artnexus #69

In his brief career, the work of Wilfredo Prieto (Havana, 1978) has promoted subtle, sometimes almost imperceptible interventions that nonetheless have a clear objective: to satirize the paradoxes of consumerism and of certain contemporary political and economic postures. As he says, “I work with the possibility of the camouflaged work of art, the found work of art. I perceive it as a gleaner’s or an archeologist’s exercise, somebody who finds the work already made of who finds meaning in reality. As an artist, I exert the smallest possible operation, being very careful with those movements in bringing the work into a context that is designed, by consensus, for the reading of art.” Thus the label of “perverse minimalist” used by Gerardo Mosquera in the characterization of Prieto’s work. Wilfredo Prieto has been granted the Cartier Award for 2008 that will be exhibited at the Frieze Art Fair in London. This recognition is designed to promote younger artists residing outside the UK. The award finances a three-month stay at Gasworks, a well-known complex of artist’s workshops in London, as well as his production for the next Frieze, to be held in October, where Prieto will exhibit Estanque, which consists of one hundred oil containers set as a reflecting pool, in which the movements of a frog can be observed. It was selected from among 400 candidates from around the world because, in the judgment of Neville Wakefield, the project’s curator, Prieto’s work “makes the everyday levitate.” The event’s organizers consider also that Prieto’s work is “a beautiful and poetic exploration of the contemporary world’s obsession with accumulation and growth.” Prieto studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Universidad de La Habana, was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2006, and his work has been exhibited in important contemporary art spaces. He currently divides his time between Havana and Barcelona. 
IVONNE PINI