MANUEL MENDIVE
www.cubartecontemporaneo.com
Manuel Mendive Oyos (Havana, 1944)
Manuel Mendive is the leading Afro-Cuban artist, and quite possibly the leading Cuban artist working today.
Born to a family which practiced Santeria, he received a conventional art education at the Academy of San Alejandro.
But in his mature work Mendive returned to his Afro-Cuban roots. As Veerle Poupeye writes, he "turned to popular culture as his formal and conceptual source."
An initiate in Santeria and Palo Monte, he "practises what the Cuban critic Gerardo Mosquera has termed 'living mythological thought' and uses Afro-Cuban imagery to examine the questions of contemporary life." In describing his more recent work, Poupeye continues, "his travels to Africa in the early eighties gave new energy and depth to his work and he adopted a more informal idiom that expresses an animist, sexually suggestive vision of nature acted out by hybrid, amorphous figures..."
Mendive has exhibited at major museums around the world and is included in the leading collections of Cuban art.
EDUCATION
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2005
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2001
AWARDS
2004
COLLECTIONS
www.cubartecontemporaneo.com
Manuel Mendive Oyos (Havana, 1944)
Manuel Mendive is the leading Afro-Cuban artist, and quite possibly the leading Cuban artist working today.
Born to a family which practiced Santeria, he received a conventional art education at the Academy of San Alejandro.
But in his mature work Mendive returned to his Afro-Cuban roots. As Veerle Poupeye writes, he "turned to popular culture as his formal and conceptual source."
An initiate in Santeria and Palo Monte, he "practises what the Cuban critic Gerardo Mosquera has termed 'living mythological thought' and uses Afro-Cuban imagery to examine the questions of contemporary life." In describing his more recent work, Poupeye continues, "his travels to Africa in the early eighties gave new energy and depth to his work and he adopted a more informal idiom that expresses an animist, sexually suggestive vision of nature acted out by hybrid, amorphous figures..."
Mendive has exhibited at major museums around the world and is included in the leading collections of Cuban art.
EDUCATION
- 1963 San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, Havana
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2005
- Alimentar el espíritu, la luz, los ancestros. Oludumare, lo más hermoso, Gary Nader Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida
- Madre África, Culture House of Angola, Havana
- Arte cubano moderno, Athens
- La naturaleza y el cuerpo, Art Center, Holguín, Cuba
- Los ancestros, orishas, la naturaleza y el pensamiento, American Museum, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Social, intelectual y chic, Biarritz
- Evento Internacional de Sexología, National Theatre, Havana
- Proyecto La California, 8th Havana Biennial, Havana
- Las aguas, lo cotidiano y el pensamiento, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Shangó y la vida, La Recova Hall, Tenerife, Spain
- Shangó y la vida, Cultural Center Sa Nostra, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- Santa Bárbara-Shangó en nuestras vidas, Universal Art Gallery, Havana
- Las aves y los peces, Galería Latinoamericana, Casa de las Américas, Havana
- Exposición de Esculturas, Havana Club Fundation, Havana
- Para el ojo que mira, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Contemporary Art Museum, Panama City
- Conversando con los peces, Latin American Gallery, París
- Galería Plaza Vieja, Fondo Cubano de Bienes Culturales (FCBC), Havana
- Galería ORTH, Nuremberg
- Iwalewa, Bayreuth University, Germany
- Mendive: un pintor de lo real maravilloso, L Gallery, Havana
- Tanzania National Museum, Tanzania
- Art Center, Catedral Square, Havana
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2001
- Shangó y la vida, Tapaste, Cuba
- Santa Bárbara-Shangó en nuestras vidas, Universal Art Gallery, Guines, Havana
- Shangó y la vida (Body pinting), Cultural Center, Sa Nostra, Spain
- Las aguas, lo cotidiano y el pensamiento, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Social, intelectual y chic, Havana Club Fundation, Havana
- La odisea africana, Jonh F. Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.
- FIAC, Paris
- ARCO´97, Joan Guaita Art Gallery, Madrid
- Se parece a la felicidad, 6th Havana Biennial, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center; Colonial Art Museum, Havana
- Festival del Caribe, Champeret Space, Paris
- Aguas profundas, Alhándiga Museum, Guanajuato, Mexico
- 5th Havana Biennial, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana
- Primer Festival de Arte y Cultura Vodum Ouidah´93, Benin
- El Mundo del Arte, El Mundo Gallery, Paris
- Sacar lo malo, Neslé Theatre, Paris
- Shangó, Sao Paulo
- XII Festival Internacional de Ballet de La Habana, Havana
- Yemayá y Oshún, Cívica Gallery, Cavour Square, Padua, Italy
- Art Contemprary Institute (ICA), London
- Iroko, The October Gallery, London
- El pavo real, XLIII Venice Biennial, Venice
- Se parece a la felicidad, 6th Havana Biennial, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana
- Cartagena de Indias Modern Art Museum, San Pedro Claver Square, Colombia
AWARDS
2004
- José María Heredia Medal, National Council of Plastic Arts (CNAP), Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
- Hacha de Holguín, Holguín, Cuba
- Visual Arts National Award 2001, Havana
- Medal of Villa de Fort-de-France, Martinica
- Medal of Comuna de Saint Guiliano Terme, Italy
- Medalla of Havana City, Havana
- Junior Olympics Medal, Japan
- Alejo Carpentier Medal, Havana
- Galería Espacio Cultural Latinoamericano Award, Paris
- First Award, II International Festival of Paint, Cannes-sur-Mer, France
- Adam Montparnasse Award, XXIV May Salon, Paris
- First Award, Drawing Salon, Havana
COLLECTIONS
- National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Emilio Bacardí Museum, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
- Museum of Modern Art, Panama City
- Museum of Modern Art, Colombia
- Museum of Modern Art, Paris
- Sa Nostra Fundation, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- France Liberté Fundation, Paris
- Joan Guaita Art Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
- The Jonh F. Kennedy Center, Washington D. C.
- Gary Nader Art Gallery, Miami
- Seibu Group, Tokyo
- Cultural Center of Manila, Filipinas
© 2015 Art For Alzheimer’s Inc.