Art sometimes hides interesting social and political reflections in works that seem not to allude to reality. This is often the case with the works of Cuban artist José Ángel Vincench. Anyone who takes the time to research his series Lilliputiansfor example, you will discover that the small abstract figures made of gold leaf were not only intended to make the viewer think and look for similarities with the tiny characters of Gulliver’s Travelsby Jonathan Swift. It also alludes to the narrative used by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to disparage the opposition. “He called them Lilliputians, insignificant little people, petty bourgeois,” says the artist.
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As Vincench knows, this strategy is quite common. “I find similarities with attitudes and words from the Cuban context. In our case, the system uses “worm” or “scum” to denigrate those who do not agree with its ideology. Ironically, it is the Cubans who today support their relatives who stayed on the island through remittances,” he says.
In the exhibition ‘Word and Power’, which is being presented at the Montenegro Art Projects (MAP) gallery in Bogotá, the Cuban artist reflects on the role of the artist in society, through what he describes as a “tension between saying and silence.” Totalitarianismfor example, subtly reflects the dogmatism demanded by totalitarian rulers. A rectangle and two perfectly symmetrical squares are painted in black and white. “I wanted a design that showed rigid forms,” he explains. The most missing part He plays with geometry to describe what the exile of its citizens means for Cuba: it is an incomplete black circle, which fits with a square in an empty corner. “In less than two years, Cuba went from 10 to 8 million inhabitants, and the trend is for the population to continue to decrease,” he says, and says that his only brother lives in Miami with his family.
In his work, abstraction is not only a poetic language, but also a subversive attitude.
Vincench likes that words and abstract art have multiple meanings, and he takes advantage of that characteristic in his art. Before it gets dark –a black and white work in which a rectangle and a semicircle, superimposed, resemble a sunset– will always make him think of the sun setting over the sea on the horizon, and relate that image to Cuban exile and the autobiography of the writer Reinaldo Arenas, who narrates his life on the island, his days in prison and his escape to the United States. However, he enjoys the idea that perhaps a spectator from another part of the world might think of different sunsets or simply see the superposition of two geometric figures.
“I cannot accept the fate of art as a decorative object. For me it is a platform for thought,” says Vincench. Through it, the Cuban reflects on reality and searches for words that allow him to understand and describe it. For this reason, the abstract figures in series such as Lilliputian They emerge by breaking down the word into its component letters and creating a network of lines that become the scheme on which he works. He then covers the figure in gold leaf to reflect the value of language and its ability to construct realities. “Symbolically, the material gives weight,” he explains.
As the Cuban artist explains in the curatorial text of the exhibition, in his work the abstract is not only a poetic language; it is also a subversive attitude. This is not only because it hides a critical vision of totalitarian rulers, but above all because it invites the spectator to think, to carefully analyze reality and to be aware of the weight of words.
The German thinker Hannah Arendt insisted that this was essential, especially in times when politics tends to construct narratives in which ideology prevails over reason and reality, and the reaction of a crowd is capable of making a lie seem like reality.
