NYAB Event - Marlys Fuego and William Pérez "Convivencia/Living Together"

Marlys Fuego and William Pérez "Convivencia/Living Together"

The Cuban Art Space of The Center for Cuban Studies

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The Cuban Art Space of the Center for Cuban Studies presents an exhibit by two young Cuban artists, Marlys Fuego and William Pérez.

This exhibit is the latest in a series of collaborations between the two, including “Man is the Measure of His Dreams (El hombre es la medida de sus sueños, 2010) at the Bayamo Art Center, Granma, Cuba. Recently, Pérez was part of the Marlborough Gallery’s group exhibit in Chelsea (2011), “Living in Havana” with four other known Cuban artists, Abel Barroso, Roberto Diago, Kcho, and Ernesto Rancaño.

Pérez describes his recent work as follows: “This series alludes to the concept of an island starting from the representation of small "Inhabitable Spaces" created by humanity in order to live, or to realize work, or in order to store objects. I have taken as reference points the spaces situated on the roofs of old Havana buildings; these are small, semi-destroyed, were antique living spaces or other constructed spaces with forms and materials that defy sound architectural reasoning.”

Pérez strives for constant artistic reinvention, and his latest free-standing sculptures and mixed media works demonstrate that he continues to push his personal creative limits.

Marlys Fuego writes, “My new works are installation and sculptural pieces that address eroticism. These days Cuban people have acquired a taste for the excessively sweetened in many aspects such as the way they dress, their manner of expressing themselves socially, their appearance, and in their sexuality, assuming an aesthetic that characterizes the grotesque and exaggerated as that which is beautiful. From a formal point of view, I make use of sequins, satin, and velvet of many colors, belts, etc. that exemplify this taste, in order to convert it into an aesthetic that is anything but aggressive and, in some cases, naive. Starting from this appropriation my intent is simply to highlight all that is inherently erotic, attractive, sensual, and soft.”

When interviewed last summer by Sandra Levinson, Fuego noted that she has been fascinated by the work of French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois, the pop art technique of Andy Warhol, and has, in addition, a deep admiration for Charlie Chaplin. These eclectic sources of inspiration converge seamlessly in Fuego’s new works--with the help of kitsch, oil paint, and fuzzy day-glow fabric.

The creative collaboration between Fuego and Pérez exemplify a trend in Cuba, that of like-minded artists working together and exhibiting together, but with a romantic twist: they have become artist couple/collaborators. The new Convivencia / “Living Together” exhibit of mixed media works by Marlys Fuego and William Pérez brings from Cuba to New York City’s Cuban Art Space the fruit of their artistic and personal relationship.

William Pérez was born in Cienfuegos in 1965. He studied at the Rolando Escardó Elementary School of Visual Arts and later continued his studies at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana, graduating in sculpture in 1986. He is a member of UNEAC (Cuban Artists and Writers Union), the Hermanos Saiz Association of young artists and CODEMA, the Council for the Development of Monumental and Environmental Sculpture, and he is a founder of Grupo Punto, an innovative group of young sculptors in Cienfuegos.

Pérez has taken part in more than 100 group shows in Cuba and abroad. Among the most important in Cuba were his participation in the Havana Biennial (2000), two shows at the Centro Nacional de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales in Havana: “El objeto esculturado” (1990) and “La conjunción de la nada: arte cubano del nuevo milenio” (2000); the first Salon of Contemporary Cuban Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Havana (1995) and the second at the Convent of Santa Clara (1998) in Havana. Abroad, Pérez has shown in Brazil, Spain, Martinique, Belgium, Norway, and Germany. In New York City he has shown in three previous exhibits at the Cuban Art Space, as well as at Marlborough and Studio 88.

Marlys Fuego was born in Las Tunas in 1988. She graduated in 2007 from the Oswaldo Guayasamín Monteverde Visual Arts Professional Academy in Bayamo, Granma Province. he and Pérez live in Havana, Cuba and have participated in more than a dozen group and individual shows in Cuba, Quito, Ecuador, and New York City. This will be her first show at the Cuban Art Space.