CARRYING THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS : The art of Alejandro Mendoza and the Cuban religious tradition.

Alejandro Mendoza lives, and produces his art in Miami; not in his hometown: Havana. However, this space dislocation generates no differences in the Cuban distinctive features that permeate his work. American art collectors consider as “authentic” only those artistic works made inside the island. But Miami has become a true “reservoir” of Cuban culture inside America; a huge aircraft carrier ashore Biscayne Bay. Starting in 1980 with the massive arrival of “Marielitos”, this city in Florida – 45 minutes flight away from Havana- is no longer the winter beach resort for American retired citizens, and has eventually transformed into the second capital for Cubans.

Miami is also the final destination for over 10,000 Cubans that legally emigrate from the island to the United States every year. Newcomers change their vital expectations in a postmodern capitalist economy and bring new elements to the Cuban-hood that was transported by previous immigrant groups. Mixing the Calle 8 domino and arrozcongri (mixed black beans, and rice) at La Carreta restaurant with Oprah show, spiced with Mexican TV soap operas, broadcast by Televisa, and the every day hard work at Hialeah factories, Miami is becoming the most incredible cultural lab of the Cuban civilization at the dawn of the XXI century.

His cultural education has significantly marked Alejandro’s work. A new cultural movement began in Cuba in 1980 (later called Cuban Renaissance.) It was led by a small group of artists and supported by the Cuban critic Gerardo Mosquera, who exhibited the famous Volumen I show that eventually became a landmark in Cuban contemporary art history. By the end of the decade, the concepts driven by the New Cuban Art were widely spread among a great number of artists graduated from the Instituto Superior de Arte (Higher Art Institute), a state university that became the center of most innovative artistic proposals. Members of ephemeral art groups like Puré, ArteCalle, Grupo Provisional or Nudo, these young funny artists reintroduced the performance, the expressionism, the conceptualism, as responsive weapons to face the decorative and pleasing tone present in the Cuban art during the 70’s, and proposed a deconstructive art for those iconic rituals manufactured by the Cuban establishment for the mass. At the Instituto Superior Pedagógico (Higher Pedagogical Institute,) where he became a Visual Art Teacher (painting and sculpture) Mendoza (among other later artists as Pedro Vizcaíno, Armando Mariño, Pedro Alvarez, Alexis Esquivel) made close contact with the “radical” students from the Instituto Superior de Arte, and learned analytical teaching methods for creation that facilitated the recycling of images, taken from high or low sources, as the leitmotif of his work.

Alejandro has made use of the Cross as a visual pretext for six years now. But this peculiar quotation does not specially imply an intimate relation with catholic religion; it did not happen either with those artists commissioned by the church for the Counter Reform in the XVIII century. As a symbol, the Cross is definitely associated to a long period of universal history, but it is also connected to the Cuban history. With a sword and a Cross in both hands, exhausted after dissuasive discussions with his sailors, Christopher Columbus arrived to Cuban shores on October 12 th, 1492. There were also crosses hanging on the seed-made necklaces Fidel Castro’s barbudos (rebels) used to wear when they marveled all Cuba in 1959. Pope John Paul II waved a cross in his hand when he landed in Cuba in 1998, in a trip to reaffirm the catholic nature of the Cuban people.

All these contents may be associated to Mendoza’s works, but only in a partial approach. His wood Crosses are medium size format sculptures, with finish resembling, metals and other academics techniques. They are ready to be placed on the wall of a house, or a church…who knows…and their central part is a peculiar stage where no dramatic representations of saints’ images appear, but reproductions of objects coming from real world. A fine ironic accent in the titles of his works is combined with the surrealistic tradition of the found object, as Joseph Cornell, and Rauschenberg did in the American art. Unlike Chicanos artists that manipulate the Virgin of Guadalupe, and relate it to feminist approaches or current situation at Mexican communities in America, Mendoza’s crosses are not meant to cry, pray or bow in front of them. They are containers where the artist has placed questions that kindly challenge the spectator thoughts. It is a very particular way of reusing the most popular symbol of Christian religious art within a contemporary cultural proposal.

Mendoza’s work falls within one of the largest tradition of Cuban art: the religious theme. It dates back to the XVI century, with the work of Juan Camargo. While It became more visible during the XVIII century with the mulatto painter Nicolas de la Escalera, it seemed to vanish by the end of the XIX century, with the symbolist poetic trends and Art Noveau. However, recent research works (De la Fuente 2001) has traced the living nature of this topic in Cuban contemporary art. Since the 30’s with Fidelio Ponce, a mayor figure within the anti academic avant-guard movement, up to contemporary artists like Juan Francisco Elso, Bedia, Mendive, Carlos Estevez and Esterio Segura, the Cuban art records the presence of several religious believes: catholic, Yoruba, Jew, new ages; all of them integrated now in a public way to the Cuban spiritual life and with no atheistic or theological restrictions in the communist horizon. Together with these artists, Mendoza contributes to the new reality with a more universal vision of religions, less linked to orthodoxies and closer to common men.

Hemingway said: “A writer should perpetuate the place he best knows.” Mendoza’s crosses reenact the religious tradition of Cuban art, perpetuating this theme in his distinctive manner, inside the parameters of the contemporary art, while expressing –with irony and irreverence- the need for faith of the current man.

Abelardo Mena, La Havana, Dec. 2005 Curator at the National Museum of Fine Arts , Cuba
Master in Art History. Curator, Art Critic and Cuban Art Consultant

EDUCATION:
1987 National School of the Art and Graphics Design, Havana, Cuba
1992 ISPEJV, Higher Institute of the Art, Habana , Cuba

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2012 "The Last Emptiness", Coral Gables Museum, Anthony R. Abraham Family Gallery, Coral Gables, FL
2009 "Migrations", Domingo Padron Gallery, Coral Gables, FL
2008 "CROSS-ING CULTURES", Chico Art Center, Chico, CA
2007 ”CROSS-ING RENO ”, Sierra Arts Gallery, Sierra Arts Foundations, Reno, NV
2005 “CROSS-ING LAREDO ”, Laredo Center for the Arts, Goodman Gallery, Laredo, TX
2003 “Madre Dolores”, Casa Mobile ,Coral Gables , Miami, FL
2002 "Revelations", University of Central Florida Art Gallery, Orlando, FL
2000 “Con la Cruz Acuesta”, Freites-Revilla Gallery, Miami, FL
1999 “Bandeja de Tiburón”, ALPHA International Gallery, Miami, FL
- “Oraciones y engaños”, Rectangle Art Space, Miami, FL
1998 “embrando mi fé”, Casa Cultural de Cozumel, Q. Roo. México
1996 “La Isla” Maty Roca Galería, Cancún, Q.Roo, México
1995 “Andando por estas calles” Centro de Arte UDC, Galería La Capilla, Cordoba, V.C México
1992 “APOTEOSIS TROPICAL” Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba
1991 “HECHO EN CUBA” Galería, 23 Y 12, La Habana, Cuba
1990 “Lo Criollo Eres Tu”, Galería Casa Estudiantil El Castillito, ISPEJV. Habana , Cuba

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2012 - Art Naples, Projects Gallery, Naples, FL
- Art Wynwood, International Art Fair, Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami, FL
- Contemporary African Diaspora Memory in Motion. Nova Southeastern University, African Presence 2012, Ninth Annual Exhibition
- Miami International Art, SeaFair, Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami, FL
2011 - Sculpt Miami, Art Fair.Miami, FL
- Giants in the City, Bay Front Park, Miami Down Town. Public art Project, Miami, FL
- Red Dot Miami Art Fair, Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami, FL
- Pulse Art Fair, Kavachnina Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
- Art Toronto, Metro Toronto Convention Center, Projects Gallery, Toronto, Canada
- Mask, Juried Exhibition, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- The Collection I, artdealermiami, Private Collection Art show, Miami Beach, FL
- CAFE XII, Art Literature of the Cuban Diaspora, Curator: Leandro Soto, Sandgre de Cristo Art Center, CO
- Arte Americas, The Latin American Art Fair, IRREVERSIBLE Art Space, Miami Beach, FL
- Art Naples, International Art Fair, "Miami Wave", Naples, FL
- MIA ART FAIR, Miami Beach Convention Center, Kavachnina Contemporary and IRREVERSIBLE Art Space, Miami, FL
- “Factory IV”, Wynwood Exhibition Center & IRREVERSIBLE Art Space, Miami, FL
2010 - Red Dot, Miami Art Fair, Kavachnina Contemporary Art Gallery, Miami, FL
- “Giants in the City”, Miami International Book Fair, Public Art Project Guest, Miami, FL
- “Factory III”, Wynwood Exhibition Center & IRREVERSIBLE Art Space, Miami, FL
- “Factory II”, IRREVERSIBLE Art Space, Miami, FL
- “Past is History – Future is Mystery”, Freedom Tower MDC Art Gallery System. Miami FL
- “Suenos”, (Dreaming), Contemporary Latin American Art, Noyes Museum of Art, NJ
- “Factory I”, IRREVERSIBLE Art Space, Opening Group Show, Miami, FL
- FIART, International Art Fair, Palacio de Bellas Artes, St. Domingo, Dominican Republic, Giants in the City, Special Project Guess (Artist/Curator)
- GIANTS IN THE CITY, Inflatable Giants Sculptures, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Sculpture Garden Program, Miami Beach FL, (Artist / Curator)
- ARTEAMERICAS Art Fair, Miami Beach Convention Center, Haitian Art Relief Fund, Edouard Duval-Carrie Curator.
- ARTEAMERICAS Art Fair, Miami Beach Convention Center, Special Project Collaborations “UNTITLED” Monumental Installation, Curator: Norelkys Blazekovic (Artist: Leonel Matheu, Pablo Cano, Lucinda Linderman, Edouard Duval-Carrie, Alex Heria and Alejandro Mendoza)
- ARTEAMERICAS Art Fair, Miami Beach Convention Center, Giants in the City, Special Project Guess. FL
- Art Palm Beach, Art Fair, Project Collaboration, IRREVERSIBLE an International Art Project, West Palm Beach, FL
- MIA ART FAIR, Miami Beach Convention Center, Project Collaboration, IRREVERSIBLE an International Art Project, Miami, FL
- MIA ART FAIR, Miami Beach Convention Center, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- “Caribbean Canvas” Identity in an Era of Globalization, Multitude Art Gallery, Miami, FL
2009 - GIANTS IN THE CITY, Inflatable Giants Sculptures, BAYFRONT PARK, Miami-Dade Parks, Art Basel satellite exhibit, Miami FL (Artist / Curator)
- SUMMER SHOW, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
-  “IRREVERSIBLE 100 MOST” IRREVERSIBLE An International Art Project at CIFO Art Space, The Cisneros Fontanal Art Foundation, Exhibition Catalogue, Miami, FL
- AQUI ESTAMOS (HERE WE ARE): Curated by F. Lennox Campello , Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- ARTE AMERICAS 2009: Artist Selected for Monumental Sculpture Project. The Latin
American Art Fair. Miami Beach Convention Center, FL
- ARTE AMERICAS 2009, The Latin American Art Fair, Miami Beach Convention Center. FL
- THE MAKING OF GIANTS: “Giants in the City” exhibition Catalogue. ARTFORMZ Alternative Gallery, Wynwood Art District Miami, FL
2008 - BRIDGE ART FAIR, Miami, Projects Gallery, Miami, FL
- GIANTS IN THE CITY, Inflatable Giants Sculptures, BAYFRONT PARK, Miami-Dade Parks & Artformz, Art Basel satellite exhibit, Miami FL (Artist / Curator)
- No Easy Pieces, Artformz Alternative Gallery, Wynwood District, Miami, FL
- Diverse Works, Artformz Alternative Gallery, Wynwood District Miami, FL
2008 - “The Last Picture Show” ARTFORMZ Alternative Gallery, Miami, FL
- “Personal Jesus” Two person show Undecurrents Arts, Wynwood Art District, Miami FL.
2007 - “Sabores y Lenguas”. Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- “Identity in Progress”: Flight 19 Art Gallery, Tampa, FL
- “Cafe VII: The Journeys of Cuban Artist”, Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance Gallery at Arizona State University West, Phoenix, AZ
- “DEVIANT BEHAVIOR”, National Juried Exhibition, ARTFORMZ Alternative Gallery, Miami, FL
- Two person show ”Cuban Identity”: Religion, Philosophy and the Visual Arts”, Barry University. Miami Shore, FL
- “Laudable Latin’s”, Ormond Memorial Art Museum & Gardens, Ormond Beach, FL
- Group Show, Walkway Gallery, Lincoln Center, Fort Collins, CO
- “Obras”, Contemporary Latin American Artists, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006/07“It’s so UNFAIR”, ARTFORMZ Alternative Gallery, Miami, FL
2006 - IX Exposición de Arte Latinoamericano y del Caribe, Museum of the Americas and Broward Community College South Campus, Pembroke Pines, FL
- “CONVERGENCE !”, ARTFORMZ Alternative Gallery, Miami, FL
- “Black and White”, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.
- “Arte Sagrado 2006”, National Juried Exhibition (Curator’s Juror David Kroft and Eric Gibbons), Art Gallery at Concordia University at Austin, TX
- “Memory and Meditation” Robert A. Peck Art Gallery , Central Wyoming College , Riverton , WY
- “Rundgang”, International presentation and review portfolio projects, Staedelschule, Frankfurt , Germany
2005 “Sensuous Delights”, LoPressionism Gallery, Melbourne, FL
- “Open Show”, 201 Gallery, Laredo, TX - “Between Dimensions”, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- “Feed your senses“, INFUSION GALLERY, Los Angeles, CA
- “GABLES ARTIST”, PIAG Museum, Coral Gables, Miami, FL
2004 “The Spiritual VII ”, International Exhibition, PERIOD GALLERY, NE
- “Of Church and State”, 621 GALLERY, Tallahassee , FL
- “Nuevas Tendencias #14”, Museo Hispano Latinoamericano”, Miami, FL
2003 “Contemporary Latin Artist” Miami-Dade Community College . North Campus. Miami, FL
- “KUWANOS”, Museo Hispano Latinoamericano”. Miami, FL
- “Para los Prójimos”, Galería del Sol, Panamá City, Panamá
2002 “Conspirators”, ALPHA International Gallery, Miami, FL
- “Pure Media”, ALPHA International Gallery, Miami, FL
- “ FULL &FINE”, Casa Mobile, Coral Gable, Miami, FL
- “Art Miami, Palm Beach ”, FL
- “ SOHO International Art Competition”, Agora Gallery, New York, NY
2001 “Latin American Paintings”. Center for the Arts. Vero Beach, FL
- Feria Iberoamericana de Arte, Caracas, Venezuela
- “Arte Latin-o-.Americano”, Dos Lunas, NM
2000 “Tierra Adentro”, A.Cueto Gallery, San Juan, PR
- “Art Miami, Palm Beach ”, FL
- “Salon Int. De Verano” Museo Hispano Latinoamericano”. Miami, FL
1999 “OLD HAVANA”, Freites-Revilla Gallery, Miami, FL
1998 “El ARTE DE HACER”, Cuban/American art show, Ottawa, Canadá
1997 "The Temporary Contemporary Sculpture Show", The Arts Mall, Winter Park, FL
1996 “Arte Joven”, Calle 8, Miami, FL
1994 “Arte sin Frontera” Matty Roca Galería. Cancún, México.
1992 “Von Dort Aus: Kuba”, Ludwing Forum Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
- “BIG PAINTING” Sala Pequeña, Centro de Arte de Holguín, Cuba
- “DE FRENTE MARCHEN”,Centro de Arte Luz y Oficio, Havana, Cuba
1991 “Texto y Contexto” Galería la sala obscura, Holguín, Cuba
1990 “El Objeto Esculturado”Centro de Desarrollo de las Arte Visuales, Havana, Cuba
1989 “II Jornada Científica Pedagógica.Instituto Superior Pedagógico, Havana, Cuba
- “Buena Pintura”. Jaime Wash Fundation. Madrid . España
- “Made in Havana Goup Show”, Madrid , España

PRIZES AND AWARDS:
Grant Winner Miami DDA, Down Town Development Authority, 2011
Grant Winner Miami-Dade Community and Tourist Development Council Grants Program 2008, 2010, 2011
Grant winner Miami-Dade Division of Cultural Affairs Community Grant Program 2008, 2010, 2011
GIANTS IN THE CITY. Miami Premier Project. Founder Artist and Curator
Grant Winner The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Awarded a Knight Foundation Arts Partnership Grant 2008
Best Show 2006. IX Exposición de Arte Latinoamericano y del Caribe, Museum of the Americas and Broward Community College South Campus, Pembroke Pines, FL
Spiritual VII International Exhibition “High Standard of excellence”, USA.
SOHO International Art Competition, New York .USA Kansas City Artists Coalition's. USA
Mención de Honor Arte Joven, Universidad de las Américas, Puebla México
Mención Salón Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo Cubano. Centro Wilfredo Lam, Cuba
Premio Jornada Científica Pedagógica, ISPEJV, La Havana, Cuba

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Casa Estudiantil, El Castillito, ISPEJV, La Habana Cuba
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, La Habana, Cuba
Centro Wilfredo Lam, La Habana Cuba. Centro Cristiano “Los Escolapios”, Habana, Cuba
Santa Iglesia de la Virgen de Regla,, La Habana ,Cuba
Spainish Embassy, La Habana, Cuba
Museo del Chopo, UNAM , México, DF
Netherlands Embassy, México DF
Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, México
Museo de Arte Moderno, Chetumal, Q.Roo, México
Institución Financiera Bancomer Ciudad de Córdova, Veracruz, México
Hotel Fiesta Americana Cancún. Q.Roo
México Hotel Casa Turquesa, Cancún Q.Roo
México Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, México DF
Museo Hispano Latinoamericano, Miami, FL

CRITICS, REVIEWS AND RELATIVE LINKS:
INTRAMURAL LIGHT, Art Critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa (Art News)
CARRYING THE CROSS ON HIS SHOULDERS. The Art of Alejandro Mendoza and the Cuban religious tradition. Abelardo Mena, La Habana, Dec 2005. Curator at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Cuba. Art Critic and Cuban Art Consultant. (early work images)
IRREVERSIBLE Art Project Presents Art and Prejudice, a lecture with Art Critic Ricardo Pau-Llosa, 2011. By Jesus Manuel Rojas, Examiner.com
Art Naples Presents: Miami-Wave, 2011.By Leticia del Monte, The Cuban Art Project
IRREVERSIBLE, Art Basel Miami Beach, Limited Edition, 2010. IRREVERSIBLE An International Art Project
Giants in the City: They Came, We Saw, They Conquered, 2010. Written by Anne Tschida, Art Critic (Miami Art Guide)
Giants in the City, an itinerary project comes back to Miami for Art Basel 2010. By Jesus Manual Rojas, Examiner.com
IRREVERSIBLE Art Basel, Switzerland, Limited Edition, 2010. IRREVERSIBLE An International Art Project
Contemporary Latin American art is on display at the Noyes Museum of Art, 2010 (Atlantic City News)
Giant Inflatable Sculptures rinse in Miami Beach, by Davis Smiley, 2010. (The Miami Herald)
IRREVERSIBLE Art Basel Miami Beach, Limited Edition, 2009. IRREVERSIBLE An International Art Project
Sex Symbolism: Alejandro Mendoza invites viewers to "do something taboo", 2008. By Christine G.K. LaPado, Arts & Culture, News Review, CA.
Art in Public Places, Project Winner, 2008. (Art Daily)
Cross Country, Crossing Reno by Kat Kerlyn, 2007. (News & Review, CA)
Alejandro Mendoza Interview by Jorge J.E. Gracia, 2007. State University of New York at Buffalo
The Cuban Identity, 2007. Barry University, Miami Shore, FL