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Navigating the Art, an Ocean Apart

Common Waters: An Ocean Apart

One look at this exhibition makes it clear why Cuban art is especially hot right now.

Against the backdrop of Cuban politics, Americans are likely to imagine Cuban art as heavily censored and perhaps even propagandistic. To the contrary, gallery owner Sheila Giolitti feels that "visual artists are allowed much more freedom of expression than, say, writers are. The government receives a great deal of revenue from the sale of their art, which, were it censored, would not have such a huge impact on the world art market. Typically artists enjoy a higher standard of living than the average Cuban, and the government puts a lot into promoting them both within Cuba and internationally—which I think is in great part responsible for the success that Cuban artists are enjoying today."

So if not pro-government propaganda, then what?

The black-and-white photography of Marta Maria Perez Bravo is well-represented by a piece from the Echu series entitled Echu Playing. Profoundly influenced by Santeria and Palo Monte, most of her symbolic and often figurative images appear mysterious and devotional. Echu is the Santeria messenger god who opens doors and roads. But he is also a mischievous trickster. In her series, Bravo captures his dual and complex nature. Echu Playing depicts a hand, fingers outstretched, to which are attached what appear to be five plumb lines. The meaning is ambiguous. Yet, religious and philosophical metaphors abound, as plumb lines are believed to be oriented directly toward the Earth’s center of gravity.

Aimee Garcia Marrero possesses incredible range as an artist, often incorporating non-traditional materials into her highly symbolic, yet realistically painted and sometimes constructed work. Juego de Roles (Role Games) is a large and striking painting of a little girl’s body juxtaposed against a broad, neutral expanse. Covering her head is a band of images that reads like a filmstrip. The portrait of a female cartoon idol is depicted in each frame, as though the young girl was trying on different personas in order to decide who she wants to be when she grows up. This statement about the influence of popular culture on children—with its concomitant gender stereotyping and its limited cast of role models—is both comic and poignant, not to mention beautifully painted.

The black-and-white photographs of Cirenaica Moreira, with their witty and wry titles, are feminine and frightening, sensual and sinister. The artist herself is the protagonist in her sexually, psychologically, and culturally ambiguous images, heavily influenced by her background in the performing arts. Actress, costumes and props coalesce to create a kind of magical and metaphorical realism, infused with vintage nostalgia that paradoxically evokes a bygone era while being thoroughly contemporary.

A highly diverse artist, Sandra Ramos works as a painter, printmaker and installation/ video artist. Pieces like La Maldita Circumstancia del Agua Por Todas Partes (The Damned Circumstance of Being Surrounded by Water) and Icaro (Icarus) seem to be metaphors for life in Cuba. In the former, the image of a woman is outstretched to resemble the shape of the island nation. Arising from her body are stylized palm trees with red trunks that resemble darts. In the latter, a falling figure, partially outlined in fiery red, plummets toward a band of blue water as a commercial passenger jet passes overhead. According to the myth of Icarus, his father, Daedalus, was a talented artist who attempted to escape imprisonment on his own island nation of Crete. He fashioned wings made of wax and feathers for himself and Icarus. But the boy fell from the sky, despite being warned not to fly too near the sun.

All of the work in this exhibition—as complex as the nature of water itself—is evocative, poetic and ripe for interpretation.

Assuming you don’t consider Hooters a big draw (pun intended), there is once again after, oh, a decade or so, a good reason to visit Norfolk’s Waterside. The recently opened Mayer Fine Art is the real deal—a sleek gallery space without even so much as a sideline framing business.

With no offense intended to other Waterside merchants, the gallery appears about as much out of place as Prada at a picnic. Yet Norfolk artist and owner Sheila Giolitti seems fond of her fellow tenants and glad to be launching her new venture in its current location, saying the space "had the best bones for a gallery."

Named after the owner’s grandparents, Mayer Fine Art sits adjacent to the pedestrian bridge across Waterside Drive. A large interior wall of black slat board anchors the light-filled space with its two interior and one exterior wall of windows. Stained concrete floors, soaring ceilings, exposed ductwork and suspended track lighting provide an understated industrio-hip vibe. Giolitti designed three tall, white cubes on casters, each with a door on one end, as ingenious dual display and storage solutions. A glass and chrome desk, silver laptop, black leather desk chair and pair of nubby charcoal gray upholstered side chairs complete the look, which manages to avoid competing with the artwork while lending an air of sophistication.

When asked about why she decided to open a gallery, especially now, Giolitti jokes that she hit mid-life and lost her mind. In reality, though, she seems very clear about her goals: to show the best local artists and to "inject a little new blood" with "new and exciting work." And from where does she intend to find the latter?

Far from coming into this business cold, Giolitti explains that she has made many valuable contacts as an artist prominent on the outdoor show circuit. "You’d be surprised how many collectors scout them," she notes. And she feels that the brand of elitism that disparages outdoor artists and their work is misplaced. As she observes about outsider art and the sought-after museum artists, "The idea that you have to be untrained or conceptual leaves a huge gulf."

In addition to drawing on her current contacts, she plans to make new ones at some of the hot art fairs. For starters, she has already been accepted into AAF (Affordable Art Fair) in NYC and the Santa Fe Art Fair. The existence of Mayer Fine Art was helpful in getting a foot in the door because, as she explains, fair organizers seem to favor applicants who own "a brick and mortar gallery."

At the present time, Giolitti plans to mount approximately nine shows annually at her Waterside location. If Common Waters is any indication of what lies on the horizon, contemporary art devotees won’t want to miss a single one, not only to see the art, but to engage with this knowledgeable, insightful and articulate gallery owner.