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Born in 1970 in Sancti Spiritus, Cuba

Living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany

Solo Exhibitions (Selection)

2023
  • Los Milagros, Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid.
2022
  • “Bañistas“, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
2021
  • Iniciales y Nombres Completos, Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid.
  • Instopia, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin.
2019
  • Rebel Standing“, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
2018
  • Cascadas, Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid.
  • Salvavidas, Galería Arsenal, La Habana, Cuba.
  • “Nuestra America”, Federico Luger Gallery, Milan
  • “Eras Imaginarias (studio Works 2015-2018)”, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
  • 2017-18 “Amor Amor”, VANHORN, Düsseldorf, Germany
2017
  • “Sobre las olas (Über allen Wellen)”, curated by Meike Behm, Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany
  • “Her Holidays”, Nicolas Krupp, Basel, Switzerland
2016
  • “Theoretical Beach.”, curated by Stefanie Kreuzer, Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
  • “Marina”, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
  • “Beach, a longing”, curated by Susanne Meyer-Büser, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen, K21, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • “Hurricanes”, FL Gallery, Milan, Italy
  • 2015/16 “Time Islands and Space Islands”, MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales UK
2015
  • “Eugene”, Kunsthalle Münster, Germany
  • “Words to sea”, curated by Gianni Jetzer, ArtBasel Unlimited, with Marlborough Contemporary / Alexander and Bonin / Barbara Thumm / Nicolas Krupp, Basel, Switzerland
  • “The book of waves”, Marlborough Contemporary, London, UK
  • “Layout for Flavor Orbit and Orange Curtain”, curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, SP-ARTEwith Galerie Barbara Thumm, São Paulo, Brazil
2014
  • “By all means I am here”, curated by Katerina Gregos, Solo, Art Brussels with Marlborough Contemporary, Brussels, Belgium
  • “Circling in loop”, curated by Delfim Sardo, Est Art Fair with Marlborough Contemporary, Estoril, Portugal
  • “In hazard, translated”, curated by Simone Neuenschwander, Kunstverein Nürnberg, Germany
  • “Socialist nature”, curated by Gerhard Obermüller, Landesgalerie Linz, Austria
  • “First declaration”, curated by Alfredo Cramerotti, Mostyn, Wales, UK
2013
  • “Komplette zimmer”, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany
  • “The importance of a line”, curated by Nuno Faria, Porta33, Madeira, Portugal
  • “The new man and the new woman”, Marlborough Contemporary, London, UK
  • “The editionx”, dh artworks, Duesseldorf, Germany
2012
  • The stamps that never travelled and the birds that never flew”, Benveniste Contemporary, ARCO, Madrid, Spain
  • “Folded tiger”, Philara, Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst, Duesseldorf, Germany
  • “Drawing the human figure”, curated by Nuno Faria, Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania, Italy
  • 2010/11 “A kiss, a hat, a stamp”, Blood Mountain Foundation, Budapest, Hungary
2011
  • “Line Dreamers”, Haus im Süden c/o BOUCHERIE, Cologne, Germany
  • “Diango Hernández, Living rooms, a survey”, curated by Yilmaz Dziewior, MART, Rovereto, Italy
  • “The Stamps that never travelled and the birds that never flew”, Benveniste Contemporary, Madrid, Spain
  • “If I send you this” Alexander and Bonin, NY, USA
  • “Crystal clear”, Nicolas Krupp Galerie, Basel, Switzerland
2010
  • “Diango Hernández Museums selected works 1996-2010”, Galerie Michael Wiesehöfer, Cologne, Germany
2009
  • “Losing you Tonight”, 6. Rubensförderpreis der Stadt Siegen, Museum for Contemporary Art, Siegen, Germany
  • “The importance of a line” (curated by Nuno Faria), Porta33, Madeira, Portugal
  • “La Historia, Mi Juguete Preferido”, Pepe Cobo y Cia, Madrid, Spain
  • “Diango Hernàndez:TH-INK”, Alexander an Bonin, New York, USA
2008
  • out-of-place artifacts (OOPArt)”, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin & Galerie Michael Wiesehöfer, Cologne, Germany
  • “Inspire me again”, Stella Lohaus Gallery, Antwerpen, Belgium
  • “Diamonds and Stones: My Education”, Federico Luger Gallery, Milan, Italy
2007
  • “Objects of Ridicule”, Alexander and Bonin, New York, USA
  • “Victoria”, National Museum, Warsaw, Poland
  • “Power Pencil”, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto, Italy
  • “Swans without a Lake”, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Aachen
2006
  • “Revolution”, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
  • “Dictators”, Frehrking Wiesehöfer, Cologne, Germany
  • “Spies”, Alexander & Bonin, New York, USA
  • “Traitors”, Galeria Pepe Cobo, Madrid
2005
  • “The Museum of Capitalism”, Altes Museum, Mönchengladbach, Germany
  • “Revantgarde”, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto, Italy
2004
  • “Democracy”, Kunstverein Arnsberg (with Boris Michailov), Germany
  • “Amateur”, De Vleeshal, Middelburg, Netherlands
2003
  • “Amateur”, Frehrking Wiesehöfer, Cologne, Germany
  • as member of “Ordo Amoris Cabinet”
2002
  • “Sweet Home”, Espacio Aglutinador, Havana, Cuba
2001
  • “Mousepads and Screensavers”, ArtPace Foundation for Contemporary Art, San Antonio, Texas, USA
  • “Network Transmission /mSummer Days”, Adamski Frehrking Wiesehöfer, Cologne, Germany
1999
  • “Esta cerca es provisional: evite ser requerido/This is a provisional Fence: Keep Out”, Center for the Development of the Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba
1997
  • “Hiking Raffle”, Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada
  • “Hormigon armado/Reinforced Concrete”, Center for the Development of the Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba
1996
  • “Agua con azucar y La muestra provisional / Sugar Water and The Provisional Show”, Center for the Development of the Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba Museo de Arte Contemporaneo y Diseffo (MACD), San José, Costa Rica

Group Exhibitions (Selection)

2022
  • “Why we can’t live together” Collection Peters-Messer, Kunst museum, Marburg, Germany
  • That Other World, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover
2020
  • A volte penso che…, Prometeo Gallery, Lucca, Italy
  • Great small works, Stephane Simoens, Knokke-Zoute, Belgium
  • Summer breeze, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
2019
  • Concrete Contemporary, Museum Haus Konstruktiv , Zurich
  • Imágenes De Cinco Siglos – (curated by Niurka Fanego and Manuel Crespo) Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
2018
  • “Wall Works”, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany (upcoming)
  • “Lilia & Tulipan”, Kunsthalle Lingen, Germany
  • “In Addition an exhibition of artist editions”, curated by Adam Carr MOSTYN, Wales, UK
  • 2017/18 “Kunst X Kuba – Zeitgenössische Positionen seit 1989”, Ludwig Forum Aachen, Germany
2017
  • “TWO DESTINATIONS” curated by Oriane Durand, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Germany“EXIT”, curated by Adam Carr, Rodolphe Janssen Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
  • “On the Horizon: Selections from the Jorge M. Pérez Cuban Art Collection”, curated by Tobias Ostrander, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), USA
  • “PRODUCTION. made in germany three”, Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
  • “Luther und die Avantgarde”, Altes Gefängnis, Wittenberg, Germany
  • “Your Story! Geschichten von Flucht und Migration”, Kunsthalle Emden, Germany
  • “Who Pays?”, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein
    “Skulptur im Foto”, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, Germany
  • “Made in Germany III”, (curated by Christina Végh) Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover, Germany
  • 2016/17 “Gruppenbild”, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
  • “Tropical Punch”, curated by keen on magazine, Galerie Nathalie Halgand, Vienna, Austria
  • “We Call It Ludwig”, 40th anniversary of the Museum Ludwig, artistic director Yilmaz Dziewior, Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
2016
  • “Only In The Western World” curated by Luigi Fassi, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art (MAM), Vienna, Austria
  • Relevant Notes”, Cara Gallery, New York, USA
  • “I call it Lüttgen”, Galerie Markus Lüttgen, Cologne, Germany
  • “Kaleidoscope And Puzzles in the MUSACLatin American Collection” curated by Wendy Navarro, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno – CAAM, Las Palmas, Spain
  • “Transhumance” curated by Sara Alonso Gómez, CABBrussels, Belgium
  • “This Is Your Replacement” curated by Adam Carr, Sies + Höke, Duesseldorf, Germany
2015
  • “War II – History Series“, curated by Adam Carr, MOSTYN, Llandudno, Wales UK
  • “Rate of Exchange” – German artists from the State of NRWin Croatia, curated by Nataša Ivančević and Nikola Ukić in cooperation with Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (Germany), Muzej Suvremente Umjetnosti Zagreb, Croatia
  • “Trio Biennal”, 1st Rio de Janeiro Biennial 2015, curated by Marcus de Lontra Costa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • “The art of the Turks. Modernisation as Fiction”, curated by Manuel Graf and Hans-Jürgen Hafner, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany
  • “El péndulo de Foucault”, curated by Alejandro Machado, 12 Bienal de la Habana, Havana, Cuba
  • “The Rates of Exchange”, Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb, Croatia
  • “Piano pieces”, curated by Martin Hochleitner, Salzburg Museum, Salzburg, Austria
  • “I never thought I’d see you again. Painting History”, Marlborough Contemporary, London, UK
  • “Birds, plants and a chair”, Kadel Willborn, Duesseldorf, Germany
  • 2014-15 “Entorno crítico”, CABde Burgos, Spain
  • “Beyond the supersquare”, curated by Holly Block, Bronx Museum, NY, USA
2014
  • “Summerstage”, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, Germany
  • “BRINGING LIGHTINTO A WINDOWLESS ROOM”, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany
  • “Power of chi”, SPREEZV., Munich, Germany
  • “New Paintings”, Alexander and Bonin Gallery, New York, USA
  • “The marvelous real”, curated by Kristine Guzmán, Yuko Hasegawa and Hikari Odaka, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
  • International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, curated by Berta Sichel, Cartagena, Colombia
  • 2013-14 “Salon distingué – Household effects in good company”, curated by Nadia Schneider Willen, Museum Langmatt, Baden, Switzerland
2013
  • “HERstories”, curated by Christina Végh and Fanny Gonella, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
  • “Six memos for the next …”, curated by Wolfgang Fetz, Jörg van den Berg, Sandra Boeschenstein, Barbara Köhler, Schirin Kretschmann and Tilo Schulz, Magazin4 Bregenzer Kunstverein, Bregenz, Austria
  • “Misunderstandings and other circumstances”, curated by Anna Heidenhain and Kristina Kramer,Polistar, Istanbul, Turkey
  • “The marvelous real”, curated by Kristine Guzmán, Yuko Hasegawa and Hikari Odaka, MUSAC, Leon, Spain
  • “Lessons of darkness”, curated by Nuno Faria, José De Guimarães International Centre For The Arts, Guimarães, Portugal
  • “lonelyfingers. Konversationsstücke”, curated by Susanne Titz, Museum Abteiberg, Moenchengladbach, Germany
  • “The Feverish Library”, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany
  • “Arqueológica”, curated by Virginia Torrente, Matadero, Madrid, Spain
  • “Triennale der Kleinplastik in Fellbach”, curated by Yilmaz Dziewior, Fellbach, Germany
  • “Politics: I do not like it, but it likes me”, curated by Agnieszka Kulazinska and Dermis P. León, LAZNIACentre for Contemporary Art, Poland
2012
  • Newtopia: The State of Human Rights”, curated by Katerina Gregos, Mechelen, Belgium
  • “Chaotic trajectories”, curated by Thomas Rehbein, Temporary Gallery, Cologne, Germany
  • “The castle in the air. Séance of Imagination”, curated by Adam Budak, Poznan, Poland
2011
  • “Sammlung im Prozess”, curated by Georg Elben, Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, Marl, Germany
  • “Hans hat Glück”, Castle Gandegg, Appiano, Italy
  • “The silver show”, NAK, Aachen, Germany
  • “Entropia, Philara – Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst“, Duesseldorf, Germany
  • “DC Bonus”, Galerie Schmidt Maczollek / Galerie Michael Wiesehöfer / Galerie Thomas Zander, Forum für Fotografie, Cologne, Germany
  • “New Space”, Federico Luger, Milan, Italy
  • “Colors for a new home, Signs of love and other paintings”, Alexander and Bonin, NY, USA
  • “Fronteras en mutación, en tránsito of Bridges and Borders”, (fase III) CCEBA, Centro Cultural de España en Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • “Local host, (International artists in – from NRW)”, Ausstellungshalle Zeitgenössische Kunst, Muenster, Germany
  • “Tracks”, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Liechtenstein
  • “Drawings wall”, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto, Italy
2010
  • “Neues Rheinland. Die postironische Generation”, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
  • “Drawings”, Alexander and Bonin NY, USA
  • “Face to Face”, Pepe Cobo y Cia, Madrid, Spain
  • “Touched”, The 10th Liverpool Biennial, curated by Peter Gorschlüter, Tate Liverpool, UK
  • “The New Décor”, curated by Ralph Rudolf, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
    Garage CCC, Moscow, Russia
  • “Star City”, curated by Alex Farquharson, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK
  • “Who wants to use my window?”, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto, Italy
  • “Goldene Zeiten”, curated by Patrizia Dander and Julienne Lorz, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
  • “Modelos para Armar: Thinking Latin America from the MUSACCollection”, Spain
  • “A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Fear and Terror”, curated by Helmut Friedel and Giovanni Iovane, Galleria Gentili, Prato, Italy
  • “Languages and Experimentations”, MARTRovereto, Italy 11th. Triennale der Kleinplastik Fellbach bei Stuttgart
2009
  • “Ordinary Revolutions”, Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
  • “Das Gespinst”, Museum Abteiberg, Moemchengladbach, Germany
  • “Danielle Kawaaitaal and Diango Hernandez”, Monkeys Island, Cologne, Germany
  • “Precarious Form”, Galerie Meyer Kainer, curated by Veit Loers, Viena, Austria
  • “ev + a 2009, Reading the City”, Limerick City, Ireland
  • “Cambio de Aceite”, Pepe Cobo and Cia, Madrid, Spain
2008
  • On Air”, curated by Huh joung-en, Künstlerverein Malkasten, Duesseldorf
  • “BAGHDAD/SPACECOG/ANALYST”, curated by Andrew Renton, Frith Street Gallery, London, UK
  • “Wessen Geschichte”, Kunstverein in Hamburg, Germany
2007
  • “Como vivir juntos”, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santiago de Chile
  • “Andrzej Wroblewski 1927-1957/Project”, The National Museum in Warsaw, Poland
  • Connected”, Altes Museum Moenchengladbach, Germany
  • “Mr. President”, University Art Museum, Albany, NY, USA
  • “Made in Germany”, Kunstverein Hannover, Germany
2006
  • “The Unhomely: Phantom Scenes in Global Society”, 2. Bienal Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla, Seville Biennal
  • “Como viver junto”, 27. Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil
  • “Zones of Contact”, Biennial of Sydney, Austrailia
  • “Biennale Cuvée”, O.K. Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz
2005
  • “Always a little Further”, Arsenale, 51. Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
  • “Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht”, ZKM/Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe
    “Roboter”, Opelvillen, Ruesselsheim, Germany
  • “Biwak”, Frehrking Wiesehöfer, Cologne, Germany
  • “Opening”, Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Rovereto, Italy
  • “Nuovo Segnale”, Federico Luger Gallery, Milano, Italy
2004
  • “Flesh at War with Enigma”, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
  • “doku/fiction. Mouse on Mars – reviewed & remixed”, Kunsthalle Duesseldorf, Germany
  • “Jahresgaben 2004”, Kunstverein Arnsberg, Arnsberg, Germany
  • “Jahresgaben 2004”,Westfälischer Kunstverein, Muenster, Germany
  • “In Ictu Oculi”, Pepe Cobo Gallery, Sevilla, Spain
  • “Wildlife 04 final”, Sommerpalast, Neuss, Germany
  • “Bookies”, M29 Brückner + Richter, Cologne, Germany
  • “Mideo/Fear”, Pepe Cobo Gallery, Sevilla, Spain
  • “With Eyes of Stone and Water”, Gallery 3,14, Bergen, Norway*
2003
  • Havana Biennial, Cuba
  • “Stretch”, Power Plant Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2002
  • “Prophets of Boom. The Schürmann Collection”, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany
  • “With Eyes of Stone and Water”, Helsinki Art Museum, Finland
  • “Atravesados. Deslizamientos de identidades y géneros”, Fundación Telefónica. Madrid, Spain
  • “FITAC. VIIIforo sobre teoría del Arte Contemporáneo”, Monterrey, México
  • “La Huella Múltiple”, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba
2001
  • Short Stories”, La Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano, Italy
  • “Un dia como otro cualquiera/A day like any other day”, 7. Havana Biennial, Cuba
  • “I am Cuba Double play”, Tirana Biennial, Albania
2000
  • “La conjuncion de la nada/The conjunction of nothingness”, Center for the Development of the Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba
1999
  • “CUBA”, Presentl. Barbican Centre, London, UK
  • “Thinking Aloud”, Camden Art Centre, London, UK
1998
  • Antennas: Network Transmission/Taxi-Limosina. Provisional Utopias”, Ludwig
  • Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen/Kunsthaus Berlin, Germany
  • “Il Salon de arte cubano contemporanso”, Center for the Development of the Visual Arts/Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam/CENCREM/Fototeca de Cuba. Havana, Cuba
  • “Thinking Aloud”, Hayward Gallery, London; Kettle‘s Yard, Cambridge; Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
  • “Entropy at Home”, Schürmann Collection, Suermondt-Ludwig Museum, Aachen, Germany
  • “The Campaign Against Living Miserably”, Royal College of Art, London, UK
1997
  • “The Russian mountain”, 3. Manifestation Internationale Vidéo et Art Électronique, Montreal, Canada
  • “Rompiendo los moldes”, 6th Havana Biennial, Cuba
1996
  • “Ultimas Noticias”, Galería de Matanzas, Cuba
1995
  • “Una de cada clase – Next Generation Show” Centro de Arte y Diseño, Havana, Cuba

Collections

  • Museum Abteiberg Moenchengladbach, Germany
  • Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
  • Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Moenchengladbach, Germany
  • INHOTIMCentro de Arte Contemporânea, Belo Horizonte, Brasil
  • Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy
  • MART– Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto, Italy
  • Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen, Germany
  • Rheingold Collection, Duesseldorf, Germany
  • The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
  • The Collection of Contemporary Art of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • FRACdes Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France
  • Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y Leon, (MUSAC), Spain
  • Collectión Bergé, Madrid, Spain

Casado Santapau Gallery is pleased to present Los Milagros, the third solo exhibition of Cuban artist Diango Hernández. In this new body of work, figuration takes over (again) from his previous works closer to abstraction, but reaffirming the need for painting. Painting as a synaesthetic metaphor that allows us to express our inner ideas by relating them to sensations and experiences of the outside world. This idea of metaphor and its application to art is a continuous search for allegories that manage to express or stir this or that feeling in the viewers. Especially because it is figurative works that awaken in us a “sense of meaning”, that is, they activate our mind to try to guess what they are and how they have been made.

Now, we find ourselves with a series of imaginary portraits of fictitious people with romantic references but of clear current relevance, with the nuance of the German expressionist currents and with a rereading of the avant-garde more alive than ever. The figures in Hernandez’s paintings, created at night, with malice aforethought and low luminosity, while he shows off his new paternity, are not real people. He creates them from found images and his own imagination. Both familiar and mysterious invite viewers to project their own interpretations, and raise important questions of identity and representation.

Diango Hernandez is a “storyteller” who captures fairly commonplace scenes and situations while avoiding associating his characters with a particular era. The figures, a single portrait per work, are intentionally removed from time and place. The portraits often rest against ambiguous backgrounds, floating within dark, almost monochromatic tones. These cryptic but emotional backgrounds, reminiscent of old masters such as Goya or El Greco, he transfers them to a new objectivity, understood as the deformation of reality. He looks for a more emotional and subjective expression of nature and the human being, close to symbolism and Fauvism because of his experimentation with color and his transcendent character, and puts the emphasis on expression, not on forms.

The figures have little corporeality, losing interest in reality, proportions and perspective. Instead, he accentuates expression, especially in the gaze, the characters are symbolized rather than represented. The artist’s intuitive and quickly wrought compositions often feature simple, minimalist clothing and austere backgrounds. These choices highlight the rich inner life of the figures, as well as the material properties of the paintings and their brushstrokes.

We wonder who they are, but we should wonder what they are.

Notes on Los Milagros by Diango Hernández

The Miracles. It has taken me twenty years to paint these paintings. Two decades ago I came to Europe and started looking at live art, which for me was/is nothing more than looking at painting – close up. Everything else I simply ignored, it was rare that I stood in front of a sculpture and I never went into a black box to watch a video. Later, when I was invited to contemporary art shows, biennials, etc. what I enjoyed most was being there and talking with artists from other countries. I always thought that what we call contemporary art is an invention of the “rebels” and since I come from the place where the real rebels were born, any rebelliousness of contemporary art always seemed to me incomplete and meaningless.

In these twenty years I have catalogued every centimeter of the paintings that interest me, I have looked obsessively at each of their brushstrokes, I have dreamed of the places where they were painted and I have “talked” with their painters, sometimes dead for centuries.

Painting is not “doing”, painting is imagining what has not yet been painted. Like the chess player, the painter imagines the next brushstrokes but there is a big difference, the painter has already painted the painting from the moment he gives the first brushstroke on the blank canvas. That is the first “miracle”. All the rest, all that time, hours, days, sometimes months in front of a painting, is nothing more than a battle between what is imagined and what “comes out”, between life (the painter’s imagination) and death (reality).

I have named this exhibition “The Miracles” after paintings such as “The Miracles of Saint Francis of Paola” (1627-1628) by Rubens or “Les miracles de saint Benoît” (1841) by Delacroix, just to name two of the many paintings that “narrate” miracles that have taken place. These paintings represent and give testimony of what only a few have seen and it is through these images that “the others”, all of us, through centuries, will “see” and attest to these miracles.  My paintings do not narrate any miracle, but are the miracle itself, like all paintings, they also come from the imagined, from that which is composed of the most beautiful and perfect substance that has ever been created, our dreams.

 

(ESP)

La Galería Casado Santapau tiene el placer de presentar Los Milagros, la tercera exposición individual del artista cubano Diango Hernández. En este nuevo cuerpo de trabajo, la figuración toma el relevo (de nuevo) a sus anteriores trabajos más cercanos a la abstracción, pero reafirmándose así en la necesidad de la pintura. Pintura como metáfora sinestésica que nos permite expresar nuestras ideas interiores relacionando éstas con sensaciones y experiencias del mundo exterior. Esta idea de metáfora y su aplicación al arte es una búsqueda continua de alegorías que consigan expresar o remover este o aquel sentimiento en los espectadores. Sobre todo porque son las obras figurativas las que despiertan en nosotros un “sentido de significado”, es decir, activan nuestra mente para intentar adivinar qué son y cómo se han realizado.

Ahora, nos encontramos con una serie de retratos imaginarios de personas ficticias de referencias románticas per de clara actualidad, pasadas por el matiz de las corrientes expresionistas alemanas y con una relectura de las vanguardias mas vivas que nunca. Las figuras en las pinturas de Hernández, creadas con nocturnidad, alevosía y baja luminosidad, mientras hace gala de su nueva paternidad, no son personas reales. El las crea a partir de imágenes encontradas y de su propia imaginación. Tanto familiares como misteriosos invitan a los espectadores a proyectar sus propias interpretaciones, y plantean importantes preguntas de identidad y representación.

Diango Hernández es un “contador de historias” que captura escenas y situaciones bastante comunes evitando que sus personajes se asocien con una época concreta. Las figuras, un solo retrato por obra, están intencionadamente alejadas del tiempo y el lugar. Los retratos suelen descansar frente a fondos ambiguos, flotando dentro de tonos oscuros casi monocromáticos. Estos trasfondos crípticos pero emotivos, que recuerdan a viejos maestros como Goya o el Greco, los traslada a una nueva objetividad, entendida esta como la deformación de la realidad. Busca una expresión más emocional y subjetiva de la naturaleza y del ser humano, cercana al simbolismo y al fovismo por su experimentación con el color y su carácter trascendente, y pone el énfasis en la expresión, no en las formas.

Las figuras tienen poca corporeidad perdiendo el interés por la realidad, las proporciones y la perspectiva. En cambio, acentúa la expresión, sobre todo en la mirada, los personajes se simbolizan más que se representan. Las composiciones intuitivas y rápidamente forjadas del artista a menudo presentan ropa simple, minimalista y fondos austeros. Estas elecciones resaltan la rica vida interior de las figuras, así como las propiedades materiales de las pinturas y sus pinceladas.

Nos preguntamos quiénes son, pero deberíamos preguntarnos qué son.

Notas sobre Los Milagros de Diango Hernández

Los Milagros. Me ha tomado veinte años pintar estas pinturas. Hace dos décadas llegué a Europa y comencé a mirar arte en vivo, que para mí no era/es mas que mirar pintura -de cerca-. Todo lo demás sencillamente lo ignoré, raro era que me parara delante de una escultura y nunca entré a una caja negra para ver un vídeo. Después, cuando fui invitado a muestras de arte contemporáneo, bienales, etc. lo que más disfrutaba era el estar allí y el hablar con artistas de otros países. Siempre pensé que lo que llamamos arte contemporáneo es una invención de los “rebeldes” y como yo vengo del lugar donde nacieron los verdaderos rebeldes, toda rebeldía del arte contemporáneo siempre me pareció incompleta y sin sentido.

En estos veinte años he catalogado cada centímetro de las pinturas que me interesan, he mirado con obsesión cada una de sus pinceladas, he soñado con los lugares donde fueron pintadas y he “hablado” con sus pintores, muertos a veces desde hace ya siglos.

Pintar no es “hacer”, pintar es imaginar lo aún no pintado. Como el ajedrecista, el pintor imagina las próximas pinceladas pero hay una gran diferencia, el pintor ya ha pintado la pintura desde el momento en que da la primera pincelada sobre el lienzo en blanco. Ese es el primer “milagro”. Todo lo demás, todo ese tiempo, horas, días a veces meses frente a una pintura, no es más que una batalla entre lo imaginado y lo que “va saliendo”, entre la vida (la imaginación del pintor) y la muerte (la realidad).

He llamado esta exposición “Los Milagros” por pinturas como “The Miracles of Saint Francis of Paola” (1627–1628) , de Rubens o “Les miracles de saint Benoît” (1841) de Delacroix, solamente por nombrar dos de tantas pinturas que “narran” milagros acontecidos. Estas pinturas representan y dan testimonio de lo sólo visto por unos pocos y es a través de estas imágenes que “los otros”, todos nosotros, a través de siglos, “veremos” y daremos fe de esos milagros.  Mis pinturas no narran milagro alguno, sino son el milagro en sí, como toda pintura, estas también provienen de lo imaginado, de aquello que se compone de la sustancia mas bella y perfecta que jamás ha sido creada, nuestros sueños.