René Francisco

René Francisco (Havana, 1969) is one of the contemporary Cuban artists of greater national and international recognition. After graduating at the Superior Institute of Art (ISA), the author begins to work in duo with Eduardo Ponjuán developing a prolific creative work which lasted until 1997. Once started his solo career, René Francisco betted on conscious reflections on the state and the fate of art and became an artist concerned about its social inclusion and its capacity to transform reality. His great versatility excels not only to the interior of the artistic medium where he has dabbled in painting, installation, video art or art object; but also as a man of culture, since René Francisco also works as a professor, manager, cultural promoter, curator… His is, without any doubt, one of the essential names in Cuban art and therefore he received the National Visual Arts Award in 2013.

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018

  • Deuda, La Acacia Gallery, Havana

2016

  • Asthma, Galería Habana, Havana

2014

  • A dónde vamos, Collage Habana Gallery, Havana

2008

  • Historias cruzadas, PanAmerican ArtProjects, Miami

2006

  • Patio de Nin, Collateral to the 9th Havana Biennial, Miramar Trade Center, Havana

2005

  • Lista de espera, Nina Menocal Gallery, Mexico D. F.
  • Pasta cortada, M.A. Contemporary Gallery, Berlin
  • Trabajo social (Collateral exhibition of the Matanzas Art Salon), Matanzas Art Provincial Center, Matanzas, Cuba

2003

  • Cositas sueltas, Wiepersdorf Castle, Germany
  • Ca(sz)a persona beuys, Photographic Gallery Käthe Kollwitz, Berlin
  • Ajuste de cuentas, Collateral to the 8th Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana

2002

  • Todo uso es un abuso, Casa de las Américas, Havana
  • Abajo René Francisco, 106 Gallery, Austin, Texas

2000

  • Humano demasiado humano, Herzliya Residence Gallery, Tel Aviv

1999

  • Tubosutra, Galería Habana, Havana

1997

  • Autorretratos (With Antonio Eligio (Tonel) and Eduardo Ponjuán), Or Gallery, Vancouver

1996

  • Call Malevich (With Eduardo Ponjuán), Kunshtalle Düsseldorf, Dusseldorf; Kunshtalle Kunstverein, Lingen, Germany
  • El cumpleaños de Malevich, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana

1994

  • Vuelo (With Eduardo Ponjuán), Ifa-Galerie Friedrichstrasse, Berlin
  • Muestra del mes (With Eduardo Ponjuán), Espacio Aglutinador, Havana

1993

  • Arte y confort (With Eduardo Ponjuán), Nina Menocal Gallery, Mexico D. F.

1992

  • Ven y dame una mano, 23 y 12 Gallery, Havana

1989

  • Artista melodramático (With Eduardo Ponjuán), Castillo de La Real Fuerza, Havana

1988

  • Lectura II (With Eduardo Ponjuán), Plastic Arts and Design Provincial Center, Havana

1985

  • Confluencias, Pinar del Río Art Center, Pinar del Río, Cuba; Alex Urquiola Gallery, Holguín, Cuba

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019

  • Líneas discontinuas, Galería Habana, Havana

2008

  • Cartografías de una isla de ultramar, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
  • Lugares comunes. La experiencia colectiva en el video latinoamericano, José Guerrero Center, Granada, Spain
  • Territorios. Arte latinoamericano contemporáneo, Castle of Otranto, Otranto, Italy
  • Post it City. Ciudades ocasionales, Barcelona

2007

  • Nuevas tecnologías. Espacios de arte contemporáneo, Salamanca University, Spain
  • Balelatina 2007, Basel Foundation, Basel
  • Killing Time (2nd edition of Lista de espera. Tiempo y proceso en el arte cubano contemporáneo), Exit Art, New York

2006

  • Lista de espera. Tiempo y proceso en el arte cubano contemporáneo, Mestna Gallery, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Rising Stars: North Latin Americans, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami
  • Art Forum, Nina Menocal Gallery, Berlin
  • Del otro lado del Atlántico, Nuno Sacramento Gallery, Aveiro, Portugal
  • Fast Forward, Fresa y Chocolate Cultural Center, Havana
  • Ciudades internas: Habana-Berlin, Collateral to the 9th Havana Biennial, Plastic Arts and Design Provincial Center, Havana
  • La huella múltiple, Collateral to the 9th Havana Biennial, Saint Francis of Assisi Convent, Havana

2004

  • Just On Time, Galería Habana, Havana
  • Unknown Sister, Unknown Brother, Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany
  • Escalar montañas hermana hombres, Workshop Réne Francisco with KiT and KhiT, Bergen, Norway
  • New Installations. Artists in Residence: Cuba, Mattress Factory, Pittsburg
  • ARTCOLOGNE, Refugium Gallery, Cologne

2003

  • Sentido común, Galería Habana, Havana
  • Maneras de inventarse una sonrisa, Center for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV), Havana
  • Art Basel, Miami
  • 4D (Proyecto Rain), Cuba Pavilion, Havana

2002

  • With Eyes of Stone and Water, Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki
  • Overtures Uber Wasser, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

2001

  • Transform: 8 artistas en Trieste, Trieste
  • Cuba contemporánea (DUPP Gallery), Contemporary Art Museum (MAC), Brazil
  • Hello Cuba Breaking Barries, Tallahassee
  • Homenaje a San Francisco (With Felipe Dulzaides), San Francisco

2000

  • Havana Nagila: Cuba-Israel Dialogue, Chelouche Gallery of Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv
  • Forum Internacional de Escultura CODEMA, Havana
  • El prestamista y el deudor, Superior Institute of Art (ISA), Havana
  • Desde un pensar abstraído (DUPP Gallery), Galería Habana, Havana

1999

  • Big River, National Museum, Trinidad and Tobago
  • 48th Venice Biennial, Italy
  • Arte cubano más allá del papel, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana

1998

  • Ironía y supervivencia en la isla utópica, Museum of Fine Arts, Arizona
  • La dirección de la mirada, Zurich
  • El Regreso de Joseph Beuys, I Festival de Performance Ana Mendieta, Havana

1997

  • Taller de reparaciones, 6th Havana Biennial, Havana
  • 1 ra Bienal Iberoamericana, Lima, Peru
  • Utopian Territories: New Arts from Cuba, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, British Columbian University, Vancouver
  • Reviva la ReVoltaire, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich
  • Joseph Beuys, 7 días en Holguín, Holguín, Cuba

1996

  • ARCO’96, Juan Carlos I Showground, Madrid
  • A dentro-A fuera, Walter Phillips Gallery, Canada
  • Malevi bobo, papá bobo, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana

1995

  • ARCO’95, Juan Carlos I Showground, Madrid
  • Una de cada clase, National Center of Conservation, Restoration and Museology (CENCREM), Havana

1994

  • Sueño, arte y mercado, Collateral to the 6th Havana Biennial, Fortress San Carlos de la Cabaña, Havana
  • El objeto esculturado, Center for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV), Havana

1992

  • Avantgarde & Kampangne, Cultural Center of Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf
  • Von Dort aus: Kuba, Ludwig Forum for the International Culture, Aachen
  • La época prodigiosa, Chopo University Museum, Mexico D. F.

1990

  • El objeto esculturado, Center for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV), Havana

1988

  • No es solo lo que ves, Arts and Letters Faculty, Havana University, Havana

1988/1987

  • La plástica cubana se dedica al baseball (Collective Performance), José A. Echevarría Social Center, Havana

1987

  • Si salgo llego… (With Francisco Lastra), Fototeca de Cuba, Havana

 

AWARDS

2013

  • National Award of Plastic Arts, Cuba

2008

  • Order for the National Education

2001

  • Honorary Doctorate Fine Art, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco

2000

  • Award UNESCO (DUPP Gallery), 7th Havana Biennial, Havana