What moves you?
What are you passionate about?
How do you express it?There is a verse in Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” which defines these three questions rather well: “Well I am just a modern guy, Of course, I’ve had it in the ear before ‘Cause of a lust for life ‘Cause of a lust for life I got a lust for life.” Marco is just that type of man, a modern guy who is passionate about every second of his life… His passion flows through his strokes, sometimes gentle, sometimes strong, adding layers of textures to the depth of colors we find in his work. His work revolves around the introductory questions, opening a window of understanding his vantage point. He is moved by air he breathes, he is in a constant love affair with life, and his journey has not been an easy one… Yet, his paintings come to us with infectious optimism, and one can’t help to dive into his inner world of dreams and poetry, his life overture, described in colors. Choosing abstractionism as his form of expression allows his thought to permeate one’s mind, and feel his desire. Through abstract expressionism, his inner world is shared, and the gestural layered textures on the canvases reveal Marco as a deep fisherman who wants us to cast our lines as deep as his. Sensing our curiosity, Caridad intuitively wraps us in his surreal world, an area of degrees in light, never darkness, and not because he refuses darkness, but because he embraces it and turns it into a bright glare. Marco’s journey has begun, and he is welcoming us onto this, and the many other quests that are to come…
Rafa Muci | Curator | Visual Artist | Museographer & Architect
From April 19 to April 29, 2018, the public in Miami was able to enjoy the exhibition “Sense… feeling it or not” by the Miami-based Venezuelan-born artist Marco Caridad. During this opportunity, Caridad wanted the attendees to perceive art through all their senses.
For ten consecutive days, this solo exhibition featured Caridad’s latest work at the Art | Design Gallery “This exhibition proposed a 360-degree project, in which attendees not only enjoyed the paintings but will also have the opportunity to experience all the areas of art I make: audiovisual, installations, sculptures, and performance…” added Caridad.
The pieces by Caridad are full of contrasts that, according to the curator Rafael Muci, “portray coincidences and anecdotes that interpenetrate each other, designing a narrative thread of the artist’s life. In other words, it will be retrospective of his life and a journey into the future.” In his works, the Venezuelan artist uses representative elements of his daily life to give a distinctive touch to his canvases. Marco Caridad has stood out for a mixed technique where he integrates the residues of candles with acrylics, chalk, plaster, oil, coffee, and crayons, to create paintings with two-dimensional textures.
For the opening night, the award-winning dancer, with an artistic career in New York, Leonel Linares was performing interpretative dance performances based on the paintings of the exhibition. “The abstract movements of the dance will reflect the abstract traces of the paintings in the exhibition,” said Linares. Also, the days after the opening, the artist held abstract painting workshops and personalized tours for both young people and adults.
As part of the program, on Friday, April 20 and 27, there were the presentations of the play “The Marco Caridad’s Room” written by the playwright, actor, and producer Yonyi Gutiérrez, and interpreted by the President of the Centro Cultural Español, Julián Linares, and the Cuban-American actress Mel Gorham.
- Thanks to the Sponsors:
- TEAM enterprises
- Bacardí USA
- Peroni
- Art|Design Gallery
- Miami International University of Art and Design