ARTISTS:
Diógenes Ballester
Rimer Cardillo
José Castillo
Marina Gutierrez
Miguel Luciano
Radhamés Mejía
Fernando Salicrup

FOREWARD
by Jani Konstantinovski Puntos

INTRODUCTION
by Diógenes Ballester

EXHIBITION ESSAY
by Taína Caragol, Art Historian

FORWARD

By Jani Konstantinovski Puntos, Cracow, Poland 2003

In an age bustling with fast-paced globalization and global digital media, unprecedented possibilities to communicate with each other have facilitated a constant mingling of cultures. An ever-increasing complexity challenges the psyche and ethos of today’s humans. It is as much a promise to new thoughts and creative potential, as it seems to threaten contemplation, reflection and tranquil memory.

In their response to our current times, the artists of our present exhibition proudly claim strong roots in their countries and traditions. Intersecting Circles: Metaphors of Caribbean and Latin American Transnationalism offers the poetics of their prints and drawings. The works of the show comprise signs, symbols and archetypes, vehicles for the meaning of their worlds, old and new. Their narrative, a profound text of artistic imagination features artful metaphors of Latin American and Caribbean culture.

Artists of Latin America and the Caribbean managed to maintain their ethnic and cultural heritage throughout a long and often hostile history of colonialism, post-colonialism, the industrial revolution, post-industrial chaos and the phenomenon of mass migration over the past centuries. Amazingly, they preserved past traditions, myths and legends in a fascinating pool of indigenous and ancestral knowledge, of – often painful – social and political experiences as a ground for their imagination. Even after being befallen by Western political and economical powers, some Latin American artists have not simply given in to the cult of 20th century art, which announced the end of the classical meaning of a work of art in the age of its mechanical and digital reproduction. With caution and critical distance, Latin American artists take advantage of the possibilities new technologies have to offer them. They gather some of the best of two worlds.

It is therefore no surprise that Latino art is experiencing a real renaissance today. In Europe, we have become aware of outstanding artistic talents from South America, especially from countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina. Today, at the Dominik Rostworowsky Gallery in Krakow, we are offered precious insights into contemporary Latin American art from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay, created by artists who are citizens of the metropolises of New York and Paris. Together they bring metaphors of the Caribbean and Latin America on Polish ground to share their message with a Polish audience.

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