Reminiscence of the Island
The Map Series of Ibrahim Miranda
October 5 – 26, 2013
Exhibition View
Chi-Wen Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Cuban artist, Ibrahim Miranda. This map series is 15-years in the making, inspired by cartography and Chinese calligraphy, depicting the reminiscences and ghostly apparitions of the Islander in confrontation with history and modernity.
The initial process is to attach together six pages taken from an Atlas to form a large two meter scroll that acts as the canvas for his ideas. His concern with exploring Cuba’s history and geography shows in the mutated shapes of the island at different stages. Influenced by Cuban writer Jose Lezama Lima’s poem Noches Insulares; Jardines Invisibles, which depicts Cuba as “sleek and divided” and in a state of infinite metamorphosis.
“Matrix and Technique are two main elements. The former, being a map of Cuba, refers to the artist’s country of birth, while the latter is a woodcut process- the oldest known mode of technical reproduction.
Ibrahim Miranda is one of the participating artists in the group show, Dreams and Realities: Visions from Taiwan and Cuba of Post Cold War, which Chi-Wen Gallery presented at Art Basel in Hong Kong 2013. The show was to illustrate artists who experienced the end of Cold War from geographically distant points but within similar patterns, created by the flow of capital. Reminiscences of the Island is consistent with the above concept and selected 25 pieces of the map, providing different insight of Cuba, as what Ibrahim described: “I turn my Island into something that one never knows what exactly it is, because it experiences an endless metamorphosis…”
Ibrahim Miranda (b, 1969 in Pinar del Río)
Graduated from ISA in 1993. Among his most recent personal projects are: “Loop. Osvaldo Yero/ Ibrahim Miranda”, Galería 23 y 12, Havana, 2008; “Anamorfosis”, Havana Galerie, Zürich, 2007; “Contemporary Caribbean Art”, Brooklyn Museum, New York, 2007; “PrintedMatter Contemporary Works from GraphicStudio”, Emory University, Georgia, 2006; “Grabados Cubanos/Cuban Prints – Contemporary Visual Narratives”, Sydney Mishkin Gallery, New York, 2005. He currently lives and works in Havana.