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In the United
States freedom of speech is nearly an inalienable right,
perhaps ad nauseam given the accessibility of the
Internet and its myriad avenues in which to voice said
expressions. Most of us would be hard-pressed to fathom
having this right revoked, let alone suffer consequences
for communicating adverse opinions. Granted, we are not
total strangers to artistic curtailing or censorship,
thank you Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani, but in the
big picture, our hindrances are mild.
In 1990, Cuban-born artist Angel Delgado was imprisoned
for a performance art piece in which he defecated on a
Cuban Communist newspaper. Although expressed in a
private gallery, word of his act traveled beyond the
white walls, which lead to his incarceration. Despite
the despicable penalty of this act, Delgado's
incarceration was not entirely bereft of personal
achievement.
Prisoners are striped of individual identity, and their
limited amenities and provisions are reminders of
eradicated freedom. While imprisoned, Delgado was
permitted only the most basic items: soap, sheets,
handkerchiefs, and requisite clothing. However dismal
this array of accouterments was, under the tutelage of
fellow prisoners Delgado adapted by making the most of
what was given to him and transformed these objects into
a newfound artistic idiom. Delgado repurposed their form
and function into artworks and imagery that served as
autobiographical statements while encompassing wider
issues of self-determination and subjugation.
Límite continuo/Continuous Limit, Delgado's first solo
show in the United States, is a continuum of the work
forged in prison and maintains the angst of confinement
and thwarted rebellion against oppression. Comprised of
soap sculptures and mixed-media drawings rendered on
prison bed sheets and handkerchiefs, the body of work
asserts the personal pathos of his predicament yet
extends beyond the private. There is an overarching
fastidiousness and stoicism to Delgado's art that
fortifies its effectiveness; perhaps it is an extension
of mandated orderliness and absence of personal control
in prison and under a restrictive regime, or an
assertion of regained dominion.
Delgado's Continuous Limit series on handkerchiefs
depict the outlines of a generic any-man, or perhaps
no-man, against a clear blue sky crossed by razor wire
or engaged in a futile battle against icons of
detention. They are voiceless vehicles and hollow
silhouettes -- Citizens X, Y, or Z -- and their only
distinguishing characteristics are their costumes --
prison garb, suits, or street clothes. If allowed to
supersede the established boundaries of their compact
presentation, there is a sense that these images would
be suited for large-scale, political graffiti art that
could fully exploit their intention.
By comparison, the drawings on sheets offer a more
disquieting intimacy. The sheets have been used by the
prisoners, and the stains and discolorations -- the only
tangible evidence of a human being -- work in fluid
tandem with Delgado's distilled imagery to create an
eerie energy that is an integral aspect of the work's
success and complexity. In Untitled 3 (from the
horizontal series), the sum total of an individual is
relegated to a careful arrangement of items of clothing
and presages the show's most poignant display of the
metaphoric dismemberment of personage.
The leitmotif of separation is also evident in his Serie
Memorias acumuladas soap sculptures in which naturally
mated objects become estranged. Individually cast and
confined in bars of generic soap, car keys (access to
mobility) are divided from their key chains and screws
are released from their attending nuts. Only the literal
act of cleansing will release their stymied utility and
allow them to serve their original purpose. As with the
handkerchiefs, they are arranged in rows and grids, and
the quality of repetition again emphasizes a lack of
distinction resulting from oppressive order.
While the work is engendered by the artist's personal
circumstances, inferences to general life are present.
When scrutinized for its obligatory minutia, life can
inadvertently possess aspects of perfunctory repetition
and in turn hinder individualization. Delgado's work
begs the comparison of acquiescence or compliance and
subjugation under regulation.
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