following a call by curator Mónica Batard, a select group of Latina artists decided to pay homage to Herrera's memory, life, and example. These Cuban artists, who reside in South Florida, Havana, and other cities around the world, share their works with the public in Kendall and Miami-Dade County.
Among the invited artists, we highlight the presence of Cirenaica Moreira, Sandra Ceballos, Rocío García, Lia Galleti, Marta María Pérez, Lorena Gutiérrez, Aimée Pérez, Gladys Triana, and many others who freely share their vision and perception of contemporaneity from a feminine perspective, in part thanks to predecessors like Herrera, who broke down the barriers of her time so that today, art created by women can be exhibited with complete freedom in most exhibition spaces in the United States and the rest of the world.
This exhibition is open to the public from March 10th to April 28th, 2023.
Regarding the exhibition, curator Mónica Batard writes:
Carmen was barely 15 years old when Theo van Doesburg assembled a group of abstract artists that he would name Concrete Art. Cindy Sherman would revolutionize the artistic world in the 1880's. Yayoi Kusama had lived in an institution for the mentally ill since the late 70's after creating wonderful spaces of infinite illusion of points and lights. Marina Abramovic would become independent in her constant redefinition of the limits of the dialogue between the work of art and the public in the middle of the Chinese wall.
Meanwhile, a definitive consensus has never been reached to define Art. Provocation, experimentation, conceptualization, mimesis, technique, artificial intelligence, industriousness? These are some of the adjectives that have tried to define it. However, within the fascinating universe of women who produce it, Carmen bequeathed us a work that does not pretend to represent reality explicitly or embellished. She strictly painted the Bechara and many of her paintings were conceived as sculptures, but she did not have the resources to make them as she would have wanted and her story undoubtedly confirms this. She chose to live in NY where the art world was dominated by men and therefore more visualized in publications and art institutions.first.In the midst of World War II and then in the postwar period, but even when the time for arte povera, performance and making art more involved in the criticism or representation of reality would come, she continued to be the painter she wanted to be.
The myth around the splendor of her career and the connotation in the art made by women is disclosed in the artistic field as an incredible, joyful story of success and perseverance. The truth is that Carmen worked all her life making art. She was at the doors of the great museums of the world and shared spaces with the best artists of her decades whom she outlived.
More than 20 years have passed since our great Carmen was excluded as an artist from those exhibitions of the 1890's in which the curators tried to change the Real Wonderful vision that was held of Latin American artists. It is due to those constant exclusions that she emancipated herself. According to her own words, she made art freely without ties to the market or fashion styles or trends. She did it because she was always an artist in addition to any entity that valued her work or not. She was an important piece of our Big Bang and that's how fearsome, patient and indefatigable we tend to be. I myself, when I feel defeated, look for his work, I am surprised at rediscovering his paintings, delighting in the colors and shapes, then it is again early in the morning and it is as if I woke up as a superhero and invincible.
Carmen sends me" is not going to be the last tribute we are going to resort to, this random union of women artists from different generations is going to be repeated constantly for the thousands of reasons we have to create and visualize ourselves. I feel that we still have a long way to go in the world of art so that the contemporary history is also written by us. That is why we come together at the Museum of Art of the Americas with our intimate language, the most valuable, to tell Carmen that art will also be appreciated, valued, and made by women.
WORKS ON DISPLAY. TEMPORARY ROOM
Carmen Herrra:
Rojo y negro, 1993. Screen print on Lenox paper | 18¾ x 21¾ inches. Victor Gómez Collection
Ivonne Ferrer:
Landscapes in the style of Carmen Herrera, 2023. Mixed media on canvas | variable dimensions
Sandra Ceballos:
From Absolut Utopía Series: Absolut Carmen Herrera and Bad Sandra, 2022. Acrilyc on canvas, 39½ x 29 inches | 100 x 74 cm
Lillian Cedeño:
From the Socavones series, 2022. Charcoal on Canson paper | 22 x 30 inches each
Mónica Batard:
From the Conscious series, Untitled, 2023. Acrylic on canvas | 42 x 78 inches
Lorena Gutiérrez Camejo:
Dramatic symphony, 2015 - 2016. Twelve Piece Installation| Acrylic on Canvas | 11¼ x 19¾ inches each | 45 x 59 inches all
Aimée García:
From the Dancing with the Silence series: Green and Orange (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
(Homage to Carmen Herrera)
2023. Vinyl, acrylic, and thread discs | 30 cm in diameter
Installation: Variable Dimentions
From the Dancing with the Silence series: Blue and Red (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
(Homage to Carmen Herrera)
2023. Vinyl, acrylic, and thread discs | 30 cm in diameter
Installation: Variable Dimentions
Yaily Martínez Molina:
From the Galope series: “09:41:03”, 2022. Graphite, onion paper, lights and steel rods | 14¼ x 15¾ x 10½ inches.
Gladys Triana:
From the Untitled Series, 2012-2014. Acrylic on paper | 15 x 20 inches
Milena Martínez Pedrosa:
From Spirituality and Religion series: Nostalgia, 2022. Ceramic, wood, glass, metal and taxidermy installation | 47 x 13 x 13 inches
Aimée Pérez:
Still Waters, 2016. Mixed media, Variable Dimensions
FIRST FLOOR
Olimpia Ortis:
Breakfast, Georgia O'Keeffe and Menina,
Gabriela Martínez:
Universe, 2015. Mix media on canvas | 51 inches diameter, 2020. Oil on Canvas | 58¾ x 47¼ inches
Anisley Lago:
The Flight, 2020. Oil on canvas | 80 x 99 inches
Alicia de la Campa:
From the Criaturas de Isla series: Recuerdo inesperado, 2021. Mixed media on canvas, 22 x 28 inches | 56 x 71 cm
PERMANENT ROOM
Leticia Sánchez Toledo:
From The Dark Room series: The glow of the broken light, 2022. Oil on canvas | 20 x 30 inches
Aimée Joaristi:
From the La forma del tiempo series: Tres cabezas, 2022. Mixed media on canvass | 60½ x 57½ inches
Linet Sánchez:
From the Untitled Series, 2012-2014. Digital Photography | Inkjet Printing with Pigment Ink on Photographic Paper | 39½ x 59 inches
Cirenaica Moreira:
From the El nuevo orden series: ¡Machete, que son poquitos!, nos dijeron, 2020. Ed. 1 - 10 | Work in progress | 40 x 28 inches
Jenny Macías:
From the Pawn series: Untitled, 2020. Digital print on paper | 18 x 27 inches
Katiuska Saavedra:
Time keeps the count, 2023. Performance | Residual installation
Marta María Pérez Bravo:
Corona, 2017. Video | 15.49 min
Liudmila Velasco:
From the Fantasmagoria series, S/T, 2021. Digital print on Paper | 40 x 27 inches
Marianela Orozco:
From the Landscapes series: Mogotes, 2020. Installation, digital print on paper | variable dimensions (each photo is 10 x 12 inches)
Lia Galleti:
Hunter and Once, 2020. Acrylic on canvas | 20 x 24 inches both
Yanet Martínez Molina:
Possible Paths, 2022. Thread and acrylic on canvas | 10 x 8 inches eachUnique pieces / Polyptych / 12 pieces
Rocío García:
From the The return of Jack the Punisher series: Oh, Mon chéri...!, 2011. Acrylic on canvas | 13 x 16 inches
