Francisco Cabral (artist)

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Francisco Cabral (born October 15, 1949 in Port of Spain ) is a Trinidadian conceptual artist whose work consists of metal and wood sculptures , some of which are very expansive .

Life

Cabral was born on October 15, 1949 in Belle Eau Road in Belmont , a district in the east of Port of Spain, as the sixth child of his mother Yolande. He has five sisters; one brother died shortly after birth. His artistic talent made itself felt at a young age. As a young adult, he first ran a record store in Maraval, a suburb of Port of Spain. In May 1974 he married Shirley Gonzales, a former student of St. Joseph's Convent in St. Joseph . At the age of 30, Cabral decided to seriously pursue his artistic career. He lives and works in Trinidad and Miami .

plant

Cabral is self-taught. He acquired craftsmanship while building his house in the hills above Port of Spain. He created his first chair sculpture as a reminder of a serious accident and then stayed with the topic. The sculptures were exhibited by the Art Society of Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain. His first participation in a major exhibition took place in 1986: after Waldeman Januszczak, art critic for the Guardian , had visited Trinidad, the Commonwealth Institute in London hosted the first exhibition on contemporary Caribbean art, in which Cabral was one of five Trinidadian artists. In 1987 he had his first solo exhibition in Port of Spain, which was received very differently by visitors. At Expo 92 , Cabral was one of three representatives of his home country and presented the central exhibit of the Trinidadian pavilion.

In his sculptures, Cabral addresses, among other things, the conflicts in cultures shaped by the colonial era as well as the cultural heritage of slaves born in Central Africa and their culture in Trinidad in the 20th century. He is known for his steel high chairs, which he constructs from self-made components, everyday objects and found objects and to which a permanent exhibition is dedicated in the National Museum and Art Gallery . The chair is a central motif and serves Cabral as a "skeleton" for works that the Trinidadian art critic Peter Ray Blood calls "sinewy bodies of striking images, some abstract and surrealistic, others more to the point and easily discernible" ("powerful objects full expressive images, some abstract and surrealistic, others more to the point and easily accessible "). Cabral cites his childhood as an important influence in his oeuvre, when his playmates were the children of the Belmont orphanage across from their parents' house: " While I was growing up, I looked at life from a different perspective. A rejected child sees the world of Adults in a very different way. "

The art critic Anne Walmsley judged Cabral's work that he was transferring the concept of surrealism from painting to his installations.

Exhibitions

  • Caribbean Art Now: Europe's first exhibition of contemporary Caribbean art , group exhibition. Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London, June 17 - August 4, 1986.
  • A barefoot journey . Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain, August 24 - September 25, 1987.
  • Jamaica National Art Gallery, 1988
  • Havana Biennial, Cuba, 1989
  • Barbican Center , England, 1990
  • Glasgow Arts Center, Scotland, 1991
  • The Royal Victoria Institute, Port of Spain, Trinidad, 1991
  • EXPO 92 , Arts Pavilion, Seville, 1992
  • Museo Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1992
  • Otro Pais - Escalas Africanas, CAAM , Las Palmas, 1994/95
  • Fundació La Caixa, Palma de Mallorca, 1994/95
  • Paula de la Virreina, Barcelona, ​​1994/95
  • Caribbean Visions, Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, 1995
  • Caribbean Visions, New Orleans Museum of Art, 1996
  • Dear Joseph , group show. National Museum and Art Gallery , Port of Spain, March 15, 2013 - March 15, 2014.

Selection of works

  • Conflict of Interest , 1987: Steel sculpture made from parts of a sewing machine and a gun.
  • La Ultima Sena , 1992: 9.15 m long and 3.66 m high wood and steel construction in the form of oversized chairs in the national colors of different countries.
  • Cane Harvest , 1987: wood and steel sculpture in chair shape.
  • Walking the dog , 1992: wood and steel sculpture in the form of a chest of drawers.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Other Journey: Africa and the Diaspora. Edited by the Kunsthalle Krems ( Simon Njami , Ulrike Davis-Sulikowski, Markus Mittringer). Holzhausens, Vienna, 1996. ISBN 3-900518-46-7 .
  2. ↑ a b Trinidad Express of August 17, 1987, p. 21
  3. ^ A b c Anne Walmsley & Stanley Greaves: Art in the Caribbean - An Introduction . New Beacon Books, London 2010, ISBN 978-1-873201-22-0 , pp. 34 .
  4. ↑ a b Trinidad Express, September 4, 1987, p. 19
  5. ^ Caribbean-Beat.com: The Year of Seville. Retrieved April 17, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Miami New Times, October 12, 1995. Retrieved July 25, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Wonder of the World (blog): King of conceptual art - Francisco Cabral 1980s. Retrieved March 21, 2020 .
  8. ^ The Sun, Aug. 27, 1987, p. 8
  9. ↑ Trinidad Guardian, April 7, 2013: Assessing the big picture in Dear Joseph. Retrieved February 28, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Cabral, Francisco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Trinidadian visual artist
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Port of Spain , Trinidad and Tobago