Esterio Segura, 1970 Cuba
Installation View, 2015.
Statement:
I’ve approached my work of the last twenty years as an investigative process that has been developing and revealing through projects that reflect on distinct themes, like the formative processes of culture in the Western Tropics where the eclectic and synthetic socio-cultural Cuban context was the point of departure of every artwork. From there arose projects like Mística del Resguardo and La Gozadera which emphasize eroticism mixed with political and religious fetishes that have influenced that same cultural formation (Karl Marx Makes Love to the Virgin of Cobre).
Goodbye my Love, 2012.
My art is my philosophy of life that I practice conscientiously: to transcend whatever space, culture or story, avoiding bonding myself to any determined aesthetic or specific representation. Every object of reflection runs the risk of becoming a work of art.
Enjoying Ideology, 2011.
On exhibition in 2015 in Museum of Latin American Art
Installation View, 2015.
MOLAA is proud to present the first solo U.S. museum exhibition of pioneering contemporary artist Esterio Segura. Based in Cuba, Segura creates work that addresses topics of commercialization, migration, censorship and cultural isolation viewed from a contemporary Cuban perspective. Utilizing a variety of media; from drawing and painting to sculpture, photography and installation, he reflects upon contemporary Cuban anxieties. Segura delivers his social critique with humor and satire, at times evoking controversy. Embracing pop culture, Afro-Cuban influences, religious iconography and eroticism, he celebrates the beauty and ingenuity of the island while challenging the absurdity of the barriers that isolate and separate its people.
Installation View, 2015.
Esterio Segura studied at the prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) of Cuba where he also taught professionally. He has had solo exhibitions in Havana, Berlin, London and New York, and has participated in group exhibitions in Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, London, Mexico and Spain. His works can be found in numerous museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Arizona State University Art Museum, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Cuba, Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York, the Latin American Art Museum of the University of Essex, and the Museum of Latin American Art.