A journey from the Amazon to the heart of contemporary art.

From the Amazon to the Heart of Contemporary Art.

Would you believe it, Ariadna? The Minotaur scarcely defended himself.

(The House of Asterión. Jorge Luis Borges)

Imagine a world where we all have the same problems but we call them differently. Imagine, thousands of people calling the same God by different names and undertaking deeds in his honor. Imagine having the same concerns as the ancient inhabitants of Ethiopia or the current Machiguengas of the Urubamba River basin. Welcome to the world we live in. Fleites’ work is a world in which the same stories are recovered again and again and intertwined, no matter how much Artificial Intelligence we may be training at this moment, at the core of this human is that same human who asked the Sun for better harvests.

A vision of Art, from the perspective of Cultural Anthropology

Ella Lawson

Art Critic and Curator, Specialist in Cuban Studies. Resident in New York.

Art in Miami

Contemporary Art Miami

I present the work of Fermin Fleites, a vision of Art, from the perspective of Cultural Anthropology, from the barbarism of Culture itself. A journey of discovery that began in a forgotten place in the Insular Caribbean, passing through the Peruvian Amazon, to reach The Melting Pot of today’s America.
In his work, you can find experiences interacting with different cultural groups with the estrangement of the visitor who arrives, and with the difficulty of the child who does not know how to read and is locked in a library where all the books tell a story and he must find out what story it is. Because in the end all stories are the same story.
You can find a deep respect for “techne” and the habit of drawing everything, perhaps inspired by the Andean shamans who resist being photographed because it stops them. You will also be part of an original time where the past and the future are just nuances of a continuous present that is nowhere.

Art and Anthropology

The Story of Another Fight Against Demons

Thus, citing some examples, “Story of a Fight against Demons,” a charcoal drawing inspired by the story of a town that decides to move its church from its location (the coast) due to frequent attacks by demons, without knowing that by moving it they were carrying the demons with them, because they carried them inside. Then we have “The Winner” based on the figure of the Ram and its founding character in the majority of cultural narratives, known to our species and supported on one of the sleepers of the railway track promoted by Flagler since New York to Havana and which was partially swept away by the Great Hurricane of Labor Day of 1935. Or “The Three Marys,” a series of photographs based on three mothers: One who is 102 years old, one who is 33 years old and one who is 13 years old. All these works mark cycles that open and close on themselves.

The Three Marys

Photography in Plexiglass

What comes into your hands is a kind of travel log of someone who watches us retrace the same cycle of time over and over again. A kind of visual memory of memories, interspersed with symbols.
I invite you to immerse yourself in this Universe of events with crossed times where it is not strange to end at the beginning and where there is nothing but stories, hundreds of stories and interwoven stories.

The Labyrinth

Compiling stories will always have an implicit share of arrogance, since you run the risk of leaving out important details. Intertwining them, on the other hand, will always allow you to move as if inside a labyrinth where for each route that comes to an end, hundreds of other routes unfold. And that is the spirit with which I would like you to look at this work, with the certainty that to understand it you will have to take hold of your own ball and enter the labyrinth.

Fermín Fleites' artistic odyssey serves as a testament to the profound interaction between art, anthropology, and cultural identity: a tapestry woven with threads of tradition, modernity, and human connections that transcend geographic borders.

SPANISH VERSION

El viaje de Fermín Fleites desde el amazonas al corazón del arte contemporáneo.

El viaje de Fermín Fleites al corazón del arte contemporáneo ofrece una visión única de la combinación de tendencias del arte contemporáneo, artistas y sus historias, y la profunda conexión entre el arte y la antropología. La exploración de Fleites, resumida en su laberíntico trabajo, se extiende desde 1998 hasta 2024 y profundiza en la antropología cultural, inspirada en su trabajo de investigación y tesis que lo llevó desde los Andes hasta las selvas y ciudades del Perú. Este período estuvo marcado por una búsqueda para comprender la folklorización de grupos humanos en medio de las influencias culturales del cine y la música globales, revelando patrones de resiliencia cultural y el realismo mágico que impregna la vida cotidiana en estas comunidades.

El acercamiento de Fleites a sus materiales y a las historias.

En el ámbito del arte y la antropología, el enfoque de Fleites hacia sus materiales y las historias detrás de sus obras resumen la esencia del intercambio y la memoria. La tradición del trueque en las comunidades que visitó y el intercambio simbólico de artículos que llevan consigo la esencia del donante reflejan una comprensión antropológica más profunda de cómo las culturas preservan su identidad y narrativas a través del arte. Su serie “Mataperros” y sus exploraciones sobre la sabiduría de Ifá, así como sus representaciones de entidades del panteón yoruba, ilustran aún más el sincretismo y el rico tapiz de creencias que forman su trabajo.

El recorrido artístico de Fermín Fleites a través de “Del viaje del Camino de las Velas” ofrece una profunda reflexión sobre las tendencias del arte contemporáneo, destacando el papel de los artistas contemporáneos como narradores y antropólogos. Su trabajo, profundamente arraigado en la exploración de la identidad cultural y el poder narrativo del arte, continúa resonando dentro del vibrante contexto de Contemporary Art Miami, ofreciendo una ventana al alma de las comunidades y la magia duradera de sus historias.

Se parte hoy de nuestras comunidad!

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A journey from the Amazon to the heart of contemporary art.

From the Amazon to the Heart of Contemporary Art.

Would you believe it, Ariadna? The Minotaur scarcely defended himself.

(The House of Asterión. Jorge Luis Borges)

Table of Contents

A vision of Art, from the perspective of Cultural Anthropology

Ella Lawson

Art in Miami

Contemporary Art Miami

Art and Anthropology

Art and Anthropology

The Story of Another Fight Against Demons

The Three Marys

Photography in Plexiglass

The Labyrinth

Fermín Fleites' artistic odyssey serves as a testament to the profound interaction between art, anthropology, and cultural identity: a tapestry woven with threads of tradition, modernity, and human connections that transcend geographic borders.

SPANISH VERSION

El viaje de Fermín Fleites desde el amazonas al corazón del arte contemporáneo.

El acercamiento de Fleites a sus materiales y a las historias.

Se parte hoy de nuestras comunidad!

CONTACT US