In Passage, Cuban-born artist Osvaldo Yero has created an ominous and mesmerizing large-scale sculptural installation, which plays with the effects of light in the gallery’s window. Highly experiential, Yero's work evokes the feeling of swimming alone in the middle of a dark ocean — intense flashes of light momentarily highlight spikes of metal like the reflection from a lighthouse beacon on a swelling, dark sea.
The metaphor of death prevails in Yero’s work; many who try to escape Cuba across the vast ocean do not survive, or arrive on the other side only to be sent back. Passage addresses intersecting issues of integration and dislocation facing immigrants to a new country, speaking to the underlying complexities. By merging the space of the gallery with the environment outside, things may not be what they appear.
Curated by Charo Neville
Osvaldo Yero was born in Cuba in 1969 and immigrated to Canada in 1997. He currently lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. Working mainly in sculpture and installation, Yero has consistently been concerned with themes that relate to his experience as part of the growing diaspora of Cuba. Politically and socially charged, Yero’s work contends with issues of national identity and plays with the boundaries of kitsch and high art, frequently comprising small-scale ceramic objects that reference pop art and the tourist souvenir. Metaphors of death and water are prevalent throughout Yero’s practice. Through large-scale installations, he has explored the effect of the multiple on the bodily experience of the viewer.
Solo exhibitions of Yero’s work include: Loop, Galeria 23 y 12, Havana, Cuba (2008); Hereafter, Xeno Gallery, Dadabase, Vancouver, BC (2003); Landmark, Belkin Satellite, Vancouver, BC (2002); Transplant, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, BC (2002). Recent group exhibitions include: F.A.R.Xchange 1: The Desert Between Us, Future Arts Research, Arizona State University, Phoenix AZ (2008); Nuit Blanche, Toronto ON (2006); Contemporary Art From Cuba: Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island, a traveling exhibition organized by Arizona State Art Museum, and circulated by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York (2001).
Charo Neville received her Master of Arts degree in the Critical Curatorial Studies program at the University of British Columbia. She has worked in several art institutions in various roles over the past decade, including the Belkin Satellite, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Charo currently works as Associate Curator at the Catriona Jeffries Gallery. Her independent work as a curator and writer has focused on social, political, and activist based art projects.
