The Gallery Mayha took pleasure in opening "ESPEJISMOS DE ALCOBA". This Ernesto Ferriol exhibition displayed nine drawings of his new series. All works on paper in medium and large size, revealing the artist new visions on reality through the perspective of dreams and illusions.
Gallery Mayha is located in Takatsuki city, Osaka prefecture. This one-week exhibition was held as part of a cultural program intended to show the work of young contemporary artists. Event time: (2010.3.11(thu)- 3.16(tue).
ESPEJISMOS DE ALCOBA
Since Ernesto Ferriol arrived in Japan in February 2003, the artist has created a volume of works that are in fact, a peculiar contribution to the present Cuban art. Ferriol is essentially a draughtsman .He is inheritor of the great Cuban masters of drawing, from Armando Menocal to Servando Cabrera Moreno. He has confirmed his passion adopting a profound devotion to this technique. For Him :"Drawing is Thought". At this worthy moment of his career ,without a shadow of a doubt, we welcome him as a young master in the field, as a genuine poet of the shape.
By expelling from his horizon other pictorial techniques, Ferriol has adopted the medium of watercolor to his personal process of creation, now enriched by using several methods taken from the Oriental Art. A very rich language of expression has come out of this fusion. Ferriol gives free rein to his visions creating an imagery that never divorce from already established painting traditions. With regard to image representation his work is connected to Realism as well as Symbolism , with a peculiar sensitivity to fantastical Art. The artist is creating his own imaginary world, bringing elements from Japanese art to his Cuban cultural wealth. But not only from Oriental Art , because He finds inspiration in the Henri Fuseli's nightmares , in Redon or Alfred Kubin 's visions as well as the erotic art by Hokusai ,Utamaro or those sketches made by Akira Kurosawa for his films. Another element in connection with the Asian culture is the preference to paper instead of canvas, giving this a singular character to his work. Besides he likes drawing his works by series, generally using a defined central theme. By looking closely at these series the beholder will note that his drawings work as mirages or pieces of wishful thinking built always by heart creating poetic, dirty and ambiguous worlds under the spell in the future time. Perhaps because of that, political meanings in his works become contaminated with a perverse eroticism. "Beauty" reappears in the middle of a decadent scenario, sometimes mysterious. Ferriol plays the role of a "seer", and from that position he dares to go through all kind of walls, even those bullet-proof. Defeating watchfulness, doors, bolts and secret codes he can see through the forbidden bedrooms in which these sort of scenes are revealed to him.
On the other hand we should remark the very personal use of humor that typify Ferriol' s works. His sense of humor is very Cuban and universal at the same time. He makes use of allusions pointing out to topics and situations really tough sometimes. With regard to the topics related to human sexuality, his works avoid pure pornography due to his deep interest in human weakness and because of a careful selection of the elements giving shape to the scene by the use of color and excellent drawing. His works although are not completely apocalyptic, they seem to forebode a chaotic world created by human irrationality.
- Martin Garrido . "ESPEJISMOS DE ALCOBA". Gallery Mayha, Japan, 2010.
