Apple in my head: R10
R10's works ‘explore the relationships between the universe of graphic design, drawing, and painting. His work is focused on reformulating and activating those relationships that were lost for decades in Cuba due to the unquestionable primacy that painting always had over other expressions of our visual culture. In this way, the artist has been resolute in activating the multiple senses that emerge from the integration of different visual universes, as well as in trying to erase the historically established borders between them, creating a new esthetic dimension rarely seen in our cultural environment…The integration that the artist makes of graphic and pictorial elements is solid in each of his works: nothing is created randomly, making them difficult to classify as drawings, posters, or paintings, because they result in being all of these at the same time, everything mixed, making his works unique within the Cuban art scene.’
Cuban art critic, Nelson Herrera Ysla, in his essay, Todo mezclado en R10 (Everything Mixed in R10).
The first New York solo exhibition by Cuban artist Jorge Rodríguez Diez (R10), Apple In My Head was a pop-up exhibit on display in the Lazy Susan Gallery at 191 Henry Street which ran from November 3rd - November 14th, 2018.
Apple in My Head, the New York premiere exhibition of Cuban artist and designer Jorge Rodríguez Diez, known as R10, presents a group of ten new works, which, as the title suggests, were created with NYC in mind. Looking to deepen his personal understanding of Cuban history and society, this series builds on the artist's previous explorations which began with the Special Period, examined through the lens of current world events focused by his almost compulsive daily monitoring of the news.
In his characteristic style, R10 creates decodable poster-like paintings using 50's era nostalgic imagery, text and a thoughtfully considered color palette to conjure atmospheres of lost decades of Cuban culture. Puzzling you is the nature of R10's game. As a trained Graphic Designer, he begins with a clear idea, concisely communicated yet purposefully ambiguous; at times satirical, at times sincere, and uses layers of meaning so the viewer can choose what they are seeing and what the images reveal. Apple in My Head's images mix memories of the past with current anxieties and hopes for the future with a shadow of uncertainty.
Works by Jorge Rodríguez Diez (R10) b.1969, have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Spain, China, Germany and South Korea including a solo show at Icheri Secher Modern Art Center in Azerbaijan and most recently at the Marta Hewitt Gallery in Cincinnati, OH. His work has been published in Art OnCuba magazine and on www.RollingStone.com. R10 studied at the Technical Institute of Industrial Design and the Superior Institute of Design in Havana.
