Manuel Mendive: Things that Cannot Be Seen Any Other Way

This exhibition is a newly-produced, career-spanning overview while emphasizing the artist’s mature work. Whereas cubism and surrealism had been common among his predecessors, Mendive instead incorporates visual elements rooted in Lukumi/Yoruba visual traditions into his painting. The exhibition and publication trace Mendive’s drawing, painting, sculpture, and performances from the early 1960s to the present, giving special focus to discrete themes common across his work, including religion, nationalism, and memory. Mendive’s most significant work, which forms the central conceptual and physical focus of the project, are his 1960s and 1970s series “Yoruba Mythology” and “Middle Passage,” and his performances in the late 1980s, such as “La Vida.” Each series bears witness to both the time and place of its making, showing the artist’s growth and development, but also testifying to his deep commitment to Afro-Cuban culture and the art of painting in addition to his concerns around the nature of religion and its visual language.