“The entire work of this extraordinary artist may be read as a vast existential metaphor, the relationship of man with life in a universal scale. Fabelo seems to shout to us that mankind needs delirious dreams to shake it and awake from the nightmarish reality in which it lethargically lives. Mankind may continue inhabiting a circle of hell or (…) build a plural, ecumenical and harmonic society in which the most possible utopic harmony would reign. For that he uses the codes of art”?art critic and investigator Rafael Acosta de Arriba recently wrote for La Gaceta de Cuba.
Fabelo, tireless, worked this year 2017 for two events that attracted much attention on his work.
On May 6 he opened a personal exhibition in Rome, which had as seat the Palace of the Chancellery, the first renaissance palace of that city, declared Heritage of UNESCO. Nowadays that space continues to be an enclave of the Holy See, since it shelters the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Distributed in four halls of the Palace, Fabelo showed drawings on paper, and metal, drawings on printed paper, acrylics on embroidered silk and oils on canvas with a large format.
Italian art critic Luciano Caprile, functionaries of the Holy See and of the Cuban Embassy in Rome were present at the opening, which took place in the Vasari Hall, thus named because of the immense mural by Giorgio Vasari which is there, made in a hundred days only. The cocktail of the exhibition was held in the Magna Hall of the Palace where, as a curious fact, Italian scientist Galileo Galilei appeared on April 1633 before the Holy Office.
A little later, that same month, the Venice Biennial, one of the most important events for art in the world, was inaugurated. And Fabelo was chosen by the team of curators of the Cuban pavilion, headed by José Manuel Noceda, to integrate a group show of artists of several generations and expressions, representatives of the best of present Cuban art. In this case he shows an installation of four towers of metallic boilers, intervened and drawn, which undoubtedly is one of the most spectacular pieces inside the exhibition.
Sala Magna of the Palazzo della Cancelleria.
Fabelo spoke during the presentation of his solo show, Persistencia, accompanied by art critic Luciano Caprile, curator Eriberto Bettini and officials of the Embassy of Cuba and the Holy See.
Fabelo signing catalogs during his solo show. Palazzo de la Cancilleria. Rome .
Fabelo being interviewed by TV2000 of the Vatican during his solo show. Palazzo de la Cancilleria. Rome.
Sala Magna of the Palazzo della Cancelleria where the cocktail of the exhibition took place.
From left to right: Luciano Caprile, art critic in charge of the exhibition catalog essay, Roberto Fabelo and Mario José Hernández, artist's manager.
A little later, that same month, the Venice Biennial, one of the most important events for art in the world, was inaugurated. And Fabelo was chosen by the team of curators of the Cuban pavilion, headed by José Manuel Noceda, to integrate a group show of artists of several generations and expressions, representatives of the best of present Cuban art. In this case he shows an installation of four towers of metallic boilers, intervened and drawn, which undoubtedly is one of the most spectacular pieces inside the exhibition.
Memorias / Instalación / Pabellón de Cuba / 57ma Bienal internacional de Venecia.
From left to right: José Manuel Noceda, art critic and curator of the Cuban Pavilion, Fabelo, Jorge Fernández, director of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba and curator of the exhibition, and Mario José Hernández, artist's manager. Loredan Palace, Venice.
We imagine him, those days, preparing this significant amount of pieces, centered in creation, from the silence of his studio. In words by Rafael Acosta de Arriba for another recent text:
Entering into Roberto Fabelo’s studio is as transposing the doors that give way to a very particular and suggestive ambit, a sort of Noah’s Ark where the most varied and humble objects rest (or boil) and coexist with the beautiful paintings concluded or in process, as well as the graceful and beautiful sculptures of feminine bodies. It is the secret and sacred temple of the artist, a space that in itself is a work of art: it is the place of art.
For the inauguration of the Cultural Center of Pompano Beach, Florida, also in May, the curator Isabel María Pérez conceived a collective project that also included the work of Fabelo. The exhibition was entitled Shipwreck of Reason, and the selected works dealt with topics such as memory, identity, body and portrait, territory and landscape and the construction of history.
Meditación de Remedios, 2012 / Acrylic on embroidered silk / 53 1/2 x 39 1/3 in.
A few days later, on June 8, the collective exhibition On the Horizon: Contemporary Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, curated by Tobias Ostrander, opened at the Perez Art Museum Miami, PAMM. Internal Landscapes is the title of the show that starts the project, which will continue with Abstracting History and Domestic Anxiety. On the Horizon aims to highlight the significant contribution made to the Museum by Mr. Jorge Pérez, the institution's main patron and avid collector of Cuban art. 120 pieces of previous and recent donations were selected, as well as new acquisitions of the Museum. Two pieces by Fabelo are exhibited: the canvas Mujeres de Cien Años de Soledad, 2007, and the engraving on metal pot titled Caldosa # 1, 2015.
Pérez Art Museum Miami, PAMM, during the collective exhibition On the Horizon. From left to right: Jorge Pérez, Roberto Fabelo y Mario José Hernández.
And in relation to the art fairs and the auctions, in the spring he participates, with CernudaArte, in Dallas Art Fair and Art New York, as well as the sale in the edition of May of Christie's. A piece of the series Pequeño Teatro, dated 1996, 80.7 x 95.9 cm, reached the barrier of the six figures. In September he will participate, also with CernudaArte, in Expo Chicago 2017.
0bra de Fabelo subastada en Christies New York en el mes de mayo de la serie Pequeño teatro.