Contemporary Cuban Art makes West Coast premiere at Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Sept. 10, 2008) -- The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon hosts the West Coast premiere of "Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection." On display from Oct. 4 to Jan. 4, 2009, the exhibit will open with a free, public reception, featuring musical entertainment from Jesse Marquez and Mike Denny, beginning at 6 p.m. on October 3, at the museum, 1430 Johnson Lane.

"Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection" is a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures and mixed media by Cuban-born artists.

"Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection" is a collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures and mixed media by Cuban-born artists. The exhibition highlights the cultural mixing, aesthetic diversity and critical voice reflective of international contemporary art. It also draws significant attention to the distinct social and artistic impact of the circumstances of Cuba itself.

“Nowhere is the paradoxical nature of Cuban reality more evident than in its contemporary art,” said Jill Hartz, JSMA executive director. “Cuba is an island of contradictions and challenges. It is the most highly educated country in Latin America, and yet food is rationed and communication is carefully controlled.”

Many of the artists in this exhibition are internationally renowned, including José Bedia, Antonio Fernández (Tonel), Los Carpinteros, Tania Bruguera, Carlos Garaicoa, Alexis Levya (KCHO), Luis Cruz Azaceta, Maria Magdalena CamposPons, Ana Mendieta, Armando Mariño and Elsa Mora. "Cuba Avant-Garde" spans a wide scope of contemporary Cuban art history beginning with the early 1980s, an integral period of revived political openness and artistic production, heralded as the birth of “New Cuban Art.”

“Much of their artwork is neither pro-Revolution nor facile representations of an exotic land and and culture,” Hartz says. “Rather, it is often confrontational, politically and aesthetically, and in keeping or ahead of current trends in the world of international art. The best is pushing boundaries, public and personal.”

Selected from one of the premiere private collections in this field, "Cuba Avant-Garde" features rarely exhibited works, some seldom seen outside Cuba. The exhibition’s international variety encompasses the global Cuban community, from artists living on the island to those residing in the United States, Europe, South America and beyond.

The exhibition is organized by the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida and is curated by Kerry-Oliver Smith, Harn Museum Curator of Contemporary Art. It is sponsored at the University of Oregon by the Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation with major funding provided by Connie and Jeff Huling. It is accompanied by a fully- illustrated publication by Abelardo G. Mena Chicuri, Curator of Contemporary Art at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, the catalog is available for sale at Precious Cargo: The Museum Store.

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest visual arts center for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, America and elsewhere as well as changing exhibition galleries. The JSMA is one of six museums in Oregon accredited by the American Association of Museums.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and high school students. Free admission is given to ages 13 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of 62 of the leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. Membership in the AAU is by invitation only. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.


Contact: Debbie Williamson-Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu
Erick Hoffman, 541-346-3162, erickh@uoregon.edu

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