“Painting is a thing of the mind. My realism is not nature, or landscape, or still life, but the psychological world.”
– Agustín Fernández
Meet
Clea Fernández
Leading a panel discussion about the first
comprehensive study of her father’s work
Agustín Fernández:
The Metamorphosis of Experience
(Abrams, $75)
With guest panelists:
JOEY PEREZ-GURRI
RAFAEL MIYAR
CARLOS LUNA
JULIETA VALS
| Tuesday, May 7, 8pm Books & Books, Coral Gables |
At the time of his death in 2006, Agustín Fernandez ranked among Cuba’s most outstanding artists. Defying simple categorization, today his work is most recognizable for its ambiguous and precariously balanced forms, erotic overtones, surreal juxtapositions, and metallic palette. In 1980 Brian de Palma’s film Dressed to Kill famously included one of the artist’s paintings, launching him into the public arena.
Agustin Fernandez: The Metamorphosis of Experience is the first comprehensive study of Fernandez’s work, which has been exhibited and collected in major museums and private collections throughout Europe, the United States, and Latin America.
Tonight, the artist’s daughter, Clea Fernandez, who together with her brother runs the Agustín Fernandez Foundation in New York City, will be joined by the key members of the Miami committee that launched the book project, for a conversation on the “making of” this extraordinary book. The discussion will later be opened up to anyone in the audience who would like to share thoughts and observations about the artist and his work, including friends and art collectors.
About the Artist:
AGUSTIN FERNANDEZ (1928-2006), one of the most recognized Cuban artists of his generation, spent much of his life outside Cuba—an exile that would have a formative impact on the independent and international context in which his work is understood. He lived in Paris and Puerto Rico before settling in New York City in the mid 1970s. His work has been internationally exhibited and acclaimed, and can be found in 30 collections around the world, including the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
About the Foundation:
The Agustín Fernández Foundation was established in 2006 by the family of the artist. The foundation promotes the work and legacy of Agustín Fernández through scholarship, exhibitions, and publications. It also holds a database of the work he produced, an archive of the artist’s writings, and critical material written about his work. For more details see www.agustinfernandez.net