CESAR SANTOS FIRST NEW YORK SOLO EXHIBITION - SYNCRETISM AT ELEANOR ETTINGER GALLERY CHELSEA New York, NY October 27, 2011
Eleanor Ettinger Gallery is proud to announce the first New York one-man exhibition by Cuban American artist, Cesar Santos. The show entitled Syncretism is a collection of more than 20 new paintings that explore the future of contemporary realism as it evolves from contradictory genres of art.
In narratives that are ultimately more suggestive than literal, Santos paints the figure classically with unabashed beauty. His vocabulary however is not limited to the singular humanist approach but rather embraces - often in a tongue and cheek manner - movements that were in essence the enemy of the realist painter. In this way Santos says that contemporary representational art can accept that which almost destroyed the genre and triumph by outlasting and outwitting the contenders.
Re-inventing oneself in order to thrive in a new culture was a lesson learned by Santos as a twelve year old immigrant from Cuba to the US. This transformative journey would become the impetus in his work; his art - like his life - could travel from one reality to another, from genre to genre coexisting as two opposing philosophies. For Santos, the history of art would be neither a dictator nor an enemy. His is a satirist, a humorist and most significantly Santos is a magnificent painter who has much to say about the future of both realism and conceptualism.
Syncretism will be on view from October 27, 2011 and will run through December 3, 2011 at the Eleanor Ettinger Gallery Chelsea located at 511 West 25th Street. The gallery hours are: Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. , Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is open to the public. An opening reception will be held on October 27
th from 6 - 8 p.m.