misleidys castillo pedroso: casa cubana
curator: lucas djaou
Invited by the Galerie, Lucas Djaou, curator of the exhibition, has devised a two-stage display. Visitors discover Misleidys’ work through an immersive scenography evoking the artist’s universe. Since her discovery by the gallery, Misleidys’ work, acquired notably by the Centre Pompidou, has been shown in several international exhibitions, most recently at the Kunsthalle Wien.
In the sunny landscapes of the province of Havana stands a building with an ultramarine blue facade. Surrounded by lush nature and bathed in the sparkling reflections of the Caribbean Sea, this building is the home of the Castillo Pedroso family. On the third floor, offering a breathtaking view of this landscape, the white walls of the modest family apartment gradually become covered with an assembly of multicolored characters over time.
Misleidys Francisca Castillo Pedroso, returning home after being placed in a specialized institution, has turned this apartment into her place of creation. On her wooden table, facing the sea, she paints figures on paper, which she then cuts out and adorns with pieces of adhesive tape to decorate her walls. Beyond the bonds with her mother and brother, who are dear to her, these figures appear as a singular family with whom the artist, born with autism spectrum disorder, engages in silent conversations.
The first silhouettes take the form of bodybuilders, a probable tribute to Sergio Oliva, a bodybuilding legend and the first black man to win the Mr. Olympia title. Then come her series of animals, evoking those of island landscapes, wild pigs and boars, but also cows, probably in reference to Ubre Blanca, a popular bovine icon in Cuba. Dancers and conga players recall the carnival traditions of the island. Among the other recurring motifs are also maternity scenes, organs, and anatomies of the human body, probably observed in the textbooks of her younger brother, who is a doctor. Demonic figures, therianthropic creatures, and dreamlike hybrid beings are finally added to the curious assembly. The whole reveals the intimate mythology of the artist, imbued with her personal history and Cuban culture.
This staging for the Christian Berst gallery evokes the particular atmosphere of the place where Misleidys lived and created, highlighting the importance of this environment in her creative process. Born near Havana, Cuba, in 1985, Misleidys Francisca Castillo Pedroso now lives and works in Spain.
This Cuban artist has no other means of expression than that of her creation. The walls of her home, where she lives with her mother, are covered with drawings of bodybuilders, brown tape scattered along the outlines. A true community of men, women, hermaphrodites and wildlife, Misleidys has built her sociality through her work. Discovered by the gallery in 2014, she has been featured in more than 10 international exhibitions since 2018, including New Images of Man in Los Angeles, Flying High in Vienna, and Independent in New York. Acclaimed by Matthew Higgs and Karen Wong (New Museum, NYC), the artist has been the subject of recent reviews in the New York Times and Art in America.
A significant number of his works was donated to the Centre Pompidou collection in 2021.
catalog published for the exhibition
casa cubana misleidys castillo pedroso
curator: lucas djaou
from may 18th to june 15th, 2024
to get the catalog: click here