Name: CARLOS CÁRDENAS (b. 1962)
Brand: Luchar, resistir, vencer
Price: 42000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

CARLOS CÁRDENAS (b. 1962)
Luchar, resistir, vencer
signed and dated 'CARLOS R. CARDENAS, 1990-HABANA-CUBA', titled and numbered (on the reverse of each)
oil on canvas, in twenty parts
each: 39¹⁄₂ x 31⁵⁄₈ in. (100.3 x 80.5 cm.)
overall: 122¹⁄₂ x 267¹⁄₂ in. (311.2 x 679.4 cm.)
Painted in 1990.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner.

Bogotá, Colombia, Casa Luis López Mesa; Caracas, Venezuela, Museo de Bellas Artes; Flushing, New York, Queens Museum of Art; San Francisco, California, Center for the Arts; Lawrence, Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Ante América: Regarding América,1992-1994, p. 202 (illustrated, pp. 157-160).
Houston, Texas, Museum of Fina Arts; Minneapolis, Minnesota, Walker Art Center, Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950, March 2017-March 2018 (illustrated, pp. 370-371).

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Lot Essay

Among the protagonists of the critical, “demythifying” generation of Cuban artists that emerged in the 1990s, Cárdenas established a practice that continues to question the nature of systems and officialdom, reality and rationality. Currently based in New York, Cárdenas is represented in major collections, among them the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. Luchar, resistir, vencer recently featured in the major exhibition, Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art since 1950, which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 2017 and traveled to the Walker Art Center.

“Cárdenas has worked more from the point of view of the grotesque, and from carnivalesque scatology, in deconstructing political slogans” critic Gerardo Mosquera once explained. “His figuration, possessing a keen graphic sense, is usually structured from a meaningful juxtaposition between soft and hard geometrical forms.” Among his most iconic works is the twenty-canvas polyptych, Luchar, resistir, vencer, which illustrates its fidelista dictum in hard-edged block letters arranged across three rows. The text is overlaid with “the image of a character who keeps painfully introducing into his anus a map of the island of Cuba made of geometrical shapes like construction blocks,” Mosquera observed. “As the process advances, the character is revealed to be made of excrement. The artist painted an entire series of works in which the figuration seemed to be made of shit” (“The Infinite Island: Introduction to New Cuban Art,” Contemporary Art from Cuba: Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island, exh. cat., Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, 1999, pp. 27-28).

Abby McEwen, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College Park

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Condition report

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The condition of lots can vary widely and the nature of the lots sold means that they are unlikely to be in a perfect condition. Lots are sold in the condition they are in at the time of sale.

LUCHAR #1
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Slight soling noted along the left edge near center. Very minor circular craquelure noted along the upper right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

LUCHAR #2
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Slight stretcher bar mark noted along the upper edge. Minor soiling noted near upper left corner. Very minor circular craquelure noted along the upper right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

LUCHAR #3
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Slight soiling noted along the upper and left edges. Very minor circular craquelure noted along the upper right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

LUCHAR #4
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Slight handling marks noted along the left edge near lower corner, upper edge near right and right edge near upper corner. Very minor circular craquelure noted along the upper right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

LUCHAR #5
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Slight scattered soiling noted along the edge. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

LUCHAR #6
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #1
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight dent noted near lower edge along center. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #2
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight buckling and discoloration noted along the upper right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #3
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight discoloration noted along the upper right quadrant near center edge. Stray media noted along center of upper right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #4
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight dent noted along the right edge. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #5
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #6
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight rubbing of the medium noted along the upper edge. Very minor scattered dents noted along the lower left corner, upper right corner and horizontally along center. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #7
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight dents noted near upper left corner and lower right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

RESISTIR #8
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Slight discoloration noted along the lower right quadrant near upper center. Very minor abrasion noted along the lower left quadrant within the blue area. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

VENCER #1
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Very minor wear noted along the edges. Slight scattered dents noted throughout. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

VENCER #2
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Very slight buckling noted along lower left corner. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

VENCER #3
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Very minor wear noted along the edges. Two slight dents noted along the lower right quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

VENCER #4
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Very minor wear noted along the edges. Slight curved dent noted near upper edge. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

VENCER #5
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Very minor wear noted along the edges. Slight rubbing of the medium along lower left quadrant. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

VENCER #6
The work is in overall good and stable condition. Minor wear noted along the edges. Ultraviolet light examination reveals no repairs, tears or other condition issues. Painting is unlined.

Print Report