About the Body

The human body in the artist’s vision is the theme that announces the new exhibition of two artists sharing the space of the Zapata Gallery. This is almost a casual encounter between Vladimir Sagols and Rubén Rodríguez. Both have in common the risk of making art as a way of existing and subsisting, like the discipline of the craftsman, as a means of self-sustenance, from contrasting spaces: Rubén, after years of living and working in Europe, now lives in Miami, while Sagols lives and works in Havana, a city that nourishes the universe of his characters and his painting.

These two painters, who have the background of engraving and screen printing in their favor, utilize graphic techniques that positively influence the pictorial quality and craftsmanship of both. The constant of organic lines and chromatic contrast define Rubén's style, while the complex textures and composition of bodies mark Sagols' unmistakable way of painting.

The human body is the leitmotif of both artists' work. However, they approach the human figure, especially the female figure, in very different ways. Rubén synthesizes improbable forms of bodies through line and suggests a latent eroticism of almost abstract beings with the contours of his stroke. In contrast, Sagols, in his perfect and unfinished figures, allows spectral bodies to express a state of mind that often suggests a melancholic introspection.

"About the Body" is a fortunate coincidence of two artists who celebrate the human body through its representation with all its multiple emotional, sensory, psychological, and cultural meanings, because each body is unique and unrepeatable as a form of existence, just as the paintings are infused with the gesture and emotion of Rubén Rodríguez and Vladimir Sagols.

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