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The thousand and one Martha ...

The new exhibition of Martha Jimenez constitutes much more than the revisit to a past form of making art in Camaguey. Perhaps, it will surprise the fact that this is her first exhibition of engravings, although it is certainly not a manifestation unexplored by her. And here is one of the questions that I want to present, it is not a ceramist or painter who now also engraves; but of a creator who, in her natural expressive search, notices the pertinent request of her work in seeking new discursive languages.

Among the benefits offered by the engraving to Martha, distinguishes as a preferential feature, the possibility of obtaining multiple copies of the same image, as infinite prints that defy, in my opinion, the debated correlate of the originality of the work of art . The thousand reproductions that can be made of each matrix are more than nothing, a metaphor of self-expression of someone with enough sagacity and talent to bet on the revaluation of the engraving, not as a means but as a destination in this part of the island.

With the same loyalty to their themes, Martha is able to complement this incursion with a deep reflection on the feminine and the society from an intimate perspective, sometimes domestic. Her images continue to have the virtue of transmitting intact the freshness of everyday life, elevating each scene to the quality of a ceremony of exquisite popular imagery.

 


By: Lic. Maydelin Leiva Delgado
MSc. Latinoamerican Culture
Curator, galerist and art critic
February 2012