Raul Enmanuel - Simetria

This painting is a striking example of Enmanuel’s growing mastery of the canvas medium. His command of texture, composition, symbology, and technique continues to strengthen, and this latest work clearly reflects that evolution. While the imagery leans toward abstraction, Enmanuel has indicated that these paintings represent feminine, divine beings—benevolent, protective, and supportive in nature. The result is a powerful visual presence, where symbolic forms merge seamlessly with the abstract, tropical landscape aesthetic for which he has become increasingly recognized.

Excerpts from a review by the late art critic Carlos Luis:

It is not by chance that I make a reference of Amelia Peláez as a component of Raúl Enmanuel Pozo’s work. The same should be applied also to Wifredo Lam with whom this painter maintains close affinities. In spite the fact that Pozo’s process of maturity had manage to elaborate a language of his own, his work obeys a tradition that cannot be discarded. In that sense his paintings represent icons that renders homage (consciously or unconscious- ly) to a past that remains in many ways alive in Cuban art. Raul Enmanuel Pozo’s icons originate as images that arise from a past that is being brought to a modern scenario. I refer to a cultural history that saw its first lights in Cuba during the nineteenth century until the present time, passing through the great moment of the vanguard during the first decades of the twentieth century. Raúl Enmanuel Pozo is the actor of an intense artistic process that has witnessed numerous ramifications inside and outside Cuba, since the advent of the revolution in 1959.

 

Let’s enter then, into the world of this painter taking into consideration two concurring points of his work: form and color. Form in the first place gives us the opportunity to recognize different aspects of his pictorial imagination.

 

One of these forms suggests the structures of Cubism, reminding us of ancient dolmens whose volumes weigh as sculptures inside his paintings. There is a tendency in some of his paintings to create sculptural elements such as in “Silla de Otra Forma” (2004) or in “El Reposo” (2004). Both of these paintings executed in mixed media, offer us the opportunity to disco- ver his concern with an expression that reaches its peak in the art of Wifredo Lam. In this sense, his debt with the richness of Lam’s world is unquestiona- ble. Every artist is always in the process of assimilation of other legacies, and Raúl Enmanuel Pozo is not the exception to the rule. The question resides though, in how and also through what means an artist incorporates the discoveries of the other, transfiguring it in one of his or her own. In Pozo’s case I believe that his strategies of assimilation are the result of an acculturation of the different elements that eventually he will place at the disposal of his work.

 

If the dolmens are an essential part of his paintings, other forms tend to be converted in totems, as the artist identifies them in paintings such as “To- tem Simbólico”. The totem is one of the most rich and complex manifesta- tions of the so called primitive cultures. The surrealists and along with them Wifredo Lam, felt attracted by the presence of these objects with their carved images representing the history of their clans. On the other hand, from Sigmund Freud to Claude Levi-Strauss, the totem has been the subject of studies of different nature that eventually helped to enrich the poetical arsenal of numerous artists. Whether or not Raúl Enmanuel Pozo has read  these authors, is beside the point, since their findings are “in the air” ready to be aspired by any sensitive spirit. On the other hand, it is quite possible that he could be familiar with the writings of the great Cuban ethnologist Fernando Ortiz, who wrote an important monograph on Wifredo Lam.

 

Another important element in the art of this painter is the use he makes of the mask. Masks are an essential component of modern art. As is well known, the cubists adopted it in opposition to the classical models of Grece and Rome. The surrealists also adopted the masks but with the purpose of discovering in them a magical/poetical force. The presence of the masks in some of the avant garde painters in Cuba such as René Portocarrero or Wifredo Lam, was more inclined towards the surrealist quest. Raúl Enma- nuel Pozo instead, attempts to realize a synthesis between both tendencies.

 

 

Some biographical info on Enmanuel is as follows:

RAUL ENMANUEL POZO - BIOGRAPHY

Born in San Luis, Santiago, Cuba, 1958

 

Studies

1980-1985 Higher Institute of Art “CUBANACAN”, Havana, Cuba

1976-1980 National School of Art “CUBANACAN”, Havana, Cuba

1973- 1976   School for Plastic Arts Jose Joaquin Tejada, Santiago de Cuba

 

Solo Exhibitions

2004 – La locomotora de mi papa, Canvas Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico

2002 – Buscando Caminos, Galeria Juan Marinillo, Institute for the Friendship

            with People, Havana, Cuba

2000 – Mi Tiempo Vegetal, Casa de Teatro, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

1999 – Mi Tiempo Vegetal, Casa de Arte, Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican

            Republic

1999 – Acrilicos sobre Telas, Galeria Oriente, Santiago, Cuba

1994 – Galeria Coral, Santa Fe de Bogota, Colombia

1993 – Tropico, Center of Applied Studies, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

1991 – Amuletos Recuerdo de mis abuelos, Galeria Oriente, Santiago, Cuba

1989 - Dibujos sobre Cartulinas, Galeria Cine Cuba, Santiago, Cuba

1988 – Dibujos sobre Cartulinas, Festival of Cuban Culture, Burdeo, France

1987 – 2nd annual Festival of Cuban Culture, Havana, Cuba

1987 – Apuntes para un Proyecto, Galeria de Arte Universal, Manzanillo, Cuba

1986 – De lo Nuestro La Vegetacion, Galeria de Arte Universal, Santiago, Cuba

1985 – Muntu, Galeria Galeano, Havana, Cuba

 

Collective Exhibitions

 

Participated in over 50 group shows in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia,

Portugal, France, and the United States.

 

2008 – The Americas Collection – Coral Gables, Florida

2008 – Featured artist - Spring Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2008 – Spring Brewery Artwalk, LS Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

2007 – Fall Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2007 – Outstanding new contemporary artists, LS Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

2007 – Elements of Abstraction, Gallery on State, Santa Barbara, CA

2006 – Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2005 – Crosscurrents, Soho Gallery, Studio City, CA

2005 – Contemporary Visions, Audis Husar Fine Art, Beverly Hills, CA

2005 – Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2004 – Tropical Profundo, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2004 – Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2003 - Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2003 - Cuban Artists, Gallery Nader, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

2002 – Brewery Artwalk, MLA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2002 – Cuban Painters, Naipe Museum, Havana, Cuba

2001 – Cuban Artists, Gallery Nader, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

2000 – Four Abstract Painters, Galeria San Ignacio, Havana, Cuba

2000 - Participant in the 7th Havana Biennial

1999 - End of the Century Hall, Emilio Bacardi Museum, Santiago, Cuba

1999 - Serigraphy Workshop, Taller Rene Portocarrero, Havana, Cuba

1999 - Cuban Painters, Museum of the Americas, San Juan, Puerto Rico

1998 - Galeria de Arte Universal, Santiago, Cuba

1998 - Galeria Oriente, Santiago, Cuba

1997 - Salon de 30 de Noviembre, Santiago, Cuba

1996 - The Gallery of the Hotel Melia Cohiba, Santiago, Cuba

1995 - House of Culture Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

1994 - Art Center Gallery, Nelva, Colombia

1994 – Five Cuban Painters, Viva del Arte Galeria, Bogota, Colombia

1993 - Four Cuban Painters, Art Gallery of the Dominican Institute of Applied

            Studies ( IDEA), Santo Domingo, D.R.

1990 – Contemporary Painting, Center for Dominican Architecture, Santo                                  

            Domingo, Dominican Republic

1988 – Cuban Painters, Centro de Arte 501, San Francisco

1988 - Cultural Assets Hall Fund, Santiago, Cuba

1987 - Salon 30 de Noviembre, Santiago, Cuba

1987 - Galeria de Arte Universal, Santiago, Cuba

1986 - Seven Cuban Painters, Gallery of the House of Culture, Havana, Cuba

1986 - Participant in the 2nd Havana Biennial

1985 - Students Hall of the Hermanos Sainz Brigade, Galerie Oriente, Santiago,

            Cuba

1984 – Students Hall, Higher Institute of Art, Cubanacan, Havana, Cuba

1984 - Participant in the 1st Havana Biennial – A Tribute to the Triumph of the

            Cuban Revolution, Lobby of the Carl Marx Theatre, Havana, Cuba

 

Murals

 

Restaurant of Melia Cohiba Hotel, Santiago, Cuba

Railway Terminal, Santiago, Cuba

Executive Airport, Santiago, Cuba

 

Awards

 

1999 - National Prize of Serigraphy, Workshop “Rene Portocarrero”

1998 - Cuban Cultural Assets Fund, 1st prize for painting

1998 - Salon Fin de Siglo, National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC)

1997 - Honorable mention – Emilio Bacardi Museum, Santiago, Cuba

 

1997 - First Prize, Acquisition for Permanent Collection, Emilio Bacardi Museum,

            Santiago, Cuba

1989 - National Award for the Painting on Canvas, TELARTE Vll, Cultural assets

            of Cuba Fund

1987 - Honorable mention, Painting, City Hall, Santiago, Cuba

1986 – 1st Prize for the Carnival Poster, San Luis, Santiago, Cuba

1985 - Honorable mention, Students Hall of the Hermanos Sainz Brigade,

           Galeria Oriente, Santiago, Cuba

1984 – 1st Prize for the Carnival Poster, San Luis, Santiago, Cuba

 

Distinctions

 

1998 - Shield of Villa de San Luis de las Enramadas, Santiago, Cuba

1997 – Official Key of the Cultural Assets of Cuba Fund, Santiago, Cuba

            Member of UNEAC (National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists)

            Member of the International Association of Plastic Artists

 

Collections

 

His works can be found in many permanent and private collections.

 

Emilio Bacardi Museum, Santiago, Cuba

Museo Polivalente, Santiago, Cuba

Center of Art Ceballo Estrella, Santiago, Cuba

MLA Gallery Collection, Los Angeles, CA

Banco de Reservas, Santo Domingo, D.R.

In addition to many private collections throughout Cuba, the Dominican Republic,

Colombia, Mexico, Jamaica Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, and the United States.

 

 

 

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