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MARIO (MALLO) GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ IS A YOUNG CUBAN VISUAL ARTIST WHOSE PRACTICE EXPLORES THE INTERSECTIONS OF ABSTRACTION, IDENTITY, AND CULTURAL MEMORY. HE HOLDS A DEGREE IN ART EDUCATION (HAVANA, 2010) AND TRAINED AT THE SCHOOL OF ARTS INSTRUCTORS OF SAN ANTONIO DE LOS BAÑOS (2005).

HIS SOLO EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE SURCOS AT GALERÍA 23 Y 12 IN VEDADO, HAVANA (2023), DRAPPUS AT THE PROVINCIAL CENTER FOR ART AND DESIGN, HAVANA (2021), AND DIVERGENCES AT CASA DE LAS AMÉRICAS JOSÉ MARTÍ IN CARACAS, VENEZUELA. HE HAS ALSO PARTICIPATED IN NUMEROUS GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND ART EVENTS, BOTH NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY. RECENT HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE THE CONSTRUCTION OF SILENCE AT THE VISUAL ARTS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (2023), RICE WITH MANGO PLUS HABANERO AT THE COVARRUBIAS GALLERY, PART OF THE ZONAMACO CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR IN MEXICO CITY (2023), AND THE HUMANITARIAN AUCTION OF CONTEMPORARY CUBAN ART (2022). 

CHARLES LOUIS BLANK (B. HAMMOND, LOUISIANA, 1948) HAS BEEN WORKING AS A CONTEMPORARY ARTIST FOR OVER 50 YEARS. HE RECEIVED HIS TRAINING AT LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY. EARLY IN HIS CAREER, HIS DREAM-LIKE PAINTINGS OF DISQUIETING FIGURES, WHICH INCORPORATED MYSTICISM, ICONIC DISTORTION, AND PICTORIAL DRAMA, LABELED HIM AS ONE OF THE FEW "VISIONARY IMAGISTS" OF THE TIME.

HE ACHIEVED FAME IN THE 1980S. IN 1994, HE WAS FORCED TO STEP BACK FROM THE ART WORLD DUE TO HIS DETERIORATING MENTAL HEALTH BUT HAS CONTINUED TO EVOLVE WITHIN HIS PAINTINGS EVER SINCE.

AROUND 2010, FOLLOWING HIS MOTHER'S PASSING, HE BECAME ENTIRELY HOMEBOUND. HIS WORK TRANSITIONED BETWEEN THE OX FIELD BEHIND HIS HOUSE AND PURE ABSTRACTION, INCORPORATING HIS EXPRESSIONIST COLOR SCHEME AND STYLE OF THICKLY LAYERED PAINT. HE DRAWS FROM THE VOCABULARY OF LOUISIANA’S CULTURAL HERITAGE AND HIS DYSTOPIAN, SURREALISTIC LANDSCAPES ACT AS A FOIL TO THE BUCOLIC NOSTALGIA OF HIS OX FIELD SERIES, A METAPHOR OF A COUNTRY ONLY EXISTING AS A MEMORY AND THE SENSE OF IMPENDING ERADICATION ENCAPSULATED IN THE SMALL STRIP OF LAND AS A LAST STRONGHOLD.

BLANK'S WORKS ARE PART OF THE PERMANENT COLLECTION IN THE NEW ORLEANS MUSEUM OF ART AND THE HUNTSVILLE MUSEUM OF ART