Gonzalo Fuenmayor

Florida Contemporary 2021-22

Gonzalo Fuenmayor (Colombian, b. 1977). Mr. Tutti Frutti IV, 2021. Charcoal on paper, 35 x 27 in. Courtesy of Dot Fiftyone Gallery and the artist.

Florida Contemporary, an annual exhibition organized by Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum, highlights work by notable visual artists active in Florida. Three artists are invited for its ninth iteration this season: Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Akiko Kotani and Noelle Mason. A wide array of compelling works by these artists with distinct backgrounds and artistic interests testify to the creative energies and intellectual vigor present in the state’s visual art world.

October 21, 2021 – July 17, 2022
Located in the Kohan Gallery of Hayes Hall

Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1977, Gonzalo Fuenmayor lives and works in Miami. He has created an astonishing body of charcoal drawings and photography imbued with a sense of magical realism. His work poignantly addresses Latin America’s colonial past and its legacy, as well as the multilayered cultural influences that have impacted both his artistic practice and Latin America as a whole. With a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Fuenmayor has built his professional artistic career in the United States over the past two decades.

Drawing on history, art history and his own personal experiences, Fuenmayor has delved into the complexity of his dual cultural identity as both a Colombian and an American. His art frequently addresses how Hispanic or Caribbean identity is perceived — often situated around predictable stereotypes and clichés associated with popular commercial images and a range of tropical symbols, such as toucans, bananas and palm trees. Another body of Fuenmayor’s work reflects his quest for visualizing the hegemonical power that American culture and politics wield over developing countries like Colombia, accomplished by referencing Hollywood movies and Americana, such as car wash signboards.

The most powerful and acclaimed aspects of his art are those works that realistically render opulent baroque architectural settings, as if they were film negatives, in combination with familiar “exotic” objects. Such works leave jarringly absurd and indelible impressions on viewers. By juxtaposing representations of colonial power and oppression, Fuenmayor adroitly addresses the sociopolitical, cultural and economic conditions of Hispanic and Caribbean countries, where the long history of colonialism is omnipresent. The exhibition presents 13 stunning black-and-white charcoal drawings created by the artist between 2016 and 2021.

Fuenmayor has held numerous prestigious artist residences and has received various grants, including one from the Keith Haring Foundation, New York (2000). His works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo shows at Galería​ ​Fernando Pradilla in Madrid, Spain (2019), Galería El Museo in Bogotá, Colombia (2018) and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (2015). Fuenmayor’s artwork has been acquired for important public collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Pérez Art Museum in Miami.

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