Gallery

Artist's Statement

Santiago Rodriguez OLAZABAL

Artist's Statement;

"My work pays tribute and honors my ancestors. According to the Yoruba philosophical concepts the majority of these ancestors can reside among the creators of the Universe. During their anterior lives these beings’ crucial purpose of living was the efficient, cautious and discrete propagation of such an essential knowledge that it opened the mind and soul of generations of Cubans to the vital spirituality of Ifa and adoration of the Orisas. It is also a tribute to the men, women and children who came as slaves from various parts of Africa to our island bringing along with them their culture, adoration of their gods, their thought, their philosophy, their poetic of the oracles, the primordial metaphysical force inherent to their ceremonial rites, their way of conceiving the world and life within their cosmos, costumes, dances and music that along with their Creole offspring “black, white, mixed, all mixed” are only a part of our brief but deep sense of nationality. The spirits cohabitate with the primary energies that move through us and their only goal is to lead us on a double spiritual path: from and toward the fountain of life. These progenitors deserve the same deference than the ones that during the beginning of time were involved in the creation."  

Bio

Es también un elogio a los hombres, mujeres y niños que llegaron desde diferentes tierras de África a nuestra Isla, en la terrible condición de esclavos, trayendo consigo su cultura, la adoración a sus dioses, el pensamiento, la filosofía, el cuerpo poético de la geomancia de sus oráculos, la fuerza metafísica primordial que reside en sus ritos ceremoniales, el modo de concebir el mundo y la vida presentes en su cosmología, sus costumbres, danzas y música, que junto a su descendencia criolla, “negra, blanca mestiza, todos mezclados”, son sólo una parte de nuestra breve pero profunda nacionalidad. Espíritus que conviven junto a las energías primogénitas que nos alimentan y cuyo único propósito es conducirnos a un doble camino espiritual, desde y hacia la fuente de vida. Progenitores que merecen deferencia como aquellos que en el inicio de los tiempos estuvieron comprometidos con la creación." 

August 19th 2006  

Born in 1955 in Havana, Cuba. 

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS :: 

2008 Aeora El Ara Siega : Pinar Del Rio Gallery, Cuba 

2005 Onile, National Museum of Fine Arts. Havana. Cuba 

Ewe-Tete. La Casona Gallery. Havana. Cuba. 

La tercera puerta ( The third door), Centre Arte y Naturaleza. Madrid. Spain.  

2003 SCOPE Miami Art Fair Townhouse Hotel, Miami, USA with Galleries Intemporel and Bourbon Lally. 

2002 From the speech comes the image, Intemporel Gallery, Paris, France. 

1998 Santiago Rodriguez Olazabal, Galería 20X2, Arnhem, Holanda.  

SELECTED COLLECTIVE SHOWS : 

2008 Il Giallo di Napoli, (Naples yellow) Castel dell’ Oro, Naples, Italy 

National Black Fine Art Show, NY, USA, with Intemporel gallery 

ARCO Madrid, Spain, with la Casona gallery 

Embrace, Mason Murer gallery, Atlanta, USA, with Intemporel gallery. 

Confluencia Inside, Contemporary Cuban Art, Zapopan Museum of Art. Mexico 

Confluencia Inside, Contemporary Cuban Art , Estabal center, Baja California, Mexico 

2007 Infinite Island, Brooklyn Museum, NY, USA 

2006 Here and Now, Intemporel gallery, Paris, France. 

National Black Fine Art Show, Puck Building, New York, USA, With Intemporel gallery 

2005 Arteamericas 2005 Coconut Grove Convention Center. Miami, USA, with Intemporel gallery.  

Art Off The Main, Puck Building, NY, USA, with Intemporel gallery. 

2004 National Back Fine Art. Show. NY, USA, with Intemporel gallery. 

Scope New York Art Fair, NY, USA with Bourbon Lally and Intemporel galleries. 

Arteamericas 2004 Coconut Grove Convention Center. Miami, USA, with Bourbon Lally gallery. 

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