Juan Francisco Elso (August 1956 – 1988), born Juan Francisco Elso Padilla in
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.[Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...](_bl ...<br></span></div>, <div class=)
was a Cuban artist. He created art in a variety of media, such as
drawing
Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...
,
painting
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
,
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
, and
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
, and also did
installations.Using mostly natural materials, his sculptures explore the complex identities of Cuban, Caribbean, and Latin American cultures. In 1972, he finished his studies in the
Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Alejandro” in Havana. From 1972–1976, he studied in Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana. He was also a teacher at 20 de Octubre School of Arts during the 1970s and 1980s.
Individual exhibitions
In 1982 he presented his first personal exhibition, "Tierra, maíz, vida" at the Casa de Cultura de Plaza in Havana. In 1986 he presented "Ensayo sobre América" at the same venue. In 1990, "Por América" was shown at the Museo de Arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil in México. In 1991, "Latin American Spirituality. The sculpture of Juan Francisco Elso (1984-1988)" was shown at M.I.T.
List Visual Arts Center
Established in 1950, the List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) is the contemporary art museum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is known for temporary exhibitions in its galleries located in the MIT Media Lab building, as well as its admin ...
in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.
Collective exhibitions
He took part in many collective exhibitions like ''Volumen I'' at the Centro de Arte Internacional in Havana in 1981. In 1984, he was selected to participate in the I
Bienal de La Habana at the
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) in Havana. In 1986, he participated at the XLII Biennale di Venezia in Venice, Italy and also in the second Havana Biennial Bienal de La Habana at the MNBA. In 1988, he was involved in ''Signs of Transition: 80's Art from Cuba'' at the
Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art in New York City. In 1997, he was part of ''"Así está la cosa. Instalación y arte objeto en América Latina"'' at the
Centro Cultural Arte Contemporáneo
Centro may refer to:
Places Brazil
*Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
* Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...
in A.C., México.
Awards
In 1982, Elso obtained the First Prize in "Salón Paisaje'82"', at the MNBA.
Collections
His work can be found in collections such as the Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporáneo in A.C., México;
Magali Lara, México; and the MNBA, Cuba.
Elso passed away on November 27, 1988.He saw himself as a fighter and wanted to die fighting, but he never expected his battle to be against his own body. He had diagnosed himself with leukemia weeks before doctors confirmed it. He believed this self-awareness connected to the way he used his own blood in his art.
References
*
* Juan Francisco Elso; Latin American spirituality, the sculpture of Juan Francisco Elso, 1984-1988, (MIT List Visual Arts Center 1991);
* Jose Veigas-Zamora, Cristina Vives Gutierrez, Adolfo V. Nodal, Valia Garzon, Dannys Montes de Oca; Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century; (California/International Arts Foundation 2001);
* Jose Veigas; Memoria: Artes Visuales Cubanas Del Siglo Xx; (California International Arts 2004);
* Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience; (Basic Civitas Books 1999);
External links
Cuba Now website article on the artistArt Facts webpage on artist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elso Padilla, Juan Francisco
Cuban contemporary artists
Artists from Havana
1956 births
1988 deaths