Mari Claudia García

Objeto utilizado para coaccionar durante…, 2011

Bronze, lead, wood, velvet and acrylic, variable dimensions


  • As a prime exponent of the minimalist and conceptual linguistic aesthetics in Cuban art, the sculptures of Mari Claudia excel among the creations of our best sculptors like Kcho, JEFF, Iván and Yoan Capote and Los Carpinteros.
  • El lenguaje, ya sea, verbal o textual, es una constante en las exploraciones artísticas que realiza Mari Claudia García. La palabra en su obra se convierte en objeto, los cuales hablan por sí solos y nos invitan a reflexionar sobre problemáticas que nos han acompañado durante toda nuestra existencia. La poética de Mari Claudia no tiene la intención de restituir la obra aureática, sino destacar un juego semántico que conecta objetos en la tradición del ready made, con significados textuales que complementan o pone en crisis el sentido natural del objeto.
  • Cuban contemporary art has become noticeable internationally at the hands of several artists like Kcho, JEFF, Iván and Yoan Capote, Los Carpinteros and the younger Mari Claudia.
  • In the work of Mari Claudia certain characteristics of contemporary art are shown, by making use of language with a view to the psychological, the axiological, and part of the cognitive.
  • Contemporary art conveys the attitudes and expressions of the people, in that way; Cuban visual artist Mari Claudia is a rather brilliant manipulator of processes that surround us day after day.

Objeto utilizado para coaccionar durante… (Object used to coerce during…) was exhibit in the group exhibitions: Sotto Voce at the Center for Visual Arts Development, 2011; Opening Show at Avistamientos Gallery, 2012 and in Lo inédito viable at the Higher Institute of Art during the 11th Havana Biennial, 2012. About this Mari Claudia’s artwork the art critic Magaly Espinosa quoted:

[…] The pieces that make up the series From consumption to communication and viceversa are identified by that combination of strength and fragility through different levels of meaning […].

[…] The various sense levels articulated in the piece serve to spread the message, a mixture of philosophical meditation and popular wisdom. Hence, among text, physical object and title, a balance is established, condensing meanings not exhausted in the physical presence of the object.

That same path is followed in the piece Objeto utilizado para coaccionar durante… (Object used to coerce during…), showing an engraved inscription divided into two objects representing brass knuckles. The text reads: Una voz clara no puede competir con una fuerte (“A clear voice cannot compete with a loud voice”). A sharp member of the audience will recognize the artist is setting a trap, for the logic of a maxim will always reaffirm moral values, and this is not happening with what we are being presented. The original phrase comes from the Chinese thinker Confucius: “A loud voice cannot compete with a clear voice, even if it’s a whisper.” When altering the phrase, Mari Claudia puts it in tune with what the brass knuckles represent, the physical strength confirmed by reason, because the object carries with it a phrase deviating any illusion of being heard. The voice has been silenced from its very physical senses come into play, including one which has been demonstrated many times: how the latter can be devastated by the former, and much to its regret, this would not mean a triumph of strength, but evidence of its weakness […]. 1

 

1. Magaly Espinosa, “Mari Claudia García: Weakness and Strength.” CdeCuba.