Manuel Mendive’s "Iré"

Las Rozas City Hall in Madrid, by means of the Education and Culture Department, presents an exhibition by Cuban artist Manuel Mendive (Havana, 1944) curated by art critic and curator Andrés Isaac Santana. The show, to be open on May 22 - June 22, includes a splendid collection of pieces created by this outstanding artist to take viewers through a journey to the ancestral sources of his iconography and aesthetic imaginary. Iré, in Yoruba languages stands for "good", "blessing". That’s the reason why this display has this term as a title, since it’s a celebration and a fortunate opportunity to admire the work of such a remarkable figure within Spain’s artistic and cultural context. These pieces emphasize the versatility of this artist and speak of the richness and strength of his poetic.

The origin of his work refers to a nearly obsessive search to discover, from the mystery of art, the enigma of creation by means of the energy and power of orishas from Yoruba pantheon. His discourse reveals that telluric strength of spontaneous fluency to explain -as far as possible-, the cultural identity concept. It’s a search element within the rescue movement and culture revaluation that took place in the 1960s in Cuba and it still attracts the most audacious artists. His painting style assimilated the myths of Ocha Rule or Santeria, whose spirit strongly underlies his artistic motivation. From his theoretical and practical training Mendive takes the Yoruba pantheon imagery, its ceremonies and symbols, and he develops the creative process out of the rituals. This link to the religious belief turns into his symbolic strategic work, which allows him to use different expressive mechanisms, with an aesthetic that looks for artistic reflection beginning with the vital experience. He is far one of the most respected ambassadors of the sign and post-colonial dimension discourses and aesthetic policies.

Manuel Mendive Hoyo graduated in San Alejandro School, on Painting and Sculpture. He studied in the Ethnology and Folklore Department at the Sciences Academy of Cuba and Art History at the Humanities Faculty, University of Havana. He has carried out several collective and solo shows, and his legacy is present in the Cuban, Latin American and international artistic sphere.

Opening: Thursday May 22, 19:30h
Maruja Mallo Hall.
Pérez de la Riva Cultural Center.
(C/ Principado de Asturias, 28).