Amazon Deforestation Protest
Featured in ‘Joyas Latinoamericanas’ at
ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries
 
A graphic protest against the deforestation of the Amazon is included in the exhibition “Joyas Latinoamericanas” at ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries in downtown Coral Gables.

Painted by the noted Brazilian master Antonio Henrique Amaral, the 1990 five-foot oil painting “On the Center: A Tree” depicts a flame-reddened tree trunk crowned by smoke billows surrounded by an inner rim of rounded tree canopies and a sawtooth border, a clear and powerful protest against the deforestation of the Amazon basin.

The theme is a familiar one in Amaral’s works, as shown in the 1988 “Incêndio da floresta amazônica,” the 1990 “A ameaça: fase I” and “A ameaça: fase II,” and a number of other works, including the 1989 16-meter oil “Sâo Paulo: criaçâo, expansâo e desenvolvimento” in the collection of the Palâcio do Governo do Estado de Sâo Paulo.

In the 1997 book “Antonio Henrique Amaral—Work in Progress,” Frederico Morais noted in his essay, “The Body Against The Metals of Oppression,” that “Antonio Henrique Amaral has never doubted painting's importance or expressive force, its capacity to awaken and promote reflection about the human

condition or about the reality surrounding us, of being a vehicle for affirming individual freedom and a cultural sign. “Dominating visual rhetoric, he knows that, in order to have impact on and objectively communicate content, one must create distinct, clear, technically well-finished images, with precise timing and spatiality. All of these qualities have been visible in his paintings since very early on. The images he creates are convincing, in spite of being restless and disturbing. They have an almost tactile consistency."

Another notable painting in the exhibition is an oil on canvas by Wifredo Lam, “La Réalité d’un oiseau,” number 70.77 in his Catalogue Raisonneé. Writing in Miami New Times, critic Carlos Suarez de Jesus states that “Lam, who freighted his paintings with rich Afro-Cuban symbolism, evokes a tenebrous penumbra of light and darkness in a 1970 three-foot oil-on-canvas—depicting a totemic, stylized bird—that exudes a mysterious, almost primitive veneer.”

Other works by Lam include an early cubistic still life gouache on cardboard from 1942, a period that precedes the unique, mature style reflected in his 24-inch 1961 watercolor and charcoal on paper as well as a 1972 color etching.

Another interesting comparison in “Joyas Latinoamericanas” is the contrast between a 1958 oil on illustration board by Gunther Gerzso, a loosely composed abstraction, and two later works, a spectacular 43-inch 1977 oil on canvas

and an exquisite six-inch 1978 oil on panel, both done in his ultimate style of luminous geometric abstraction.

Suarez also notes that “among the highlights of the exhibition is a 1930 oil-on-canvas titled ‘Dama Sofisticada’ (Sophisticated Dame), created with rough, slashing strokes by the late Mexican muralist Orozco. The handcover-sized work depicts a peasant woman whose face is seen from a side view and loosely rendered in thick, irregular red, orange, and turquoise dabs of paint. Her tangled raven tresses are suggested by a tarry black wash.”

Additional works by master artists include a powerful, 78-inch expressionist canvas of a fighting cock done in 1993 by Arnaldo Roche-Rabell, a leading Puerto Rican painter. “The dynamic bedsheet-size expressionistic work bristles with a rustic barnyard vibe,” writes Suarez. “‘El Cano Mudo’ is rendered in a dizzying swirl of yellow, orange, red, purple, and blue tones that powerfully rip across the canvas to convey a sense that the rooster is about to burst from the surface. The Puerto Rican painter’s opus seems scratched out from sun-baked soil.”

Three 1991 oils by Elmar Rojas, whose canvases frequently refer to the folklore of his native Guatemala, glow across one of the gallery walls. Their Gucci-leather surfaces reflect “a stunning tropical palette reminiscent of Rufino Tamayo’s work,” according to Suarez.

Also included is an oil on canvas by Ramón Oviedo, the Dominican Republic’s foremost master artist; a large 1984 oil by Gina Pellón, a well-known Cuban artist; and a 1970s drawing by Francisco Toledo, one of the most important living Mexican artists.

“This year’s strained international economy has a bright side: the sale of long-cherished works of art by private owners offers art lovers an extraordinary opportunity to view older works—considered ‘jewels’—that seldom come on the art market, along with exceptional works by mid-career artists whose paintings and drawings hold their own in juxtaposition with these masters,” noted gallery owner and director Virginia Miller.

Well-established mid-career artists in the exhibition include Humberto Castro of Cuba, Michelle Concepción of Puerto Rico, Sergio Garval of Mexico, Mateo Argüelles Pitt of Argentina, Enrique Campuzano and Soledad Salamé of Chile, and Marco Tulio of Colombia.

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