Algo sobre la distancia (Something about distance) ANEET R. FONTES + SEBASTIAN LEAL
Opening Reception: Friday, August 4, 6-9pm
MEET THE ARTISTS!
Galeria Cubana welcomes back the extraordinarily talented Aneet R. Fontes! Aneet is a master of expressionist line and color in rendering the interplay of image and reflection. Her cityscapes of Havana, Boston and now Provincetown, are riveting for their vibrancy and complexity, as images reflected in building panes converge with the bustle of the street.
In Fontes's words, “I am building the spaces and environments of the cities that are intertwined with each other, forming a network of rhythms and temporary transformations. The context is natural and ephemeral, real and sublime at the same time. Sidewalks, buildings, showcases, puddles and crystals reflect the other reality.”
Fontes deftly expresses the temperature of each place, the lifestyle of the people, reproducing the surroundings and silhouettes of the streets, rearranging the memories and, in her own words, “scaring away the imminent oblivion that is sometimes glimpsed in the distance”. She describes the privilege of moving between cities and painting representations of moments mixing in the mist of memory. The result is truly mesmerizing.
Fontes’s longterm love, Sebastian Leal will exhibit alongside her for the first time in 12 years.
Enchanted by Provincetown after his first visit 5 years ago, Leal has focused his attention entirely on our dear town. Leal spectacularly captures buildings along Commercial Street and transforms them into a new “realism”. In his words, “My emotions guide the entire process of pictorial composition, selection of colors and shades. My images are not translations of landscapes captured by the camera. Rather they are a search for subliminal expressive intentions; a proposal of messages that allude to distance, remoteness and the sensation of absence”.
With the interpretation of the landscape, he retains a realistic style, painting architectural snapshots of Provincetown that will immediately evoke nostalgia and appreciation for our beloved town.
OPPORTUNITY FOR REPORTERS
This is the first time in 12 years that the artists have shown their work together. Fontes’s has had continued success with Galeria Cubana over the course of 16 years while Leal has stepped away from painting for several years.
Both left Cuba in 2011 and settled in Miami Beach. This is an opportunity to discuss their lives as immigrants and artists, as well as for their deep affection for Provincetown and Boston.
Fontes and Leal continue to support their families in Cuba.