
Andrew Moyo
Cuban artiste David Palacios will present his exhibition “Point of View” at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe on March 19.
The exhibition consists of a selection of several pieces from different periods of the artiste’s work made in three countries including Zimbabwe, Nigeria and the UK.
“These works belong to the general project called ‘Art-Report’, which includes works based on local and international reports, translated into different artistic media such as painting, drawing, photography and installation,” said Palacios.
“The work is presented as a general installation, where the pieces complement each other as part of the overarching project.
“There is a central protagonist installation made exclusively for the East Gallery. Other works like ‘Global Slavery Index’, ‘The Americas and Africa’ are existing works with an update as part of my work methodology, using national or international reports on an annual basis.”
“Art Report”, is the name of the project which he has been developing, the idea being to create a kind of visual news agency which, by using the tools of art explains and illustrates issues concerning social reality.
These issues fall into a number of different categories, including global economics, international investment, oil prices, spending on military defense, social issues and poverty levels.
“The idea of this multi-disciplinary experience is to reference the different parts of the arts ecology, such as galleries, museums, exhibitions or events, as a geographical area which underlies the way we live.
“Just like a work of art, we can understand and respond to these issues as both a social report which reveals itself to the viewer and as a subject of society in itself. ‘Art Report’ also sends reports by using all of today’s available channels of communication, such as the classic fax, email, or the regular post, and in doing so systematically enacts the functions of a so-called visual news agency.”
Palacios has showcased his work at various prestigious art fetes around the globe including the Lagos Biennial, the 48th Venice Biennale, African Artist Foundation in Nigeria, the National Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid, Americas Society Art Gallery in New York, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center in Havana and the Medellín Biennale in Colombia to name a few.