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latincollector
153 hudson street, new york, ny 10013
tel: 212-334-7813; fax: 212-334-7830
PRESS RELEASE
–Press Release in PDF Format (850KB)–
–New York Times Review–
CARMEN HERRERA
Five Decades of Painting
May 17 - July 31, 2005
Opening Reception: May 17, 6-8pm
Latin Collector Gallery is pleased to present Carmen Herrera: Five Decades of Painting, a retrospective of paintings by visionary Cuban artist Carmen Herrera. The exhibition will run from May 17 through July 31, 2005. Latin Collector Gallery is located at 153 Hudson Street, New York (between Hubert and Laight Streets). Gallery hours are: Mon-Fri 10 am to 6pm and Saturday 12 to 6pm. Subways: A, C, E, 1,9 to Canal St. Station. Tel: 212-334-7813 Fax: 212-334-7830
Including canvases from 1949 until 1996, Carmen Herrera: Five Decades of Painting is the most comprehensive presentation of the artist’s work to date, preceded by Carmen Herrera: A Retrospective 1941-1984 at The Alternative Museum, New York in 1984-85 and Carmen Herrera: The Black and White Paintings, 1951-1989 at El Museo del Barrio, New York in 1998.
Herrera’s paintings proposed a radical way of thinking of line, form and space, in relationship to negative and positive space. The artist’s reductive style is defined by the precision and simplicity of a geometric structure. Carmen Herrera has produced strong and deceptively simple two-color compositions through the strictest of geometric means. The rigid precision of her constructions and her choices of color and placement evoke a deeply poetic and metaphysical manner. Herrera’s use of color relationships is part of a process of organization, which follows a strict rationale. In the words of the artist: “It is a process that must choose, among innumerable possibilities, the one that balances reason and visual execution”.
Carmen Herrera’s characteristic geometric and hard-edge painting is situated within a tradition common to Russian and European avant-garde artists at the turn of the century, as well as within the artistic production of artists from South America working in the 30s, 40s and 50s. However, Herrera’s long-term commitment to the development of a distinct personal vocabulary positions her at the forefront of an investigation of formal concerns, aesthetics and history, associated with artists such as Barnett Newman, Ellsworth Kelley, Lygia Clark, Bridget Riley, among others.
About the artist:
Carmen Herrera was born in Havana, Cuba in 1915. She received formal training at the Academia de San Alejandro. In the early 1930s, Herrera completed her studies in painting and art history at the Marymount College in Paris. In 1935, Herrera returned to Havana where she entered the University of Havana School of Architecture. In 1939, Carmen Herrera moved to New York where she studied at the Arts Students League. From 1948 until 1954, Herrera lived and worked in Paris, the place that would witness and encourage the production of her first hard-edge canvases in 1951. Due to Herrera’s international education she was subject to the panoply of artistic approaches, which were fundamental to the construction of her rigorous nonrepresentational style. Since 1954, Herrera has lived and worked in New York City.
Herrera’s five-decade career has brought her art to a wide range and number of exhibition venues starting with the legendary Salon de Réalités Nouvelles, 1949, 1950 and 1951 in Paris. Her paintings have been presented in group exhibitions at Librairie Morihien, Paris; Musée d’Art Moderne, Zurich; Jerrold Morris International Gallery, Toronto; Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, The Bronx Museum of Art, Artists Space, Jadite Gallery, Cisneros Gallery; and, Latin Collector Gallery in New York. Herrera’s solo exhibitions include: Lyceum, Havana, Cuba; Eglinton Gallery, Toronto; Galería Suramericana, Cisneros Gallery, Rastovsky Gallery, The Alternative Museum and El Museo del Barrio in New York. Herrera’s work is in the permanent collection of Cintas Foundation, Rusk Foundation Collection, El Museo del Barrio, Colección Cisneros in New York, Museo de La Habana and Museo de Santiago de Cuba in Cuba, as well as in various private collections worldwide.
An illustrated brochure accompanies the exhibition, with an essay by Edward J. Sullivan; art historian, critic and professor at New York University with a specialization in Latin American Art.
About Latin Collector Gallery:
Latin Collector Gallery exhibits and promotes works of art from Latin American artists and those influenced by their Latin American heritage. Its aim is to assist audiences, collectors, art professionals and academics to discover, view and purchase modern and contemporary works that transcend and explore territorial boundaries.
This exhibition is presented by Latin Collector Gallery and is part of the Cuban Arts Festival, May 2005. Organized by the Cuban Artists Fund in partnership with El Instituto Cervantes.
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Media Contact:
For further information, interviews or more images, please contact
Antoine Vigne at Blue Medium, 212-675-1800 or email antoine@bluemedium.com