Black Pony Gallery Hosts Niels Reyes Exhibition

Black Pony Gallery is presenting Faces, a new group of oil paintings by talented Cuban artist Niels Reyes, with the online solo exhibition including ten original works and running from October 29 until November 15, 2021.

“When we face a face, we are before the frontier of the Self, before the most sophisticated interface that can exist; the most authentic expression of the human. I don’t think I can find a more powerful subject to represent,” says Reyes.

Niels Reyes, El borde del mundo, 2021. Oil on canvas.

“This exhibition demonstrates the artist’s ongoing ability to bring his portraits to life with rich paint application and energized strokes. The faces emerge from the canvas, seductive, sensual, compelling, and oUen with surreal qualities that mesmerize,” a spokesperson said.

:Also indisputable is that the genre of portraiture is enriched with the practice of Niels Reyes. Each figure confronts the viewer and inspires close looking. At a time when masks cover portions of our face, portions of our identity, these painted faces have an intimacy that is refreshing and inviting.”

Cuban Curator Rigoberto Otaño explains that the artist “attempts to uncover the whole of an individual by using factors that transgress photorealistic conventions…. What an academic would classify as imperfections, for him are successes, indisputable reflections of the personality and culture of a subject.”

Niels Reyes, Untitled, 3, 2021. Oil on canvas.

A spokesperson said, “Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, Niels Reyes graduated from painting at the Higher Institute of Art [ASI] in 2006. His paintings are powerful, which may be why he has had over ten solo exhibitions in Cuba, Spain, Switzerland, and Panama.

“In group exhibitions he has been showcased in Cuba, Denmark, France, USA, Spain, Mexico, China, Finland, Canada, Panama, Austria, Germany, England. Reyes holds the Grand Prize of the first post-it contemporary art competition, 2013. He has been a resident artist in the Ministry of Culture Austria, 2012 and China, 2018. Reyes lives in Havana.”

The full Niels Reyes Faces Artwork Listing follow below [PDF here]:

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