Opening Friday October 7th , 8 p.m.

"New Horizons in Hispanic Outsider Art "

Until Nov.30th . From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Monday through Friday).

The National Art Exhibition by the Mentally Ill (NAEMI) and Centro Cultural Español (CCE) present the exhibition "NEW HORIZONS IN HISPANIC OUTSIDER ART" next Friday October the 7 th at 8:00 pm. An exhibition with over 40 works done by Hispanic artists with mental illness that will be accompanied by a number of parallel related events of music, cinema and lectures, and a book about the Hispanic outsiders.

In occasion of this exhibition a bilingual edition (English/Spanish) on the topic of Hispanic Outsider Art has been made. The book that will be presented at the Miami opening, includes poems by the well known Spanish poet, narrator and essayist Leopoldo María Panero, and texts by the Spanish Professor of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature Túa Blesa, the psychiatrists Jesús J. de la Gándara Martín and Daniel Castellanos, and the Ph D Spanish Art Historian Pedro José Lavado Paradinas, among others.

THE CURATOR: Ricardo Viera

The curator of the exhibition, Ricardo Viera, has chosen for the occasion the works of 15 artists from all around the Hispanic world (Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and the Hispanics from the United States). Ricardo Viera is a multimedia artist, educator, curator and museum specialist. He has worked as professor and Director/curator at the "Lehigh University Art Galleries, Museum Operation", in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since 1974. He has organized and advised on several projects and international itinerary exhibitions, such as the one of "Echo McAllister, The silent outsider".

THE EXHIBITION: "NEW HORIZONS IN HISPANIC OUTSIDER ART"

The result of this selection is an exhibition by the artists Rafaja, Eric Holmes, Mario Mesa, Peyi, Carlos Cuenca, Emilio Jiménez, Mauricio Serrano, Lucía Ballester, Mariano Degremonts, José Moreno, Carmen López, Jordi Petanas, Leonardus and an anonymous one. All of them create fragments capable of escaping beyond their limits. Carlos Cuenca's trees remind us of a forgotten tree, a given flower, the lost trees sweetness of the memory of some beloved lips. Trees that, like human beings, try to find sense in an uncertain and meaningless labyrinth. Here we realized how painting is a bridge between sleep and wakefulness. The relation between the unknown and the surprise of the unknown is suggested.

The enigma also lies in that diaphanous crystal of Lucía Ballester's work, the innocence that is destroyed yet still preserved before our eyes, where the tamed circus lion captures with its tail all the afternoon colors. Or Inside and outside the white paper where Peyi takes part of the mystery and we are introduced without knowing whether we are in or out.

José Moreno's magical dragons, seen from his privileged watchtower, are a refuge which allows showing the impossible, name the unmentionable... Ghosts that go to the spectator's look, like in a rebel dream. Mario Mesa's monsters and ghosts seem to be nearer to a monsters and ghosts fantasy than to a monsters and ghosts reality. He has the opportunity to enter a highly personal world, one in which Mesa's monsters and ghosts do exist.

And there is an anonymous artist we do not know a lot about, just that he was a patient at San Juan de Dios Hospital in Ciempozuelos (Spain). But all anonymous artists who have existed throughout history enrich us, and what we do know is that he took seriously to drawing, most of the time working his fantasies. We know that he was respected as an artist by the people who were in charge of taking care of him. His paintings are kept in frames, and we can even imagine that his first exhibition was organized at the hospital, since nobody frames more than 40 pictures not to exhibit them. This has preserved his art for posterity.

The exhibition will then travel to Spain where it will be exhibit in the prestigious Casa de América (Madrid), Burgos and Zaragoza.

THE ORGANIZERS: NAEMI AND CCE

The Spanish Cultural Center located in Coral Gables (Florida) is a non-profit organization part of the Network of Cultural Centers of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a network comprising 36 spots spread all over Latin America the aim of which is the cooperation and cultural exchange among Hispanic cultures.

The CCE opened in 1996 to provide a meeting point for the spreading of both Spanish and in-Spanish culture, foreseeing the fact that Miami would become the city that it is today: the capital of Latin America. And this city, that no doubt will become a cultural reference, cannot be understood without the variety of cultures Hispanic communities contribute to Miami. It develops an agenda for the general public comprising several disciplines, with specific initiatives that explore several areas of knowledge and creation (visual arts exhibitions, lectures, book presentations, concerts for all publics, theater plays, dance and films).

The National Art Exhibition by the Mentally Ill (NAEMI) is a Florida non-profit organization that has provided access to the arts for mentally-disabled artists who are isolated from the cultural mainstream. Naemi's mission consist on discover, study, promote, exhibit, and preserve the art of the mentally ill throughout the nation. Through these exhibitions NAEMI seeks to educate the community about "outsider" art; help eliminate negative bias toward the mentally ill; and affirm the positive power of the creativity of mentally-disabled individuals.

Photographies available. With the support of the Spanish Cultural Ministry, Janssen/Cilag, Citibank, Miami Dade Cultural Affairs Council and Centro Cultural Español de Miami.