The Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas is working diligently to finalize Converging Plateaus and Stubborn, exhibitions set to open next Friday as part of the ArtEd Connect program in collaboration with the University of Miami (UM). Converging Plateaus presents to the audience the works of a diverse group of Fine Arts students, while Stubborn features a new series by the renowned ceramicist and professor Carlos Enrique Prado, who is showcasing his second solo exhibition at the Museum. The museum closely follows the work of emerging talents from the local art education scene.
Part of the MoCAA team visited the studios at the University of Miami last Friday to appreciate firsthand the work of the student artists who will be exhibiting from June 14 in the Museum's temporary gallery. Leonardo Rodriguez, founder and president of the Board, engaged with the students and thoroughly explored the concepts underpinning each of their artistic productions. The team, overall, was impressed by the achievements of this unique group, whose poetics, though formally diverse, converge in experimentation, the critical analysis of major contemporary issues, and above all, the exploration of their inner worlds, their relationship with the social environment, and their interaction with the political and cultural actors of today.
On Saturday, June 8, Zuyi Jin, Alian Martínez Rives, Monia Meluzzi, and Lucas Varnum began setting up Converging Plateaus under the guidance of Professor Carlos Enrique Prado and Jorge Rodriguez Diez, the chief curator of MoCAA. During the process, students and team members had the opportunity to delve into their shared methodological approaches and aspirations. They expressed heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity MoCAA has provided them to share their latest artistic discoveries with the South Florida audience—both the museum's regular visitors and the local artists who frequently attend its openings.
Significant progress was also made in the setup and finalization of Stubborn, the solo exhibition by ceramic artist and professor Carlos Enrique Prado. This entirely new series focuses on recycling iconic representations of the human figure in art, particularly from the ancient Greco-Roman tradition, which has become integral to Western aesthetic paradigms. As a Cuban artist living in the United States, Prado often finds himself perceived as "the other," distanced from Western culture. However, he also views Western culture as "the other" from his perspective. When he incorporates Western European influences into his work, a unique sense of detachment allows him to strip them of their sacrality and imbue them with new meanings appropriate to the context. For example, in the piece Void, the multiple fragmented images of the Discobolus are turned black, challenging the legacy of whiteness that has shaped our cultural values.
