Mendive
Hoyo Manuel, né
à La Havane, Cuba en 1944.
Issu d’une
famille pratiquant la Santería, Manuel Mendive Hoyo est aujourd’hui
considéré comme un des artistes cubains les plus importants, et une
figure majeure de « l’Afro-cubanisme » dans le domaine
des arts plastiques. En 1962, il obtient les diplômes de peinture et
sculpture de l’Academia de Artes Plásticas San Alejandro de la
Havane et présente deux ans plus tard sa première exposition
personnelle au Centre of Art de la Havane. Par la suite, ses œuvres
seront exposées à l’international : Le pavillon cubain de la
XLIIe biennale de Venise en 1988 lui a consacré une
personnelle. Ses œuvres sont présentes dans de nombreux musées et
galeries dont le Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de la Havane, le
Musée national d'art moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, mais aussi
des musées en Russie, Somalie, Congo, Norvège, Danemark, Finlande
et aux Etats-Unis. Peintre et sculpteur, Mendive également auteur de
performances au cours desquelles il peint sur les corps nus de
danseurs. L’art pluridisciplinaire de Mendive reflète sa vision
syncrétique du monde, tant sur le plan religieux que philosophique
et artistique.
Manuel Mendive, "sin título"
Cuban. Manuel Mendive
Manuel
Mendive is the leading Afro-Cuban artist, and quite possibly the
leading Cuban artist working today. (...) Manuel Mendive (...) is
unquestionably a visionary artist, whose work is permeated with the
spirits of Afro-Cuban religions which are such an influence on many
of the artist s(...) 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..." Exhibitions - Mendive has exhibited at major museums
around the world and is included in the leading collections of Cuban
art.
"Amarillo, azul y blanco,"a video by Ramón García, documents a traveling, public performance art
event created by renowned Cuban artist Manuel Mendive. Brightly-painted
dancing bodies journey through Lenin Park (Havana), San Juan river
(Matanzas) and Oasis Hotel (Varadero) in a performance of embodied
syncretism, a dance of colors --"yellow, blue and white," the title of
the piece-- echoing both the basic language of visual artists and the
distinctive colors of Santería deities --the colors of Ochún, Yemayá and
Changó. Mendive blends significant elements of Afro-Cuban culture,
creating a personal universe intimately linked to his particular
worldview, one that establishes organic connections between nature and
religion, African ancestry and Caribbean everyday life, a symphony of
syncretism that, like all of Mendive's art, reflects a life of
commitment to African spiritual practices, a commitment that became more
intense after his first visits to Africa in the early 1980s.
Manuel Mendive con su ballet "Perfomance" y la modelo Luz María, 1987
Manuel Mendive ,Untitled (Oshun), 1991
Manuel Mendive, Untitled, 1993
Manuel Mendive, Untitled, 2000
Manuel Mendive, Se alimenta mi cabeza, me alimento yo, 2001
Manuel Mendive Hoyos, Aguas turbias, 2011
Manuel Mendive,Luz de la esperanza, 2002
Manuel Mendive - Energia ancestral - 1986
Manuel Mendive, Serie Las Tinieblas (Series Darkness), 2010
Manuel Mendive,The Sons of Water, Talking to a Fish 2001
