The Tempta-Eight-ion Painting

Michel Blázquez Mijares Havana (1972). He graduated from the ENA (National School of Art) in 1991 in the specialties of Painting and Printmaking. Michel Blázquez relocated to the United States in 1994 and has since exhibited works in various cities, including New York, New Jersey, and countries such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. His solo exhibitions include "Hypothesis" (Molloy Gallery, London, 2011) and "The Coating of Time" (Qbava Gallery, New Jersey, 2009), among others. His numerous group exhibitions include "Eight Cuban Artists" (Frost Gallery, New York, 2015) and "La Virgen de Todos (Our Virgin)" (Qbava Gallery, New Jersey, 2010). We recognize most artists' peculiar way of using the material because of the morphological similarity between their pieces or what they call "style." This does not happen in the case of Michel since the common factor of his diverse production, what we can identify him by, is not precisely the physical appearance but something much more profound: his ingenuity. His particular way of approaching art, within his multifaceted work, both in the field of assemblage as in that of painting, both in sculpture and in photography, is characterized by very refined humor, with a taste that takes us back to those times when the surrealists discovered that "a knife without a handle with the blade missing" also it can be a work of art. Michel is not interested in looking a little like the cubists in the occasional painted face or to one of the masters of surrealism because intentionally, as the postmodern artist that he is, he uses the entire arsenal of Art History to his advantage and puts it at the service of his ideas, always surprising and dynamic. Avoid this unique creator of all mechanisms, all repetition, to deliver a product that is always fresh and full of that depth hidden behind the appearance of lightness and joke. Michel's work is characterized by a sui generis virtuosity that resides in the mental realm rather than the execution. He is careful to be synthetic when the work requires it and baroque when the idea demands it, resulting in a broad, flexible work in which freedom is its backbone. Today, Michel Blázquez is considered one of the most restless and intelligent Cuban-American artists.