Roberto Cortázar, one of the most accomplished and respected artists in Latin America, comes to Hong Kong for his first exhibition in Asia.
Presented by Puerta Roja, the pop-up exhibition will showcase recent works by the artist and feature a retrospective of some of the Mexican painter's iconic works. These include large format paintings lent by private collections not been seen in public since their museum exhibition. The show will mark the launch of his new series "Kinetic" ahead of his 2012 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.
“Kinetic” is an ambitious series of work that fuses Cortázar's characteristic two-dimensional classical paintings of the human figure with a three-dimensional postmodernist approach that creates a sense of unstoppable motion and abstract spatiality.
The exhibition, held at "The Space", is gathering significant attention as the quality and impact of Latin American art in the international art scene is more widely appreciated in Hong Kong. Adriana Alvarez-Nichol, curator of the exhibition and founder of Puerta Roja, the first dealer in Hong Kong dedicated to Latin art, comments: "It is very relevant to have Roberto Cortázar in this unprecedented solo show for a Mexican artist in Hong Kong. He has uncompromising academic rigour and dexterity but remains approachable. His unique juxtaposition of figurative and abstract techniques makes his work not only sought by museums but also appealing to a broad spectrum of collectors. I believe he brings a truly different discourse to the art scene in Hong Kong".
Edward M. Gomez, internationally recognized art critic contributor to Art News and The New York Times and avid follower of the artist, comments: "Cortázar, whose art is rooted in Mexico’s long, rich tradition of figurative image-making (a tradition that stretches back to its ancient civilizations), has never primarily been motivated by any theory or any aesthetic doctrines. Instead, the art-making language… has evolved out of his technical experiments as a painter and draftsman, and out of his investigation and assimilation of a variety of influences, from the economical, expressive lines of such modern masters as Picasso and Matisse to the figure altering techniques of Francis Bacon. Cortázar approaches and handles his materials in a way that is both elegant and visceral".
Despite tremendous commercial and international success and his attainment as one of Mexico's most collected artists, Cortázar drew himself from the commercial scene to focus on extremely ambitious academic projects with the National Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico. His Hong Kong exhibition will be the first opportunity for collectors to view his new works .
Mexico's Consul General to Hong Kong, Alicia Buenrostro Massieu, stated "Roberto Cortázar is one of Mexico's most prominent artists. We are delighted that Hong Kong's standing in the international art market is attracting exhibitions of this calibre and are happy to contribute to the richness and diversity of its art scene".
''I depict the human form, but I'm interested in it more abstractly, in the idea that we're not 'human' because we have bodies but because we are conscious of ourselves”
Roberto Cortázar
About the Artist
Roberto Cortázar’s concern with the human figure and his precise and classical rendering of it helped draw attention to his work since he graduated from the National School of the Arts in Mexico City in 1983. For his drawings, he won awards and grants which would foster the beginnings of one of the most distinctive artists in contemporary Latin American art. His 1990s works featuring bodies juxtaposed over a backdrop of symbolic segmentation would gain him notoriety in Mexico and the United States. World renowned Mexican Maestro Jose Luis Cuevas, writing about the young artist in 1995, noted "the skilled hand that was reminiscent of Da Vinci and Durer. His classical approach was and still is founded not only in remarkable technical dexterity of almost scientific precision, but driven by a deep interest in classical literature and philosophy; a true "renaissance" soul in contemporary art".
From this promising start, Roberto Cortázar has achieved both great artistic and academic impact, as well as commercial success. His first solo exhibition was in Mexico City at the young age of 21 was immediately followed by another solo show in New York. At the age of 27, he became a founding member of the Consultative Council for the Mexican National Foundation for Culture and the Arts and would later contribute to the restructuring of the academic plan of the National School of Fine Arts. By 2006 Roberto had exceeded over 100 exhibitions in galleries, museums and art fairs worldwide, where he had been sought after by international collectors and art lovers alike. He participated, amongst others, in Art Miami, every single year for over a decade, mostly in solo shows. His work is held by many public and private collections, including one of the very few living artists in "La Colección‟, the most important cultural heritage collection of Mexico curated by the National Institute of Fine Arts. Eugenio Lopez Alonso, the " Saatchi" of Latin America and one of the 20 largest contemporary art collectors in the world, bought a Cortázar as his first painting.
In 2006, Cortázar committed himself to major projects for three of the most important museums in Latin America. “Saturn and the Parricides”, presented by the Museo Amparo and the Museum of Contemporary Art, was inspired in Greek mythology and variations on the theme of Goya's “Saturn Devouring his Son”. In 2009, he was the first living artist invited by the Mexican National Museum of Art, MUNAL, to exhibit by rendering a reinterpretation of one of Mexico's greatest Masters: Orozco. For many critics and academics, Cortázar rooted himself within the history of Mexico’s best artists, by rediscovering one of the greatest known muralists amidst a post-modern world.
