Rocio Garcia Revives Jack / Miguel Iturria Savon

The exposition of Rocío García: the return of Jack the Punisher, exhibited from August until the first week of September in the Galería Habana, of Vedado, fascinates and surprises because of the composite work of the canvases, the insinuating beauty of every frame, and the recreating an old horror story through images that fantasize and refresh, from a feminine gaze, that series of deaths that implicated the English police in America at the end of the 20th century.

In this free version pictorial saga, the artist revives, draws, cheats and subjects to the spectrum of Jack Kimberland — the hypothetical Jack the Ripper — that Irishman who in 1888 stayed in a London hotel before being deported on suspicion of murder, after which he settled in a suburb of New York, where he was followed by the London police to confirm that the bodies of mutilated prostitutes corresponded to the profile of the Irish fugitive, who emerged as a great serial murderer.

As noted by Corina Matamoros in the catalog, “Jack the Punisher’s back. A red forest, with pure white rabbits crouched, saw him arrive armed, fierce, beautifully androgynous. His outlined body … will infiltrate the bar as usual, concealed among drinkers. In his lap he holds, with maiden sweetness, the rabbit of love, while looking thoughtfully at the mirage of a naked lady, sprawled on a sidewalk, sipping his Caipiroshka.”

The Jack of the 14 paintings by Rocío García is exceeded before being surprised, victim of such tempting beauties and the mirages of black magic and white magic. He punishes and is punished without thinking in Niki Cheng, a character invented by the brush to free the rabbit, who finally breaks his bonds and goes in a boat down the river, a metaphor for love and the interchanges between history, swords, pistols, sensuality and fierceness. All mixed by the mastery of the artist, friend of film mirages served in brilliant and unique colors.

Rocío García de la Nuez (Santa Clara, 1955), graduated from the Academy of Arts in San Alejandro, in The Habana (1977) and achieved the title of Master of Beautiful Arts in the Academy of Répin, San Petersberg (1983). Currently he is a professor of painting in the Academy of San Alejandro. He has shown his creative works in many personal and collective expositions within and outside of Cuba.

Among his personal offerings are The Tamer and Other Stories (Habana Gallery, JM 2003. Arts, Paris, 2005); Haikus (Sancti Spiritus Gallery, 2004); La Dama de la patica caliente (Havana Galerie, Zurich); and The Thriller , Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, both in 2007; Very, Very Light (Light Galleries and Suarez del Villar, Madrid, and La Casona, Havana, 2010), and Hidden Things (Sidney Mishkin Gallery Baruch College, New York, 2011).

His works have been in the Havana Auction and dozens of group shows at the Havana Biennial and other international events, among them the Caribbean:Crossroads of the World, Queens Museum of Art, New York, 2012; Cuban Pictures (Wilfredo Lam Center ); Contemporary Cuban Art in Beijing; and Madrid Art Fair in 2010; Dear Van Gogh and Abstract Art Project (Havana, 2009); We Ar Porno, Yes. First Annual of Porno Art (Space Aglutinador, Havana, 2008); Four Decades Before the Mirror (Paris, 2004); and Cuban Artists (Ricoleta Cultural Center, Buenos Aires, 2001).

September 12 2012