YOAN CAPOTE: SEE ESCAPES: Curated by Joachim Pissarro
“For Cubans the sea represents a double isolation, geographic as well as political. To this day people are not free to leave the island country, which has been embroiled in an ideological struggle with its powerful neighbour, the U.S., for more than 60 years. Thousands of Cubans have died trying to cross in precarious, overcrowded vessels the relatively short stretch of sea that separates the island from the coast of Florida. Hence, a seascape can be also understood as the barrier that keeps people imprisoned against their will, choppy waters becoming the ominous image of a graveyard.” - Yoan Capote
Ben Brown Fine Arts is delighted to present SEE ESCAPES, an exhibition of new works by Cuban artist Yoan Capote, curated by esteemed art historian Joachim Pissarro. SEE ESCAPES is deeply rooted in the context of Capote’s upbringing in Cuba, an island marked by profound historical and geographical circumstances. Influenced by the tumultuous legacy of the Cold War era and the pervasive uncertainty about the future, his work reflects the societal tensions and ideological confrontations of his surroundings. Capote draws inspiration from myriad art historical movements, from the awe-inspiring landscapes and seascapes of Romantic painters Caspar David Friedrich, John Constable, and J.M.W Turner, to the rough materiality of the Arte Povera movement. Through his work, Capote offers a reflection of society's complexities and a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
Exploring a spectrum of themes through an emotional lens, SEE ESCAPES presents a progression in Capote's practice, presenting his most recent series Purificación, Aguas Territoriales, Sentimientos Encontrados, and Family Portraits to a London audience for the first time, alongside works from the artist’s celebrated Isla and Palangre series. Intricately intertwined with the traumatic socio-political landscape of the artist’s upbringing in Cuba, SEE ESCAPES expands Capote’s iconic seascapes towards a wider, global spectrum of reflection, as the artist explores themes of migration and borders, life and death, hope and tragedy, and the interplay between control and freedom of expression. Capote finds solace in the process of art making, using it as a means to transcend his reality, all while prompting profound contemplation on the human experience and societal dynamics within his work.
