Catalogue Raisonné: a research project for understanding art Written by the researcher in charge of the project “The Fidel Micó Catalogue Raisonné” (FMCR) as member of the Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association. Fidel Micó’s style has been always evolving. If several paintings from the same year are compared, we can find a continue experimentation on composition issues. The apparently simple landscapes Al cantío de un gallo, Amanecer en la sierra, and Camino a la laguna, painted in 2000, show his ability to change the position of a single tree and a few palms with different intentions. However, at present, he is more interested on using his pictorial mastery for representing universal, civilizing, and educative messages as his contribution for humankind improvement. He has been collecting opinions on his paintings El poder de la naturaleza, and Otra oportunidad before starting his next conceptual paintings. The paintings La Maja del Río, La roca del diablo, and Festín de gaviotas demonstrate that a human, a rock, and a few birds can be principal elements of landscapes under different chromatic schemes, at least, in middle ground and foreground. Concerning to techniques, we must confess that nothing compares with a day observing him at the studio. Certainly, Micó was born for painting, and we have not been able to decode his method, maybe because he never makes sketches, calculations or action plans. He just starts working “a la prima”, like an impressionist, but painting with realism and authenticity. He painted an undetermined amount of murals when he was serving in the army (1980 – 1983), and during the 90s, that could deserve further study. This project has been opened to explore the artist’s work in the last 40 years. The project began 3 years ago from interviews at the artist studio. Although best known (but, little noted) as a landscape painter, Micó has also worked on genres combinations, and figurative. The FMCR will comprise his entire body of works created from 1972 to 2014, including an undetermined amount of oil on canvases that could be higher than 2000. New information will be added every year until research is complete (expected 2020). The first edition has been published available for free download at the website The Art Room Telford (http://www.theartroomtelford.co.uk/downloads/part1fidelmico.pdf) including results from 2000 to 2014, leaving three decades uncatalogued. This preliminary publication may encourage owners of Micó’s artworks to supply information and images to the project for further research that could be mostly focused on collectors and galleries from Cuba, USA, Mexico, and Spain. We are lucky to have the artist’s record and his better memory to add depth and context to our daily research. Our current tangible assets are a few printed publications in Art Nexus, and Art Circuit Newsletters, more than 7 600 web pages, advertising of exhibitions, and the Micó’s family involvement, but the project has not even received support from dealers, collectors and galleries. This project has been intended to improve the public understanding of the Micó’s work. We start to understand the importance of a permanent and comfortable studio when we know on his frequent changes of address, and dimensions of his current painting room (2.0 x 2.0 x 2.4 m). His spontaneous development from 10 years old, without any advice and formal training and his devotion for teaching many young artists without asking anything in exchange afford relevant insights into how Micó’s living and work continue to resonate within the contemporary art. We hope that the FMCR shows a good sense of how Micó’s method and practice has been throughout his lifetime working in different formats, and genre’s combinations, ranging from landscape to figurative. The FMCR has been written in a way that shows what he was working on each year alongside what he was showing in exhibitions. The book has been divided in five simple chapters (Project profile, biography, chronology, Catalogue Raisonné, and Annex) to facilitate a comprehensive approach to the artist’s career. |
Fidel Micó is a Cuban painter born in Havana, Cuba in 1962. He received formal training at the prestigious Academy of Art "San Alejandro". This artist has created more than 2000 landscape paintings between 1980 and 2013, but none of them has been submitted for auction, because collectors and galleries from Cuba, USA, Qatar, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico and El Salvador have preferred keeping Micó’s artworks as highly profitable investments. His life and working style is much more spiritual, intuitive and sensorial than analytic. Summarizing the central idea of Micó’s artwork in a single statement is challenging even for those who know him, but a systematic analysis of his life reveals critical insights. A solid description of his philosophical thinking, and an intuitive perception of the energy surrounding him may be drawn. Micó’s isolation from a slavery imposed by a low capacity to interact with space and time does not come from altered state of mind, but from a real capacity to feel himself out of the known universe when he is painting. Immunity to environmental perturbations keeps him painting in his mind and oils while attending a phone call, loving his wife, walking, drinking “guarapo” (sugar cane juice) or thinking on his daughter’s projects. Cuban landscapists usually refer to his artwork as a distinguishable style by saying “…this is a Micó…”, whilst opening their eyes as if he were an actual milestone to reach in the future. Actually, Fidel’s contemporaries understand him very well although they have not found the source of much acknowledgement to his life, because he has not obtained the world recognition that deserves. The source is inside, and months of constant analysis are necessary to obtain an intuitive idea of his past evolution whilst he was developing a personal style. Images of his oil on canvas and additional information can be found the British website "The Art Room".
Collections Garcés Morales, New Jersey, USA, 1 work. Galería Arte XXI, Mexico City, México, 4 works. Duncan Forbes’s collection, The Netherlands, 2 work. Armando Dayan’s collection, Canada, 1 work. Galería Cubarte, Santiagode Chile, Chile, 6 works. Jorge M Sorí Fine Art, Miami, FL, USA, 2 works. Cuba! Gallery of Fine Cuban Art, Melbourne, FL, 1 work. Tony Piñera’s collection, Havana, Cuba, 1 work. The Collection of the Artist, Havana, Cuba, 2 works. Evora’s collection, Mexico City, Mexico, 1 work. Cuauhtémoc’s collection, Mexico City, Mexico, 1 work. Private collectors from Cuba, USA, Qatar, Spain, Germany, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, and El Salvador, unknown amount of works.
Publications 1. Octavio Borges Pérez. “Un estado permanente de agitación”. Granma (the most important Cuban newspaper), November 22nd, 1985. 2. Entornos. La Habana: Hotel Parque Central, April 29th - June 29th, 2003. Exhibition catalogue. Preface by José A. González andCary Jiménez. 3. Primer Salón de Paisajes Víctor Manuel.La Habana: Convento San Francisco de Asís, February 2003. Exhibition catalogue. Preface by Jorge R. Bermúdez. 4. Segundo Salón de Paisajes Víctor Manuel.La Habana: Convento San Francisco de Asís, April 2005. Exhibition catalogue. Preface by Concepción Otero Naranjoez. 5. Artbo 2005. Bogotá: Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá. Exhibition catalogue, p. 62. 6. Sori J. M. Transpiración. Art Nexus. Vol. 5, Nº 61, 2006, reproduced in page 99. 7. Sori J. M. El salto. Art Nexus. Vol. 5, Nº 63, 2007, reproduced in page 43. 8. Angela Capote. Enfoques del Paisaje. Tribuna de la Habana, July 13th, 2008. 9. Cada quien con su paisaje.La Habana: GaleríaLa Acacia, May-July 2008, Exhibition catalogue. Preface by Tony Piñera. 10. Galería La Acacia. What’s on? Cuban Absolutely, July 2008, page 7. 11. Sori J. M. Five Contemporary Latin American Artists. MiamiArt Guide, September 16th, 2008. 12. Sori J. M. Renowned Latin American Artists. Art Circuits Newsletters. Vol. 2, Nº 13, November 2008, p. 3. 13. James Echols. Coral Gables Gallery Night Friday. Renowned Latin American Artists. Examiner, December 31st, 2008. 14. Cuban Visions. Doha: Cuban Embasy in Qatar, 2009. Exhibition catalogue. Preface: Tony Piñera. 15. 170 Aniversario del Natalicio del Insigne Pintor Esteban Chartrand.La Habana: Convento San Francisco de Asís, November - December 2010. Exhibition catalogue. Curators: Dianeris Peña, Roberto Alfonso. 16. Sori J. M. Fidel Micó and Ivan Loboguerrero. Recent Works. Art Circuits Newsletters. Vol. 5, Nº 29, May 2010, p. 10. 17. Signed limited edition prints “El salto de la Yagruma”. Galería Génesis,La Habana, Cuba, 2010. 18. Sori J. M. Artists. Art Nexus. June 1st, 2011. 19. Sin irnos por las ramas.La Habana: GaleríaLa Acacia, 2011. Exhibition catalogue. Curator: Roberto Cobas.
20. Micó F, Buxadó JA (2015) Havana Biennial 2015. J. Mass Communicat. Journalism 5: 251. doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000251 21. Buxadó J. A. Catalogue Raisonnée of the work of Fidel Micó: a study case. Art Documentation, ISSN (print): 0730-7187, University of Chicago, 2015, Vol 34, Nº 2, 349-353. 22. Buxadó J.A. (2015) The Fidel Micó Catalogue Raisonnée. Available for free download at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9Lf284Pu2XrbGtvSkVBcDdoSDA/view?usp=sharing. 23. JournalTOCs (2015) Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK, http://www.journaltocs.ac.uk/index.php?action=tocs&journalISSN=0730-7187&institutionID=durham. 24. Buxadó JA, Charlotte C. The silence smell. 1rst edition, New York: Lulu Press, Inc. ISBN: 9781329672482. 25. Anne P. Grove, and Robert W. Grove. Fidel’s Cuba. Sidney: Photobookrus, 2016. URL: http://orders.photobooksrus.com.au/?fsaction=Share.preview&ref2=3098e63a34e2c53558ca72ba5ba327f4. 26. Anne P. Grove, and Robert W. Grove. Michel Mico’s Cuba. Sidney: Photobookrus, 2016. URL: http://orders.photobooksrus.com.au/?fsaction=Share.preview&ref2=cab10853a56a6a1fe8b3696b7cab5770. 27. World Public Library Association. List of Cuban painters. World Heritage Encyclopedia. 2016, WHEBN0010855414. Exhibitions 2000-VII Bienal dela Habana, Galería Victor Manuel, Havana, Cuba. 2001-Group Exhibition “Landscape Painting”, Casa de la cultura de Arroyo Naranjo, Havana, Cuba. “VI Competence on Painting and Drawing”, Casa Museo Hurón Azul,Havana,Cuba. Group Exhibition “Homenaje al 40 aniversario de la UNEAC”, Casa Cultura Arroyo Naranjo, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition “Primer Salón de Pintura”, Galería HER-CAR, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition “Colectivo plástico Carlos Enríquez”, Casa Museo Hurón Azul, Havana, Cuba. 2003-Group Exhibition “Concurso de Pintura y Dibujo: Combate”, Casa Museo Hurón Azul, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition “Entornos”, Hotel Parque Central, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition “Primer Salón de Paisajes Víctor Manuel”, Convento San Francisco de Asís, Havana, Cuba. 2004-Group Exhibition “Primavera en Arroyo”, Galería HER-CAR, Havana, Cuba. 2005-Group Exhibition “Segundo Salón Nacional de Paisaje Víctor Manuel”, Convento San Francisco de Asís, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition “Paisajes Primavera”, GaleríaLa Acacia, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition “Efectos secundarios”,Registro Nacional de Bienes Culturales, Havana, Cuba. Group Exhibition, “Artbo 2005”, Feria Internacional de Arte de Bogotá, Bogotá, Colombia. 2006-Group Exhibition “Latin American Artists”,JorgeMSoriFineArtGallery,Miami,U.S.A. 2007-Group Exhibition “Latin American Artists”, Jorge M Sori Fine Arts Gallery,Miami,U.S.A. 2008-Group Exhibition “Cada quien con su paisaje”, GaleríaLa Acacia, Havana, Cuba. September, “Five Contemporary Latin American Artists”, Jorge M. Sori Fine Arts Gallery,Miami,U.S.A. December 31st, Group Exhibition “Renowned Latin American Artists”, Jorge M. Sori Fine Arts Gallery,Miami,U.S.A. 2009-February - Auction of the “Humidor Montecristo” designed by the artist José Ernesto Aguilera Reina, and created by Fidel Micó. Sold for € 120 000 to a Canadian collector at the “XI Festival del Habano”,Havana,Cuba. Group Exhibition “Cuban Visions”, Cuban Embassy,Doha,Qatar. Group Exhibition “13th Moscow Fair of Art”, Central House of the Artist,Moscow,Russia. 2010-Group Exhibition Salón de Paisaje “170 Aniversario del Natalicio del Insigne Pintor Esteban Chartrand”, Salón Blanco del Convento de San Francisco de Asís, Havana, Cuba. 2011- Group Exhibition Salón de Paisaje “Sin irnos por las ramas”, GaleríaLa Acacia, Havana, Cuba. 2011 - Group Exhibition, Artists,JorgeM.SoriFineArtGallery (June – August, 2011). 2011 - 48th Annual Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Coconut Grove Arts and Historical Association, February 19th – 21rst, Miami, FL.
2013-Group Exhibition “Life”, Hotel Occidental Miramar, Havana, Cuba. 2016- Group Exhibition “Cuba Present”, Art Gallery by Design, Texas, USA, October 1srt– 29th, 2016.
Studio address: Villoldo, entre Kessell y María Auxiliadora, edificio 10, apartamento 5, Vibora Park, Municipio Arroyo Naranjo, Havana, Cuba. Studio phones: 53-7-647-7429 and 53-7-05284-5675.
e-mail: fidelmico24@nauta.cu
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