Wilfedo Lam is an artist every single person on earth should know. Galerie Gmurzynska was one of the galleries showing his work at Expo Chicago 2012.
This piece, Idolo, is oil and graphite on canvas and is a little darker in tone (and in fact) than many of Lam's other works. It was painted in 1954.
With an eye to Cubism, Surrealism, COBRA and other schools of the past century Lam brought something new and he tossed it right into the mix. The Cuban painter brought African and the Carribbean--in both form and color. But it has seemed to me, since I first became aware of the artist, that this is too simple an explanation of what he brought to the artistic table. It was something personal outside of the definitions we all seek to apply to artists. It was HIS art. It was HIS personal style, his psyche that made his work great. It wasn't simply that he was from Cuba and was friends with Picasso and Breton. You can, of course, say this about any artist but it is a rarity when anyone does.
See his work whenever you can. I suspect most of us cannot afford to own it!
This piece, Idolo, is oil and graphite on canvas and is a little darker in tone (and in fact) than many of Lam's other works. It was painted in 1954.
With an eye to Cubism, Surrealism, COBRA and other schools of the past century Lam brought something new and he tossed it right into the mix. The Cuban painter brought African and the Carribbean--in both form and color. But it has seemed to me, since I first became aware of the artist, that this is too simple an explanation of what he brought to the artistic table. It was something personal outside of the definitions we all seek to apply to artists. It was HIS art. It was HIS personal style, his psyche that made his work great. It wasn't simply that he was from Cuba and was friends with Picasso and Breton. You can, of course, say this about any artist but it is a rarity when anyone does.
See his work whenever you can. I suspect most of us cannot afford to own it!
Photos by Boyd C. Ogle II
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