Collage Havana in Zona Maco Photo 2020

«Contemporary art goes beyond

and turns nature into material,

environment and protagonist

of particular aesthetic experiences».

The National Center of Plastic Arts of Cuba Collage Habana, belonging to the Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets, one of the most prominent on the Island and for over thirty years dedicated with excellence to the promotion and commercialization of our visual arts, is presented for the first time at the International Art Fair Zona Maco 2020 in Mexico City.

Zona Maco, considered one of the largest trade fair platforms, year after year is reaffirmed as the main art promoter in Mexico and Latin America. Founded in 2002, it brings together the most select in terms of art galleries, leaders and emerging national and international. For the first time, in this edition, the four Zona Maco fairs (Contemporary Art, Design, Photo and Salon) will coexist simultaneously and independently in the Citibanamex Center, from February 5 to 9, during the Maco Zone Art Week.

The Artis 718 gallery, belonging to the Collage Habana network of art galleries, will occupy a stand in the Zona Maco Photo section. The presentation will articulate the works of three young Cuban visual artists with a solid and recognized professional career: Glenda Salazar (1982), Arián Irsula (1984) and Rafael Villares (1989), in contrast to the works of José Manuel Fors (1956), creator of guaranteed prestige and National Prize of Plastic Arts.

The interpretation of nature, from the creative singularity of each one of these artists and from an obviously contemporary perspective and presentation, It is the essential reason of choosing that brings together the diversity of formal proposals that make up this curatorial project. Throughout its history, art has found one of its favorite muses in nature. The relationships between art and nature are ancient. Since ancient times humanity has used elements of the environment to express itself aesthetically. Then they were mutating and perfecting the materials and techniques with which to consummate the artistic praxis. This direct link is still valid.

On the cover: Detail of the series The creator of the world / Fractals, Arián Irsula, inkjet print, 60 cm x 40 cm each, 2018.