Antonio Eligio Fernández “Tonel” è un artista indipendente, critico d’arte e curatore. Si è laureato in Storia dell’Arte all’Università dell’Avana nel 1982. Ha insegnato al San Francisco Art Institute, California, nel 2001, ed è stato artista/insegnante in visita al Centro di Studi Latinoamericani e al Dipartimento di Arte e Storia dell’Arte della Stanford University, California, dal 2001 al 2003. I suoi articoli e saggi sull’arte contemporanea cubana e latinoamericana sono frequentemente pubblicati in cataloghi, riviste e libri a Cuba e all’estero. Le sue opere si trovano nelle collezioni del Museo Nazionale di Belle Arti dell’Avana, Cuba; il Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst di Aachen, Germania; il Van Reekum Museum di Apeldoorn, Paesi Bassi; la Daros Collection di Zurigo, Svizzera; il Dipartimento di Belle Arti della Northumbria University di Newcastle upon Tyne, Regno Unito; la Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; l’Arizona State University Museum di Tempe, Arizona; il Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; il Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art dell’Università del Texas, Austin, Texas, tra le altre istituzioni. Tonel ha ricevuto la Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities (1997-1998), con residenza all’Università del Texas, Austin, e la John S. Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for Painting and Installation Art (1995). Ha ricevuto il premio per la critica d’arte dalla sezione cubana dell’Associazione internazionale dei critici d’arte (AICA) nel 1988. Nel 2003 ha ricevuto il Cuban Artists Fund Award (New York, USA). Attualmente vive a Vancouver, Canada, dove si concentra sulla sua pratica come artista visivo e scrittore, e insegna disegno e pittura al Dipartimento di Storia dell’Arte, Arte Visiva e Teoria dell’Università della British Columbia, Canada.
Nelle opere di Tonel il corpo umano (cubano) sembra prendere coscienza dei propri odori e fluidi, con un’intensità sensoriale irresistibile. A differenza di alcuni suoi compatrioti, Tonel non è interessato a decostruire le narrazioni storiche. È un esploratore viscerale che si avventura in territori che sono tabù nell’arte, fissando il suo sguardo su momenti quotidiani e insignificanti.
A differenza di alcuni artisti contemporanei, che congelano istanti della loro vita incorporando oggetti reali nelle loro opere, Tonel impiega lo stesso strumento antico usato dagli artisti arcaici di Lascaux e Altamira: la semplicità della linea. È una traccia essenziale che definisce i confini, i limiti, della carta, e si proietta nello spazio tridimensionale attraverso schizzi di sculture e installazioni. In questo modo, Tonel dimostra l’integrità e la complessità del suo pensiero concettuale, un pozzo inesauribile da cui “estrae” le sue opere, che vengono poi concretizzate in vari formati man mano che trova soluzioni tecniche che lo soddisfano.
Tonel (Antonio Eligio Fernández) si è laureato con una laurea (Licenciatura) in Storia dell’Arte presso la Facultad de Artes y Letras, L’Università dell’Avana, Cuba nel 1982.
La sua ultima mostra personale intitolata The Journey (Talking Walls) ha aperto nel dicembre 2012 a Factoría Habana Center for Contemporary Art, all’Avana, Cuba. Le sue mostre personali più recenti includono Nothing to Learn, alla Galería Habana, Havana (2010); The Parts Of Me That Sweat The Most When I Get Nervous, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in collaborazione con Walter C. Koerner Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Cosmos. Feeling the pull of gravity, Chelsea Gallery, Miami, U.S.A. (2009); e Some information is now available, Teck Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
Negli ultimi anni ha contribuito alle seguenti mostre collettive: La Biennale di Berlino (2014), La perversión de lo clásico: anarquía de los relatos, Padiglione Cubano, 55a Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, Italia (2013); Las metáforas del cambio, Factoría Habana, L’Avana, Cuba (2012); The End of Money, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Olanda (2011); Story Book / Story Board (Libro de cuentos), Sala Naos, Santander, Spagna (2010), e Cuba. Arte e storia dal 1868 a oggi, Groninger Museum, Groningen, Paesi Bassi (2009) e Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada (2008).
Ha insegnato al San Francisco Art Institute (Community Education Program, 2001) ed è stato artista e docente in visita al Center for Latin American Studies e al Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University (2001-03).
Tra i suoi progetti come curatore, nel 1990 ha co-curato Kuba o.k. alla Stadtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germania. Nel 2004 ha co-curato Rogue Nations. Artisti cubani e cinesi al MACLA, San Jose, California. Attualmente è co-curatore di una mostra di arte contemporanea dell’Avana che aprirà alla Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery nel gennaio 2014.
La sua ultima mostra “Attieniti al soggetto. (Opere 1973 – 2018)”, al Museo Nazionale (Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes), all’Avana, Cuba, dicembre 2018 – febbraio 2019.
I suoi articoli e saggi sull’arte contemporanea cubana e latinoamericana sono stati pubblicati regolarmente in cataloghi, riviste e libri.
Tonel (Antonio Eligio Fernández)
EDUCATION
1977-1982 Licenciatura in Art History, Universidad de La Habana, Facultad de Artes y Letras, Havana, Cuba.
SELECTED Solo Exhibitions
2021 (Upcoming) Between the Moon and a Golf Ball. Massimo Ligreggi Gallery, Catania, Italy.
2018-2019 Ajústate al tema [Stick to the Subject]. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
2015 Commerce. (A parallel exhibition to the 12th Havana Biennial). Rubén Martínez Villena Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
2012 The Journey. (Talking Walls). Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba.
2010 Nothing to Learn (Nada que aprender). Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba.
2009 The Parts Of Me That Sweat The Most When I Get Nervous. A wall drawing installation at the Walter C. Koerner Library. Organized by the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in collaboration with the Walter C. Koerner Library, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Cosmos. Feeling The Pull of Gravity. Chelsea Galleries, Miami, USA.
2008 Solitude of Paper. (Bipersonal Raquel Maulwurf – Tonel). Galeria Six, Milan, Italy.
Some Information is Now Available. Teck Gallery, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada.
2006 A Music of The Body. Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Roveretto, Italy.
2003 Cuaderno de Bitácora. Ilustraciones a cuatro manos de Fernando Birri y Tonel (Logbook: Four Hand Illustrations by Fernando Birri and Tonel). Galería Latinoamericana, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.
Conversación con “La primera carga…” (A Conversation with ‘The First Charge…’). Galería La Casona, Havana, Cuba.
2002 Tonel. Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, USA.
Autorretrato con ciudad: Limón (Self-Portrait with City: Lime). Espacio C de Arte Contemporáneo, Camargo and Santander International Airport, Santander, Spain.
Tonel: Recent Works on Paper. Gallery 106, Austin, USA.
2001 Some of the Houses, Several Documents, the Rocket. Detour 888, San
Francisco, USA. (One in a series of exhibitions curated by Tony Labat for this venue).
Tonel: Lessons of Solitude. Art in General, New York, USA.
2000 Tonel: Lessons of Solitude. Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
1997 Self-Portraits (bi-personal with René Francisco – Eduardo Ponjuán). Or Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
Another Self-Portrait As an Organic Intellectual (Another Tribute to Antonio Gramsci). Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
1996 Tonel. Krings-Ernst Galerie, Cologne, Germany.
1995 Cuatro obras: las partes que más me sudan…(Four Works: The Parts Where I Sweat the Most…) Fundación Ludwig de Cuba / CENCREM-National Center for Conservation and Restoration, Havana, Cuba.
Tonel. Centro Cultural de la Municipalidad de Miraflores, Lima, Peru.
1994 Acuarelas y dibujos (Watercolours and Drawings). Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba.
1993 Tonel. Stadtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
1992 Luis Gómez-Tonel. Kulturhaus Latin Amerika, Cologne, Germany.
Kuba in Aachen (bi-personal with Luis Gómez). Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
1991 La felicidad (Happiness). Private studio of the artist, Havana, Cuba. Parallel to the 4th Havana Biennial.
1989 Yo lo que quiero es ser feliz (All I Want is to Be Happy). Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes-Castillo de la Real Fuerza, Havana, Cuba.
1986 Dibujos, acuarelas, etc. (Drawings, Watercolours, etc.). Museo Provincial de Villa Clara, Santa Clara, Cuba.
Clásicos de Tonel (Classics by Tonel). Galería L, Havana, Cuba.
1983 El eterno verano (The Eternal Summer). Galería L, Havana, Cuba.
Tonel expone en Santa Cruz (Tonel Exhibits in Santa Cruz). Museo Histórico de Santa Cruz del Norte, Havana, Cuba.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Pop Up Art Sale. Trapp Projects, Vancouver, Canada.
2020 The Recipe: Making Latin American Art in Canada, Oboro, Montreal, Canada.
Liebesgrüße aus Havanna – Zeitgenössische kubanische Kunst im internationalen Kontext. Kunst- und Kultustiftung Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim. Germany.
2019 Cuba Introspettiva. La Nuova Pesa, Rome, Italy.
Intersections. Collateral exhibition, XIII Havana Biennial. Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba.
2018 Climate Change: Cuba/USA. University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum, Florida, USA.
The Recipe: Making Latin American Art in Canada. Sur Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
2017 Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (March 5 – May 21), and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (November 11, 2017 – March 18, 2018).
Things Fall Apart. Galeria Centralis, Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives, Budapest, Hungary.
2016 Cuba.Tatuare la storia. Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, and ZAC – Zisa Zona Arti Contemporanee, Palermo, Italy.
Things Fall Apart. Calvert 22 Foundation, London, UK / Iwalewahaus, Universität Bayreuth, Germany / Galeria Avenida da Índia, Lisbon, Portugal.
On the Serious Side of History. Solo project with Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery. ARCO-Madrid, International Art Fair, Madrid, Spain.
2015 Handmade Twitting. A web-based exhibition hosted by the Internet portal Revolico. Collateral to the 12th Havana Biennale.
Ficción y Fantasía – Arte de Cuba. Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Foucault’s Pendulum. 12th Havana Biennale, Castillo del Morro, Havana, Cuba.
Welcome / Goodbye. Torrione Passari Arte Contemporanea, Bari, Italy.
Crack. Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba.
2014 8th Berlin Biennale. KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany.
Cuban Contemporary perspectives # 1. Eduardo Ponjuán, Lázaro Saavedra, Tonel. Galleria Bianconi, Milan, Italy.
Diffractions of the Local – Part 2. Back Gallery Project, Vancouver, Canada.
2013 55th Venice Biennale. The Perversion of Classicism: the Anarchy of the Stories. Cuban Pavilion at The National Archeological Museum, Venice, Italy.
Zona Maco Sur – México Arte Contemporáneo. (Solo show with Galería Habana). Centro Banamex, Mexico D.F., Mexico.
2012 The Metaphors of Change. A collateral exhibition to the 11th Havana Biennial.
Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba.
2011 The End of Money. Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam,
The Netherlands.
Crisisss. América Latina: arte y confrontación. Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico.
2010 Story Book / Story Board (Libro de cuentos). Sala Naos, Santander, Spain.
Six Artists, Two Cities. Art from Vancouver and Havana. Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba.
Funny Business. Atsui Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
2009 Cuban Artists’ Books and Prints: 1985-2008. Grolier Club of New York and Hanes Gallery, Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA.
Cuban Avant-Garde. Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection. Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada.
Cuba. Art and History from 1868 to today. Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands.
2008 Disturbing Narratives: Cuevas, Toledo, and Tonel. Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA.
It is not neutral. (Latin American Artists from The Daros Collection). Tabakalera, San Sebástian, Spain.
Cuban Avant-Garde. Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, The University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
The Billboard Project (Seeing Peace). A public art installation project. San Francisco International Arts Festival (SFIAF), San Francisco, USA.
Cuba. Art and History from 1868 to today. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada.
Miart 08 (Milan International Art Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art) – Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Milan, Italy.
2007 Face to face. The Daros Collections. Zürich, Switzerland.
Cuba Avant Garde: Arte Contemporáneo cubano de la Colección Farber. Museo Harn, Gainesville and John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida.
Killing Time. Exit Art, New York, USA.
Waiting List. Mestna Galerija, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2006 Cuba: una isla mental. Paseo por el malecón. Sala de Exposiciones Vista Alegre,
Torrevieja, Spain.
Arte de Cuba. Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, Brazil.
Isla interior. Museo del Ron, Havana, Cuba.
2005 Anna Amadio, Christian Schwarzwald, Diango Hernàndez, Federico Guzmàn, MP & MP Rosado, Tonel. paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery, Roveretto, Italy.
Crossings: A Gathering of Artists. Organized in conjunction with the Bayennale: Bay Area International Arts Festival. SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, California, USA.
2004 Birriiilla. Omaggio a Fernando Birri. Istituto Italo-Latino Americano, Rome, Italy.
2003 Global Elegies: Art and Ofrendas for the Dead. Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California, USA.
Sentido común (Common Sense). Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba.
8th Havana Biennial. Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba.
Lo feo de este mundo: Images of the Grotesque, Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, USA.
2002 Taller Tonel (Tonel Workshop). Espacio C Arte Contemporáneo, Camargo, Spain.
2001 Hello Cuba! Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Sciences, Tallahassee, USA.
Cartoon and Art. Sean Rudolph Projects Gallery, Houston, USA.
2000 7th Havana Biennial. Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba.
Poetics, Politics, and Song: Contemporary Latin American/Latino(a) Artists’ Books. Arts of the Book Collection, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, USA.
1999 Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island. Austin Museum of Art, Austin, USA.
1998 Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island. Arizona State University Museum, Arizona, USA.
La Dirección de la Mirada (The Direction of Sight). Stadthaus Zürich/ Musée des Beaux Arts de La Chaux-de-Fonds (ProHelvetia), Zürich – La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland.
1997 Historia de un viaje. Artistas cubanos en Europa (The History of a Voyage. Cuban Artists in Europe). Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
Utopian Territories: New Art from Cuba. Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia and Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada.
1996 Mundo Soñado. Jóven Plástica Cubana. (Dream World. Young Art from Cuba). Casa de América, Madrid, Spain.
ARCO-Madrid, International Art Fair. Exhibition with Galería La Acacia, Madrid, Spain.
Cuba Siglo XX. Modernidad y Sincretismo. Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria / Fundación La Caixa, Palma de Mallorca / Centro de Arte Santa Mónica, Barcelona, Spain.
Cologne International Art Fair. Krings-Ernst Gallery, Cologne, Germany.
1995 New Art from Cuba. Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle,
Cumbria, UK.
Ahora mismo: Contemporary Art from Cuba. University of Gainesville, Florida, USA.
Salón Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo (National Exhibition of Contemporary Art). Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Cuba: La isla possible (Cuba: The Possible Island). Centro de Cultura Contemporánea, Barcelona, Spain.
1994 22nd Bienal Internacional de Sao Paulo. Parque Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
5th Havana Biennial. Fortaleza de la Cabaña, Havana, Cuba.
1992 La nube en pantalones. Nuevas Adquisiciones (New Acquisitions). Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Von dort aus: Kuba. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
Ornamente der gegenwart. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
La ronda cubana. Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
Derudefra: Kuba. Brandts Klaedefabrik Kunsthallen, Odense, Denmark.
The unknown face of Cuban art. Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK.
1991 No man is an Island. Ernst Museum, Budapest, Hungary.
Los hijos de Guillermo Tell (The Children of William Tell). Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela / Biblioteca Ángel Arango, Banco de la República, Bogotá, Colombia.
100 Obras: 1956 – 1991. Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia.
1990 Telarte. Fabrics by Cuban Artists. Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, State University of New York, USA.
No man is an Island. Pori Taidemuseu, Pori, Finland.
El objeto esculturado (The Sculpted Object). Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba.
1989 3rd Havana Biennial. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Humor Cubano (Special Events Exhibitions). 20th Bienal Internacional de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Contemporánea del Caribe (Caribbean Contemporary). Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana and Casa del Caribe, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
1988 Raíces en acción (Roots in Action). Museo Carrillo Gil and Museo Biblioteca
Pape, Mexico DF, Mexico.
1987 La joven estampa (Latin-American Young Printmaking). Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.
El amor (Love). Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Cinco artistas contemporáneos de Cuba (Five Contemporary Cuban Artists). Museo de Arte Costarricense, San José, Costa Rica.
1986 2nd Havana Biennial. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Bienal Americana de Artes Gráficas (Latin-American Biennial of Graphic Arts). Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia.
1985 Premio Internacional de Dibujo Joan Miró (Exhibition of The Joan Miró Internacional Drawing Award). Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain.
1984 1st Havana Biennial. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
International Exhibition of Original Drawings. Museum of Modern Art Rijeka, Rijeka, Yugoslavia.
1983 Encuentro de Jóvenes Artistas Latinoamericanos (Meeting of Young Latin American Artists). Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.
1982 Salón Nacional Paisaje’82. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Pintura joven cubana (Young Cuban Painting). Galería Rafaela Padilla de Zaragoza, Puebla, Mexico.
1973 Salón Nacional Juvenil de Artes Plásticas. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
published Illustration and Graphic Design
2016 Cover illustration for Nothing Out of This World. Katherine M. Hedeen (Ed.). Ripon: Smokestack Books.
2008 Illustrator. Cuaderno de bitácora. (Text by Fernando Birri). Havana and Córdoba: Casa de las Américas and Fundación Provincial de Artes Plásticas Rafael Botí.
2007 Illustrator and writer. On My Block: Stories and Paintings by Fifteen Artists. Dana Goldberg (Ed.). San Francisco: Children’s Book Press.
2004 Illustrator. Birthday in the Barrio / Cumpleaños en el Barrio. (Text by Mayra Lazara Dole). San Francisco: Children’s Book Press.
2003 Illustrator. Drum Chavi Drum! / ¡Toca Chavi toca! (Text by Mayra Lazara Dole). San Francisco: Children’s Book Press.
Illustrator. Poster and program cover. XVIII Festival del Cinema Latinoamericano. Trieste: Associazione per la promozione della cultura latino americana in Italia.
1993 Illustration and design. Poster for the exhibition Tonel. Düsseldorf: Stadtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
1992 Illustration and design. Poster and catalog cover for the exhibition La Ronda Cubana. Appeldoorn: Van Reekum Museum.
Illustrator. Poster for the exhibition Von dort aus: Kuba. Aachen: Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst.
1986 Illustration and design. Poster for the feature film Como la vida misma [Like life itself]. Havana: Cuban Institute of Cinema Arts and Industry (ICAIC).
1984 Illustration and design (with Osmani Simanca). Poster-map of Old Havana, first in a series of similar prints on other Cuban landmarks published by the National Institute of Tourism. Havana: National Institute of Tourism (INTUR).
1977-2000. Regular contributor as illustrator and cartoonist to several Cuban and Mexican periodicals, among them: D.D.T; Revolución y Cultura; El Caimán Barbudo, La Gaceta de Cuba, Sol de Cuba, La Garrapata (Mexico), Por esto! (Mexico).
In addition to the above, I have contributed illustrations and cover art to several books written by Cuban-born, USA-based poet, essayist and professor Víctor Rodríguez-Núñez, among them:
La luna según Masao Vicente. Chubut: Espacio Hudson, 2021.
Nghịch đảo (Thơ tuyển, 1979 – 2016). Hà Nội: NHÀ XUẤT BẢN HỘI NHÀ VĂN, 2020
Ceniza de infinito. Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2019.
Inverse (2016 – 1979). Mumbai: Poetrywala, 2019.
Tareas y reversos. La Habana: Unión, 2018.
Despegues. Madrid: Visor Libros, 2016.
Mit einem seltsamen Geruch nach Welt. Leipzig: Leipziger Literaturverlag, 2016.
Deshielos & Desde un granero rojo. La Habana: Letras Cubanas, 2015.
With a Strange Scent of World. New Orleans: Diálogos Books, 2014.
Desde un granero rojo. Madrid: Hiperión, 2013.
La poesía sirve para todo. La Habana: Unión, 2008.
ARTISTS’ BOOKS
2014 Friendship / Amistad. Thirty-two pages of offset print.
Hardbound and with cover design by Black Stone Press, Vancouver.
Edition of 12 plus 2 artist’s proof.
Published by the author.
2011-14 Taking Comfort. Insightful Wisdom from the Financial Papers of A.G. Muskeet,
Twenty-five pages of digital print on Hahnemüle Photo Matt Fibre paper.
Box: book binding cloth, cardboard, ribbons, and digital print on cover.
One 90-minute audiocassette featuring the soundscape Athos, by Bob Turner.
Edition of 10 plus 2 artist’s proofs.
Published in Vancouver by the author and the 8th Berlin Biennial.
Heroes of Baikonur.
Twenty-nine pages of digital print on Hahnemüle Photo Matt Fibre paper.
Box: book binding cloth, cardboard, ribbons, and digital print on cover.
One 90-minute audiocassette featuring the soundscape Porthos, by Bob Turner.
Edition of 10 plus 2 artist’s proofs.
Published in Vancouver by the author and the 8th Berlin Biennial.
2009-14 Dispatches from the War Zone.
Twelve pages of digital print on Hahnemüle Photo Matt Fibre paper.
Box: book binding cloth, cardboard, ribbons, and digital print on cover.
One 90-minute audiocassette featuring the soundscape Aramis, by Bob Turner.
Edition of 10 plus 2 artist’s proofs.
Published in Vancouver by the author and the 8th Berlin Biennial.
2009 Autorretrato a los cincuenta años. (A self-portrait at fifty).
Digitally printed, hardbound with bookcase.
Fifty-six pages.
Edition of 5 plus 2 artists proofs.
Published in Vancouver by the author.
2002 Glifostanfordtroniks de Fernando Birri. Pinturas Electrónicas. Historieta de Antonio Eligio (Tonel).
Thirty two pages. Photocopy, color pencil, crayons, edition of 60.
Published by the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University, California, USA.
1999 Estuve casi todo el invierno en Rheinlandia escribiendo estos boleros (A Fully
Illustrated Winter Book).
Twelve pages of offset lithography; silk-screen printing on cover, edition of 24 plus 2 artists proofs.
Fine Arts Department, University of Northumbria at Newcastle; Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K.
1983 El manual del contento (The Handbook of the Joyful Man).
Linocut on hand made paper, edition of 2.
Published by the author in Havana.
ART COLLECTIVES MEMBERSHIP
2013- Present AKA, Vancouver- based art collective, artist member.
1982- Present Hexágono. Equipo de creación colectiva, Havana- based (1982 – 1984) and Miami-Santo Domingo-Vancouver- based (1984- Present) art collective, artist member.
TEACHING and pedagogical EXPERIENCE
2019 Edward Laroque Tinker Visiting Professor at Stanford University, Center for Latin American Studies.
2007-20 Sessional Lecturer, Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
2006-07 Adjunct Professor, Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory at The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
As and an adjunct professor and a sessional lecturer at AHVA-UBC I have taught introductory-level visual art (VISA) courses 180, 182, 183. I have taught VISA 220 and 321 (intermediate-level drawing courses) and VISA 230 (an intermediate-level painting course). More recently I taught VISA 481 – Theory Seminar. These courses are all one academic term in length, each with a value of three credits.
2004-05 instructor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, The University of Texas, Austin, USA.
Course: Spanish Language (SPN 506).
Credits: Three.
2003 Lecturer, Department of Art and Art History, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Course: Painting II.
I was invited by Stanford professor Kristina Branch to teach Painting II, an intermediate course that covers painting in a variety of media and is aimed at undergraduate students. I suggested self-portraiture as the subject to be explored in this class. Through slide lectures, discussion of readings and films I introduced the students to a set of relevant historical examples, from Rubens and Rembrandt to Jim Dine and Chuck Close. Students were asked to develop a group of five to ten studies and a final, medium format work.
Length: One academic term.
Credits: Three.
2002-03 Lecturer, Center for Latin American Studies, Bolívar House,
Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Course: Visual Arts, Culture and Society in Revolutionary Cuba (1959-2000). Visual Arts, Culture and Society in Revolutionary Cuba (1959-2000) presented the evolution of culture in post-1959 Cuba with a strong focus on visual arts in all media and film. Historical examples were introduced and discussed through lectures, readings and the presentation of audiovisual material. Students developed their research, critical thinking, and writing through assignments and the completion of a final paper.
Length: One academic term. (I taught this course during two academic terms).
Credits: Three.
2002 Instructor, Stanford Continuing Studies Program, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Course: Painting (Self-Portrait).
Painting (Self-Portrait) was a course taught as part of the Continuing Studies Program, which is designed to enhance the learning of people living in the San Francisco Bay Area. After an introductory slide lecture, students began working in a group of three to five paintings. Discussion of relevant documentary films, group discussions and critique of each other’s work was encouraged.
Length: Five weeks (Summer session).
Credits: Three.
2001 Instructor, Community Education Program, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California, USA.
Course: Visual Arts, Culture and Society in Revolutionary Cuba (1959-2000).
This Visual Arts… course was a briefed version –five weekly sessions- of a similar one taught at Stanford University in 2002-03.
Length: Five weeks.
Credits: n /a.
1986-1997 Tutor (working with individual students as the main adviser for Painting and Sculpture thesis). Faculty of Plastic Arts, High Art Institute (Instituto Superior de Arte, ISA), Havana, Cuba.
ISA is the only school in Cuba for graduate studies in the visual arts. The role of the Tutor¾who can be someone who is not in the school roster as a faculty member¾at ISA is to work closely, in a one-to-one basis with individual students for at least two semesters, and to coach her/him during the process of developing the thesis, which is conceived as a two-part exercise, combining a body of art works¾must be sufficient for a one-person show¾and a writing essay. As a Tutor, I worked with some of the graduates whom, as part of the so-called “Generation of the 1980s” in Cuba, became nationally and internationally acclaimed figures; among them: Saidel Brito (1997-98), José A. Toirac (1989-90), Ana Albertina Delgado and Adriano Buergo (1988-89), Alejandro Aguilera (1988-89), and Tomás Esson (1986-87).
other pedagogical Experience
2017 Lecturer, Graduate Lecture Series, San Francisco Art Institute, Fall 2017. Includes studio visits with graduate students and a public lecture.
2015 Taught the workshop “The expanded drawing”. Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants were Brazilian artists and members of the Educational Program team at Casa Daros.
2010 Introductory lecture at the Educational Symposium Collecting Cuban Art. Tulane University, New Orleans, USA.
2008 Lecturer, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, The University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
2007 Taught the workshop “A self-portrait as an organic intellectual”. Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Participants were a group of young Brazilian artists invited by Casa Daros’ Educational Program.
Taught the workshop “Art and Illustration” at the Spanish Cultural Centre, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2004 Visiting Artist, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida, USA.
2001 Visiting Artist, Art Department, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA.
Visiting artist, Art Department, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA.
1999 Artist-in-Residence, Fine Arts Department, University of Northumbria at Newcastle; Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K.
1995 Visiting artist, Corriente Alterna Art Academy, Lima, Peru.
I have also lectured at the Centro Cultural de España in Sao Paulo, Brazil (2007); Centro Cultural de España in Havana (2002); Art Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia (2001); Casa de las Américas, Havana (1999); the Art History Department of the University of Texas at Austin (1998); the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, City University of New York, New York (1997 and 1998); the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada (1997); the High Institute of Design (ISDI) in Havana (1995) and several other educational and cultural institutions.
SELECTED CURATORIAL AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2020 Co-curator, with Beate Kemfert (Director and curator at Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Opelvillen Rüsselsheim) of the exhibition Liebesgrüße aus Havanna – Zeitgenössische kubanische Kunst im internationalen Kontext. Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim, Germany.
2017 Co-curator, with Andreas Beitin (Director, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany) of the exhibition Art x Cuba. Contemporary Perspectives since 1989. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany (Opening September 7, 2017).
2017 Co-curator, with Holly Bynoe (Chief curator at The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas) of the exhibition Overseas: Cuba and the Bahamas. Contemporary Art from the Caribbean. HALLE 14 – Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst. Leipzig, Germany.
2016 Co-curator, with Denise Ryner of the program Harbour / Heaven. thirstDays No. 3. VIVO Media Arts Centre, Vancouver, Canada.
2015-16 Member, Artistic Committee for the Villa Vassilieff – Pernod Ricard Fellowship, Paris, France.
2014-15 Member, Curatorial Advisory Committee for the exhibition Relational Undercurrents: Contemporary Art of the Caribbean Archipelago, presented at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), Long Beach, California, 2017 as part of Pacific Standard Time LA/LA, sponsored by The Getty Foundation. Traveled on research trip to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Haiti with other team members and museum director and staff. Contributed an essay to the exhibition catalogue.
2015 Co-curator, with Concha Fontenla (Director, Factoría Habana) of the exhibition Signs: Art, Industry and Vice-Versa at Factoría Habana, Havana, Cuba. The exhibition explored the links between art, architecture, industrial and graphic design and comics in Cuba from the 1960’s and up to the present.
2014 Co-curator with Keith Wallace of the exhibition The Spaces Between. Contemporary Art from Havana. The show was held at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver (2014) and at Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2015). Lectured at Bildmuseet, as part of the educational program related to the show. A book with the same title was published by Black Dog Publishing, UK, including an essay by Tonel.
2013-14 Member of the curatorial team that created the concept and the first draft for the exhibition Adiós Utopia. Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950, organized by the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, USA. This exhibition opened in 2017 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and travelled to the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA. Contributed an essay to the publication.
2005-2009 Member, International Advisory Board, and Main Speaker (2006). International Conference on the Arts in Society (organized by Common Ground, Australia, in conjunction with the Edinburgh Festivals, Scotland.)
2007 Participant. Simposio Casa Daros. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This was symposium focused on the role of artists and art critics in the changing landscape of contemporary Caribbean and Latin American Art. Participants included Ticio Escobar, Luis Camnitzer, Antonio Dias, Hans Michael Herzog, Eugenio Valdés Figueroa, among others. I taught the workshop titled “A self-portrait as an organic intellectual” to a group of Brazilian artists invited by Casa Daros.
2005 Curatorial Advisor for exhibition Afro-Cuba: Works on Paper, Art Gallery, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California, USA. Worked with Dr. Judith Bettelheim and the SFSU art gallery team in California and Havana, on exhibition featuring Cuban printmaking after 1959 with a focus on works with Afrocuban and African themes.
2004 Co-curator with Anjee Helstrup and David Spalding. Rogue Nations: Cuban & Chinese Artists. Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA), San Jose, California, USA.
2003 Member of the Jury. XVIII Festival del Cinema Latinoamericano, organized by the Associazione per la promozione della cultura latino americana in Italia. Trieste, Italy.
2001 Co-curator, with Dr. Tressa Berman, of the educational exhibit A Walk on the Town: Art and Identity in Havana’s Chinatown, Treganza Anthropology Museum, San Francisco State University, California, USA.
1999 Resident artist and art critic. Big River International Artists Workshop, organized by Caribbean Contemporary Arts, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Work consisted of a painting-based intervention at the local headquarters of a Steel-Band in the villa of Grande Riviere. Based on this experience, I wrote an essay, “Al remontar el río y entre los árboles: notas a la memoria de un taller (Up the River and into the Trees: Notes in Memory of a Workshop)” an excerpt of which is published in the Big River catalog. The entire essay appears in Artecubano, Havana, No. 2, 1999.
1995 Advisor to curators James Peto and Laurie Short for their exhibit New Art from Cuba, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London and Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, UK. Wrote the introductory essay for the exhibition brochure. The show included works by Pedro Álvarez, Tania Bruguera, Los Carpinteros, Kcho, Fernando Rodríguez and Saidel Brito, among others.
1993 Member of the International Resource Group for the project, Memoria. Archivo de Artes Visuales Cubanas del siglo XX [Memory. Archive of 20th Century Cuban Visual Arts], sponsored by The Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (USA) and the Pablo Milanés Foundation (Cuba).
1992 Advisor for installation and didactic labels, for the exhibition Von dort aus: Kuba, curated by Wolfgang Becker, Director of the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany and held at the Ludwig Forum and at Brandts Klaedefabrik Kunsthalle, Odense, Denmark.
1990 Co-curator, with Jürgen Harten, Director of the Düsseldorf Stadtische Kuntshalle, of the exhibition Kuba o.k. Aktuelle Kunst aus Kuba (Düsseldorf Kuntshalle, Germany). This was the first large-scale exhibition of Cuban art from the 1980s-1990s held in Europe. A number of the works included in this show were bought by collectors Peter and Irene Ludwig and became the nucleus of a very significant collection of Cuban art placed at the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
1986-1990 Advisor to and coordinator of Telarte, a project of the Cuban Ministry of Culture to massively produce textile designs by Cuban and foreign artists (among them Robert Rauschenberg, Luis Camnitzer, Hervé Télémaque, Shigeo Fukuda).
1989 Exhibited and wrote the introductory catalogue essay for Humor Cubano (Cuban Humor), a group exhibition that was one of the Special Events at the 20th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil.
1988 Consultant for curator Charles Merewether for the exhibition Made in Havana at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney and Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia. Attended the opening and, with artist Ricardo Rodríguez Brey, gave talks on Cuban art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and at the Australia-Cuba Friendship Association in Sydney.
1985 Curator, Cuban Section in the international group exhibition 40 Years of Victory Over Fascism, Manezh Gallery, Moscow, USSR. This was the second edition of a comprehensive exhibition held in 1975 for the first time, featuring artworks from countries that were aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War period. The show was intended as a celebration of the defeat of fascism in 1945.
1983-90 Specialist at the Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales [Center for the Development of the Visual Arts (1990)], formerly Dirección de Artes Plásticas y Diseño del Ministerio de Cultura (1983-1989) [Division of Visual Arts and Design of the Ministry of Culture] in Havana, Cuba. In 1983-1984 I was part of the team that organized the 1st Havana Biennial, held in May 1984. Other responsibilities included supervising Provincial Art Centers, conducting periodical visits, helping with the center’s program of exhibitions and with organizing the provincial art salons (Salones Provinciales de Artes Plásticas). I was commissioned with curating individual and group exhibitions for galleries and museums in different cities, in Havana and other provinces. I also worked as a coordinator of press relations and co-editor of the visual arts section for Cartelera, a weekly arts and culture tabloid.
SELECTED CONFERENCE AND PANEL PARTICIPATION
2015 Panelist. Panel on contemporary art from Cuba in the context of the Daros Latinamerica Collection, held at Casa Daros, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition Cuba. Ficción y fantasía.
2010 Panelist. “Collecting Cuban Art.” Tulane University, New Orleans, USA.
2009 Panelist. “Cuban Artists’ Books.” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA.
Panelist. Symposium “Archipelago of Dreams: Cuban Culture, History, and the Business of Art.” Wake Forest University, North Carolina, USA.
Participant. Seminary “A bout de soufflé”, organized by Professor Serge Guilbaut and hosted by the Hartung-Bergman Foundation, Antibes, France.
2008 Panelist. “Cuban Art Today.” Center for Latin American Studies, University of
Miami, Florida, USA.
Lecturer. “Self-portrait of the Artist as an Organic Intellectual” was a lecture offered as part of the program for the exhibition Cuban Avant-Garde. Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, The University of Oregon, Eugene, USA.
2006 Main Speaker. International Conference on the Arts in Society. The University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Panelist. “La obra de Roberto Matta y su impacto en el arte del siglo XX.” Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.
Panelist. “The Art of the State.” The Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. This panel included artists Luis Camnitzer and Antonio Dias, and was held in conjunction with the exhibition of Latin American contemporary art “Certain Encounters” at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, UBC.
2004 Lecturer. “Visual Arts in Cuba and Their Context In-Between Two Centuries.” Cuba From the Inside Looking Out. Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
Panelist . “Cuban Culture: Cuban Art Today at The New School.” The New School, New York, USA.
Panelist . Cuban Research Institute Conference. Florida International University, Miami, USA.
2001 Lecturer. Southern Graphics Council Conference, Austin, Texas.
Presented a lecture on parallel developments and convergences between printmaking and painting in post-1959 Cuban art.
1999 Panelist. Southern Graphics Council Conference, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA. Presented a paper on new developments on printmaking as part of mixed-media, large scale installation work in Cuba during the 1990s.
1996 Panelist. Casa de America, Madrid, Spain. Panel discussion on Cuban art in the late 20th century and the challenges of the “Special Period”. The panel was held in conjunction with the group exhibition Mundo soñado [Dream World], named after one of my installations included in the show.
SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, AND residencies
2014 Project Grant. Canada Council for the Arts, Canada.
2003 Cuban Artists Fund Award. Cuban Artists Fund, New York, USA.
1997 Senior Fellow. Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities, with residency at The Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
1995 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (Painting and Installation Art). New York, USA.
Artist in Residence. West Walls Studios and Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, Cumbria, UK.
1992 Artist in Residence. Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
Collective Award. Cuban entry, Primera Bienal de Pintura de Centroamérica y el Caribe (First Painting Biennial of Central America and the Caribbean). Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
1991 Grant for research and art criticism. Association of Visual Artists of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC), Havana, Cuba.
Award for Art Criticism. Cuban section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA) for the essays: “Cuban Art: The Key to the Gulf and How to Use It” and “Notes on the Changing of the Guard”, Havana, Cuba.
1988 Travel Grant. Cultural Office of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome, Italy.
1984 “Rafael Blanco” Drawing Honorary Mention. 1ra Bienal de La Habana (1st Havana Biennial), Havana, Cuba.
Main collections
Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia.
National Art Museum of China (Ludwig International Artworks Collection), Beijing, China.
Museo de Arte Costarricense, San José, Costa Rica.
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.
Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.
Gilbert Brownstone Collection, Paris, France.
Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany.
Robert Funcke Collection, Neu-Isenburg, Germany.
Van Reekum Museum, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.
Academia de Bellas Artes Corriente Alterna, Lima, Peru.
Espacio C de Arte Contemporáneo, Camargo, Cantabria, Spain.
Daros Latinamerica AG, Zurich, Switzerland.
University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Department of Fine Arts, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK.
Arizona State University Museum, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA.
Stanford University Libraries, Department of Special Collections, California, USA.
Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
Howard and Patricia Farber Collection, New York and Miami, USA.
The Donald and Shelley Rubin Collection of The Rubin Museum of Art, New York, USA.
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO), Miami, USA.
Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami, USA.
SELECTED WRITINGS about tonel
Mauk, Ben. (2017, February 27th). “What if Cuba had won the space race? A Review of Tonel’s Heroes of Baikonur (The Cosmos Book) (2009-2014)”. Believer Magazine. https://believermag.com/logger/ben-mauk-on-tonel/
Yumang, Jade. (2015, September). Serious Side of History. Tonel in Conversation with Jade Yumang. Retrieved from http://www.artfilemagazine.com/Tonel
Rodríguez Enríquez, Hilda María. “Cartografía de un pensamiento. La obra de Tonel,” in La Gaceta de Cuba. July / August 2015, pp. 32 – 35.
Fernández Torres, Jorge and Giacomo Zaza, La perversion de lo clásico: anarquía de los relatos, in Catalogue of the Cuban Pavillion, 55 Exposición Internacional de Arte, la Biennale di Venezia. San Marino: Maretti Editore, 2013.
Moreno, Gean, “Cosmonauts at the 18th Hole: Tonel’s Recent Drawings,” in Art Papers. November / December 2009, pp. 2-29.
Antón, Héctor, “Antídoto contra los iceberg,” in Noticias de arte cubano. No 7, July 2003, p. 3.
Mosquera, Gerardo, “The New Cuban Art,” in Erjavec, Aleš, ed. Postmodernism and the Postsocialist Condition: Politicized Art under Late Socialism. Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003, pp. 232-233.
Smith, Roberta, “Tonel ‘Lessons of Solitude’,” in The New York Times, Friday, March 16, 2001, E37.
Princenthal, Nancy, “Tonel at Art in General,” in Art in America. October 2001, pp. 162-163.
Valdés, Eugenio, “Solitude Laid Bare in the Garden of the Madhouse,” Tonel Lessons of Solitude. Vancouver: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, April – June 2000, pp. 25-41.
Camnitzer, Luis, New Art of Cuba. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994, pp. 222-225.
Bertazzo, Diane, “Herencia / Héritage,” in Art cubain actuel. Montreal: Galerie de l’UQAM, April – May 1994, p. 6.
Harten, Jürgen, “Tonel O.K.,” in Tonel. Dusseldorf: Stadtische Kunsthalle, July 1993, unpaged.
Sánchez, Osvaldo, “Sincretismo, postmodernismo y cultura de resistencia,” in Kuba o.k.: Actuelle Kunst aus Kuba. Dusseldorf: Stadtische Kunsthalle, April – May 1990, 23 & 25.
Mosquera, Gerardo, “Yo lo que quiero es ser feliz,” in Yo lo que quiero es ser feliz. Havana: Museo Nacional-Castillo de la Real Fuerza, July 1989, unpaged.