Manuel Hechavarria
(He/Him)
Statement:
I like to create in series, sometimes revisiting old pieces, through collage, painting, or photographic retouches, to enhance an idea and/or an artwork ready-made. This last year, I've been focused mainly on acrylic painting and collages as my main technique.
My artwork in general discusses and interrogates different notions and concepts of what is to be black, mixed, and african identity, and how the discrimination, racism, and exclusion have shaped the vision of a multicultural society.
My current body of work centers on the black personna, through a realistic approach, I use 2 canvases to distort, deconstruct, and fragment the body as a symbol, creating an almost abstract/surreal figure. The psychology is present in this type of approach, in trying to disintegrate the black figure, and concentrating in details as the hands and the messy background, as a new vision au regard de noirs, which translates: in the eyes of blacks. Pensive and introverted figures reflect different notions and emotions of the universal humanity
Passion ego sum (Desarraigo, Desahogo, Desasosiego), 2021
I am Passion (Uprooting, Relief, Restlessness)


Desarraigo, 2021
Uprooting
$1400
Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 80 cm
Alt Text: Part of a triptych serie, this painting is in the left. 2 canvases divided half, the upper side is upside down, a black man covers his face with one hand, the other hand is on his ches

Desahogo, 2021
Relief
$1400
Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 80 cm
Alt Text: Part of a triptych series in which this painting is in the center. Two canvases divided at half and the upper side is upside down, a black man covers his face with both hands.

Desasosiego, 2021
Restlessness
$1400
Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 80 cm
Alt Text: Part of a triptych series, this painting is in the right.2 canvases divided at half and the upper side is upside down. a black man with his arms crossed and his head down pensative
About Manuel Hechavarria

I was born Hoguin, a town in the east of Cuba, and from an early age I joined art lessons and exhibitions in my home town.
At age 15 in 2003, I enter the Art School of Holguín (Academia de Artes Plasticas "El Alba", founded in 1961), were I graduated in the specialization of Painting and Drawing, but I also took lessons of Gravure and Sculpture.
In 2008 I started working as an Art and Painting teacher in a College school for 3 years, later as an gallery assistant in the Centro de Arte (Art Center) of Holguín for 2 years, while pursuing my university degree in Sociocultural Studies wich I obtained in 2014.
In 2016 I moved to France but with the dream of still pursuing my artistic career.