Mabel Poblet

Mabel Poblet
Born	1986 Cienfuegos, Cuba
🏳️ Nationality	Cuban
Other names	Mabel Poblet Pujol
💼 Occupation	Artist
Known for	Multimedia works

Cuban Contemporary Artist

Mabel Poblet (Mabel Poblet Pujol) is a female Cuban artist (born 1986 in Cienfuegos, Cuba) who attended the National Academy of Fine Arts, her works across several different medias that deal with the personal experiences and relationships of the artist. Poblet works with photography and fiber arts as well as aspects of performance to create her works. Poblet works a lot in self-portraiture using photographs she takes of herself and then adding different artistic components that result in dynamic pieces. Poblet’s work has been exhibited internationally and she had the honor of representing her entire country at the 2017 Venice Biennale.

Inspiration

Mabel Poblet takes inspiration from the Pop Art movement which can be seen in her works of photography. The style may be reminiscent of Pop Art but the themes of her work are often tied to life, death and time. The color red is seen a lot in her work because of the associations she has made between the color and life and death. The subjects all relate back to the personal life of the artist though as she sees her work as a way to reconnect with the self-identification we gain through memories and experiences. She examines the way memories and experiences change and morph through time, what can get lost and what we must go searching for and how memory and forgetfulness have a didactic relationship. Another theme that Poblet often features in her work is the entire experience of being a Cuban, particularly a Cuban woman.

She examines the way memories and experiences change and morph through time, what can get lost and what we must go searching for and how memory and forgetfulness have a didactic relationship. Poblet talks often about how time works, how as it goes on new memories are made while others are forgotten, one taking the place of the other. She seems very interested in how that relationship creates our identities, from what we remember and what we don’t.

Reunificación Familiar

At her exhibit that was collateral to the 11th Havana Biennial in 2012 her show was entitled “Reunificación Familiar” or “Family Reunification”. Of course the name makes it clear that this show would focus on the roots of the artist but, much different than her works of photography and self-portraiture, this was an installation show that was far more ephemeral. One of the pieces in it was a simple house frame made from see through panels. On the walls of the house the artist put family pictures, some normal and some distorted. Several of the photos were posted in the negative giving a spooky quality to the otherwise normal residential scenes. Although there is currently no material on the inspirations or intended messages of this show there are some deductions I have taken from it. The fact that the artist included both regular photos and their negatives is a clear continuation of her overall theme of dichotomies. The use of photos in both forms show how there are two sides to everything and what you see isn’t always the full picture. Also to put these photos and negatives on the structural walls of the house could be a reference to the different way a family looks and acts inside and outside of closed doors. This piece is accompanied by almost diptych and triptych looking see through panels with more photos and negatives on each.

Simplemente Bellas

In one of Poblet’s recent works “Simplemente Bellas” which translates to “simply beautiful” in English comments on the resilience of women throughout the daily struggles of life and the tiny battles and pains that they go through just because they are women. This is one of Poblet’s works that we know has an undertone and theme of feminism because in the many interviews the artist has done about the piece she strictly states it. Other than this work Poblet doesn’t work very outwardly with the subject of feminism. A lot of Poblet’s work deal with imagery of the female body but it is her body but it is her body in works of self-portraiture. Poblet is making works about her own experiences in her own body but in a way that makes it relatable to men, women and everything in between. Her works isn’t about gender it is about the shared core experiences of being a human.

Poblet’s work features bright red plastic flowers that have been mounted to what looks like bike wheels. The wheels are powered by four motors that allow the flowers to spin, creating then destroying the portrait of the artist. This aspect of the work relates back to the artists common theme of memory and forgetting. As one thing is made, a new memory or a new image, something else is destroyed or it takes the place of something else. Poblet found inspiration for her red flowers from a trip that she took to a women’s detention center. While she was there she met a group of female inmates who spent time making these plastic flowers. The artist saw them as kitsch and she also appreciated the fact that this practice allowed for the inmates to take part in creative expression. The work of the artist also comments on the kitsch nature of the flowers, the piece goes from a portrait made out of these pieces to an abstract work as it moves through its cycle. This questions what is kitsch because even the artist sees the flowers as kitsch but when they are incorporated into the bigger picture it becomes high art.

Recent Exhibitions:

Cuban Pavilion 2017 Venice Biennale

"Buoyancy" July 2017-October 2017 (traveling work)

Havana 12th Biennale 2015

"Two Steps Forward: Contemporary Cuban Art" April 29-June 4 2015

Education

National Academy of Fine Arts (San Alejandro School) Instituto Superior de Arte

External Links

http://galleryongreene.com/marbel-poblet/

http://ministryofnomads.com/artists-archive/cuba/mabel-poblet/

http://www.mabelpobletstudio.com/web/

References

This article "Mabel Poblet" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Mabel Poblet. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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