Antonio Guerrero spokesman for change
By Heike Dempster
Antonio Guerrero sees his art as a mouthpiece that inspires change.
Influenced by the works of painters Matisse, Dalí and Chagall as well as authors Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Cortazar, Borges, and Faulkner, his art presents a distinct visual language.
Guerrero uses elements and influences as varied as ancient Egyptian art, imagery from the sumerian culture, tapestry from the middle Ages, avant-garde art, modern expressionism, as well as his own experiences to shape his unique personal voice.
This voice has been the root for much philosophical musing on behalf of the artist, who continues to grapple with its existence and the dilemma surrounding the innate characteristics of a personal language. How personal can it be without being private and elusive to the public? And if it is public, how personal cant the language be?
Guerrero ponders philosophical idea investigates topics like migration, courage, love, repression, pain, anxiety, and tragedy and uses his art as a vehicle to Explore and understand humanity at large as well as him self- development, which, in his eyes,”represent the greatest human struggle”.
Born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1968 and based in Miami Beach, Florida, Guerrero’s personal journey shapes his art profoundly and informs his subjects matter. Guerrero grew up under Castro regime in Cuba, was drafted into the army and deployed to fight in the Ethiopian War and, after returning to Cuba in 1988, secretly designed and built a raft to leave the island. After being lost at sea for five days, the artist and two others were rescued and started a new life in Miami.
Experiences of Cuba, migration and exile are all central to Guerreros’s work. «Marxist ideology and cultural repression have been barriers not only in my life,» says the artist, «They have been barriers for every Cuban. Personally, i found in my art not only refuge but a too to manage and crack that absurdity».
Guerrero’s paintings are not straightforward examinations of the Cuban experience though.
His knowledge of art history, literature and philosophy also have a strong bearing on his art and his works are ripe with historical and literary references. He allows often opposing ideas and visuals as well as conceptual components to meet on the canvas, thereby creating multi-layered narratives. Realistic and fantastical elements meet, and the contemporary world full of technology encounters colonial times in works that draw inspirations simultaneously from surrealism, fauvism and neo-expressionism.
Born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1968 and based in Miami Beach, Florida, Guerrero’s personal journey shapes his art profoundly and informs his subjects matter. Guerrero grew up under Castro regime in Cuba, was drafted into the army and deployed to fight in the Ethiopian War and, after returning to Cuba in 1988, secretly designed and built a raft to leave the island. After being lost at sea for five days, the artist and two others were rescued and started a new life in Miami.
Experiences of Cuba, migration and exile are all central to Guerreros’s work. «Marxist ideology and cultural repression have been barriers not only in my life,» says the artist, «They have been barriers for every Cuban. Personally, i found in my art not only refuge but a too to manage and crack that absurdity».
Guerrero’s paintings are not straightforward examinations of the Cuban experience though.
His knowledge of art history, literature and philosophy also have a strong bearing on his art and his works are ripe with historical and literary references. He allows often opposing ideas and visuals as well as conceptual components to meet on the canvas, thereby creating multi-layered narratives. Realistic and fantastical elements meet, and the contemporary world full of technology encounters colonial times in works that draw inspirations simultaneously from surrealism, fauvism and neo-expressionism.