José Yaque

Press Release

Comunicato PDF
Press Release PDF

Private preview by invitation: 23 January 2020 | 7:30pm

Public opening: 24.01 - 05.07.2020

The St. Regis Rome

Via Vittorio E. Orlando 3, Roma, Italy

To begin the celebrations of Galleria Continua’s 30th anniversary in 2020, we are proud to present and open a new space in the Eternal City with José Yaque’s exhibition Maturation. The exhibition, Maturation, will present pictorial, vibrant and material works as well as an installation from the Tumba Abierta series composed of natural elements in a process of transformation. The choice of José Yaque as the artist who inaugurates the new space represents a continuation of the Cuban experience which began with the opening of Galleria Continua / Habana in 2015.

For Maturation, Yaque works on canvas exclusively with his hands to mix colors, spreading them to create a magma-like surface. He then uses a plastic membrane to manipulate the paint that, when removed, causes an unctuous, disturbed effect; the plastic has the same effect on the canvas that wind and water have on the earth's surface. The installation from the Tumba Abierta series is a sort of archive undergoing a process of transformation, allowing a vision on natural elements and how they transmute through time. Emphasizing the process of permanent change, it's an invitation to witness the unescapable beauty of a constant transfiguration that also occurs in ourselves.

The genesis of Galleria Continua / Roma occurred in the wake of the success of a collaboration, begun in 2018, between Galleria Continua and The St. Regis, Rome with the personal exhibitions of the artists Loris Cecchini and Pascale Marthine Tayou. From 24 January 2020, the space will host not only temporary exhibitions but also workshops, artist residences, talks, meetings and educational and didactic programmes aimed at creating a dialogue between the Roman, national and international public, the guests of St Regis, the artists and specially selected projects.

José Eduardo Yaque Llorente was born in Manzanillo, Cuba in 1985. He currently lives and works in Havana. In recent years he has exhibited at Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille; at the 57th Venice Biennale, Cuban Pavilion, Palazzo Loredan, Venice; at the Singer Laren Museum, Amsterdam; at the Palazzina dei Bagni Misteriosi, Milan; at Wasserman Projects, Detroit; at UNAICC, Havana; in 2016 at CAB ArtCenter, Brussels; at the Metropolitan Art Society, Beirut; at CENTQUATRE, Paris.