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Anyone bemoaning the lack of debate-stirring art exhibits here should park their puckers over at Alonso Art, a place offering plenty to flap the gums about. “The Unconventional Drawing, Volume I,” burning up the walls tonight at 7:00 at Alonso Art, features nearly 300 provocative notebook-page-size drawings by Tomás Esson and Yamel Molerio that promise to stir a hornets’ nest. “Both their works are iconoclastic and irreverent,” says gallery director José Alonso. “Although these drawings are technically traditional, the artists use a witty approach for the end results, which are full of scatological references, sex, and wordplay that will hopefully generate debate among the public.”
In his series of ink-on-paper Cuban and American flags, Esson fuses images of androgynous beings, sporting exaggerated genitalia and coupling with each other, to form his version of the Stars and Stripes. One of his typical renderings of Old Glory gives the impression Americans live under the banner of a national clusterfuck.
Molerio, in an effort to deal with issues of being an “alien” in the United States and the fear of losing his native lingo, scrapes words and images onto the surface of black scratchboard in his series of literally depicted popular Cuban slang and sayings. “This is the first installment in a series of drawing shows we plan to do each year,” Alonso adds. “These artists conceptually complement each other. We hope they will get people talking about important issues.”
June 10-July 29
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