OPENING: Artists’ Reception: Saturday, September 10, 5-8pm

Couturier Gallery is pleased to announce the dual exhibition of renowned Cuban photographers, René Peña and Cirenaica Moreira, opening September 10 (through October 15). The show will feature 27 photographic works by both artists who have long been exploring questions of race, sex and identity through their distinctive approaches to self-portraiture. As two of Cuba’s leading visual artists, Peña and Moreira exemplify the polarity of these issues in “Black+White in Color,” with each striving to define for themselves the question of identity through the interplay of self-projection and perception. The artists’ opening reception is Saturday, September 10th, from 5pm – 8pm.

A graduate of the University of Havana, René Peña received a degree in engineering and is a self-taught photographer. Cirenaica Moreira graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana, with a degree in theater. Both use photography and self-documentation which is not surprising considering their political surroundings in Cuba where racism and classism officially do not exist, where propaganda is king and the image dictates the message. Peña spent his early career focused exclusively on black and white photography, while Moreira was part of a young Cuban enclave of experimental performance artists. Eventually, Peña shifted to color photography, maintaining the strong sense of contrast between light and dark he sought in his earlier black and white works. Moreira distinguished herself by becoming a prolific and creative force utilizing the disciplines of performance, film and photography to express herself.

In the works by René Peña, an Afro-Cuban, his image recedes and emerges from the dark backdrop of his photos, allowing his body to be the canvas on which to display everyday objects and gender-defining elements that skew the interpretation and challenges one to question its revised meaning against the counterbalance of a black man. There is a benign and subtle beauty to the composition, and a wryness that Peña himself seems to enjoy in the re-evaluation of these things when tempered with race. A stark white duvet, for example, when wrapped like a cape around the artist’s body leaving only his face and traces of dreadlocks exposed, is simple in its composition, but expansive in its narrative. One can not escape the obvious play on black and white, but beyond that, Peña does little more than let the object become the catalyst for discourse with the viewer. The sereneness on Peña’s’s face and the boldness of the shroud may suggest a revered sage, a weary traveler, or an impenetrable hero.

The issues of race and gender are pervasive, and Peña is keenly aware of these while in his native Cuba and as he travels the world with his art and experiences the different social climates throughout. But what remains constant is Peña himself. As a black male artist, he is aware of its perceived relevance and uses it as a creative shorthand that jumpstarts the dialog between image and observer. Because of this, there is an efficiency to his work which doesn’t rely on sentimentality. He is unapologetic in his treatment, knowing full well of the inherent political and sexual power (and prowess) of presenting a semi-nude black man in this way. In the more than 20 years that Peña has used this approach, he has seen a shift in the roles that minorities play in the societal landscape:

“The works of the last few years try to support the idea that ethnic groups referred to as ‘minorities’ have become well integrated and essential to contemporary society without having to radically change their identities.”

Coming from a country whose identity was formed by annexation and independence, it is not surprising that Peña finds himself torn between seeking out his own uniqueness, while simultaneously working towards a fraternity with the collective whole. But here too, Peña is aware of the universality of that conundrum as he continues to explore the fringes of racial and gender identity in a manner that expands the lines that define us all as individuals.

Cirenaica Moreira approaches her work as a performer would, seeing photography as an extension of theater. She stages her work by creating an atmosphere through costumes, locations and props, which often include the construction of prosthetics and accoutrements that hearken to another time. That is not to say a bygone era, to the contrary, Moreira’s aesthetic suggests a time and place that is oddly vintage and futuristic at the same time. Although we may be unsure of the era, the familiarity with the elements she combines speaks to a base understanding of the female psyche and its issues of isolation, longing and hope. Like her Cuban homeland, she creates a realm that is suspended in time and under a veil of constraints.

Moreira has the ability to freely navigate through her work as a white female artist, unlike Peña who seems tethered to his visual identity. She plays on the fact that she appears neutral and non-threatening, and yet her work is equal to his in its depth of self-exploration. She is cerebral to the point of bravely sacrificing her body to art, offering up her limbs, torso, head and hair as materials at the ready to execute an allegorical scenario. In this way she plays with the idea of power and submission by controlling the use of her own image.

Moreira shies away from providing a definitive meaning to her works, saying that, “As a spectator of others, to unravel these meanings has been, on occasion, very discouraging.” The back story to these pieces are hidden in her life experience and the sensations she has felt, but she presents them renewed, having enhanced them and allowing others to view them through their own prism.

In the photo, “Como si fuera un iceberg”, from the series, “Con el empeine al reves”, Moreira wears a lace bonnet and has several acupuncture needles protruding from her face. When combined with the title, “As If I Were An Iceberg,” one gets a glimpse into the artist’s humor and imagines that the needles are an attempt to reanimate the frozen expression of a woman who has become desensitized. The title is taken from a Soviet cartoon Moreira recalls from her youth, and with that, one becomes aware of the swirling association between memory, image and idea. Moreira understands that the commonality between each of us is not in the details, but the amalgamation of experience, association and interpretation.

“Black+White in Color” brings together two extraordinary artists who have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of a deeper exploration into the creation of one’s identity by distilling the facets of sex and race, and overlaying them to create a rich composite in which we can also see ourselves.

René Peña’s work may be found in numerous museum and public collections including Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba; Colección Nuestra América, Casa de las Américas, La Habana, Cuba; Fototeca de Cuba, La Habana, Cuba; Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, La Habana, Cuba; Reinhard Schultz Collection, Germany; Archivo Fotográfico Toscano, Italy; Southwest Museum Of Photography, FL; Museum Of Fine Arts Houston, TX; Colección de la Provincia de Hainaut, Belgium; Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA; Farber Collection, Miami, FL; MALBA (Museo de arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Cirenaica Moreira’s work may be found in numerous museums and public collections including Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, La Habana, Cuba; Fototeca de Cuba, La Habana, Cuba; FotoFest, Houston, TX; University of Virginia, Virginia, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR; Fundación Arte Viva, Rio De Janeiro, Brasil; Lehigh University Art Gallery, Bethlehem, PA; Center For Cuban Studies, New York, NY.

For images and further information please contact the gallery [email protected]