To create in exile

To create in exile

As four million of their compatriots, many Venezuelan artists have been forced to emigrate. Far away for the homeland, the searching for a muse’s calling continues.

The exodus of Venezuelans outside its borders has also brought Venezuelan talent to other places. Venezuelan artists become famous for their art that adorns galleries, or public works, or they go viral on social media.

Other Venezuelans see this art through the streets of the cities that are now part of their day to day life. They are unaware that behind each colorful stroke hides the Venezuelan tricolor with its seven white stars, the one they were taught to draw since preschool, making a singular arc on the navy blue.

Expressing themselves through different media and themes, these creators belong to a consolidated and energetic group that is culturally and economically impacting the growing art scene of South Florida and the rest of the US.

Arts professionals have participated in daily demonstrations, banners and protest posters, directing performances with high political load, as well as those who have chosen to attract the attention of the audience towards unique and abstract concepts, instead.

Artists are also recording history by documenting protests in photography and video, leading to a massive documentary project that, beyond the political dye, explores aesthetic features and the search for identity in the creative diaspora.

What previous generations of Venezuelan artists could not see at the time, is now possible. There is the illusion of contributing through artistic expression to the construction of a lost country. The country that served as a cradle for names like Reverón, Loyola, Soto or Cruz-Diez, or many others that are even considered nationals of the lands where they settled, at different times.

Through the ages, art has been a mirror of what an uncomfortable generation has had to live with the establishment. Art is made today by living artists. As such, it reflects the complex issues that shape our diverse, global, and rapidly changing world. Through their work, many contemporary artists explore personal or cultural identity, offer critiques of social and institutional structures, or even attempt to redefine art itself.

In the process, they often raise difficult or thought-provoking questions without providing easy answers. Curiosity, an open mind, and a commitment to dialogue and debate are the best tools with which to approach a bunch of artists, with a continuous necessity to express that.