Mariano: Variations on a Theme

Spanning almost six decades of artistic production, this retrospective features paintings, watercolors, and drawings on loan from leading private and institutional collections, including the artist’s estate, which has provided unprecedented access to rarely seen works and archival material.
Widely known simply as “Mariano,” the artist is regarded as one of the most important painters of the segunda vanguardia - the second generation of Cuban modernists who, in the 1940s and 1950s, used their work to construct and express their vision of the essence of Cuban national identity. Though best known for his variations on the theme of el gallo (the rooster), Mariano also embraced motifs such as peasants, fruit, vegetation, and marine subjects. In elaborating these subjects, Mariano adopted a variety of stylistic approaches, from figuration to geometric abstraction, abstract expressionism, and grotesque imagery. Through the grotesque he demonstrated a rich hybridization of form and styles, which signaled a new postmodern orientation in his work.
©2022 Pérez Art Museum Miami.
Mariano: Variations on a Theme is organized by the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, in collaboration with the Fundación Mariano Rodríguez. The exhibition has been curated by Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta with support from Boston College and the Patrons and the Latin American Art Initiative of the McMullen Museum. The presentation of the exhibition at Pérez Art Museum Miami is coordinated by PAMM's Andrew W. Mellon Caribbean Cultural Institute Coordinator Iberia Pérez González with PAMM's former Director of Curatorial Affairs and Chief Curator René Morales. Exhibition support from Ramón Cernuda and Nercys Ganem, Karen H. Bechtel and William T. Osborne, Maria Bechily and Scott Hodes, and JW Marriott Marquis Miami is gratefully acknowledged. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated, bilingual (English/Spanish) catalogue edited by Elizabeth Thompson Goizueta and published by the McMullen Museum.