Until Aug 30
Cuba Out of Cuba:
Through the Lens of
Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte
in Collaboration with
Tico Torres
MDC Museum of Art + Design
Cultural Legacy Gallery
The Freedom Tower at MDC, First Floor
600 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, Florida
Museum Hours: Wednesday "“ Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
PRESS RELEASE AND INFORMATION ABOUT EXHIBITION:
Miami Dade College's Museum of Art + Design Presents the inaugural Exhibition at the new Cultural Legacy Gallery, Cuba Out of Cuba: Through the Lens of Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte in Collaboration with Tico Torres
The Museum of Art + Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College (MDC) presents Cuba Out of Cuba: Through the Lens of Alexis Rodriguez- Duarte in Collaboration with Tico Torres. The inaugural exhibition is at the new Cultural Legacy Gallery, a permanent space dedicated to the impact of Cuban culture on South Florida and throughout the world, housed at the National Historic Landmark Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College in Downtown Miami. Cuba Out of Cuba: Through the lens of Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte in collaboration with Tico Torres features what have become iconic photographs of Cuban figures living outside the island, among them performers, composers, designers, writers and artists. The Cuba Out of Cuba series was shot over the last twenty years in Miami, New York, London, Paris, Florence, Venice and Los Angeles. The exhibition will take a unique and historical approach in surveying the legacies of individuals such as singer Celia Cruz, musicians and composers Bebo Valdez & Israel Lopez "Cachao", singer Gloria Estefan, TV host Cristina Saralegui, actor Andy Garcia, artists Carmen Herrera & Cundo Bermudez, fashion designers Isabel Toledo & Narciso Rodriguez, Pulitzer Prize Winning author Nilo Cruz and saxophonist Paquito d'Rivera, among other Cubans who have influenced the greater culture of their time.
Alexis Rodríguez-Duarte was born in Havana, Cuba. In 1968 he and his parents were among Cuban exiles who left the Island aboard the humanitarian air lifts called the Freedom Flights. Once arriving to Miami, his family and many thousands of other Cuban exiles came through the doors of the Freedom Tower that served as a processing and assistance center for the exile community. Rodriguez"“Duarte's family settled in Miami's Little Havana. At the age of 10, he was given his first camera by his grandfather, which led to his love affair with photography. He is a New York and Miami-based internationally renowned photographer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, and Harper's Bazaar, among other major publications, and has exhibited his work at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., Museum of the City of New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, the San Antonio Museum of Art, the Miami-Dade Public Library, la Biblioteca Nacional in Havana, Cuba, the Bronx Museum and the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art among others.
Rodriguez-Duarte and his husband of 31 years, Tico Torres, have been documenting the Cuban diaspora since 1993 and are co-authors of the book, Presenting Celia Cruz (Clarkson Potter, 2004). Torres, a photo stylist who is a master of the mise-en-scene, helped create with Rodriguez-Duarte the joyous image of Celia Cruz standing amid the towering palms of Fairchild Tropical Garden in a traditional ruffled Cuban gown. He was also there to set the mood in the London flat of Guillermo Cabrera Infante, one of Cuba's most famous authors. Torres also arrived with his family aboard a Freedom Flight and they settled in Hialeah. Rodriguez-Duarte and Torres are thrilled to be returning together, full circle to the historic Freedom Tower for this inaugural exhibit, after separately setting foot there as immigrant children.
Cuba Out of Cuba: Through the Lens of Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte in Collaboration with Tico Torres will remain on display at the museum through August 30, 2015. All exhibitions are free and open to the public.
MOAD's Freedom Tower was operated by the U.S. Government as a reception center for Cuban refugees from 1962 to 1974. "The building is significant because it represents the important story of the Cuban exodus to America and resettlement during the Cold War," reports the U.S. Department of the Interior, which has also called the Freedom Tower the "Ellis Island of the South." Though it operated in that capacity for only 12 years, the building has become an icon representing the faith that democracy brought to troubled lives, the generosity of the American people and a hopeful beginning that assured thousands a new life in a new land.
WHAT:
Cuba Out of Cuba,
Through the Lens of Alexis Rodriguez-Duarte
in Collaboration with
Tico Torres
WHEN: Until August 30, 2015
Museum Hours: Wednesday "“ Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.
WHERE: MDC Museum of Art + Design Cultural Legacy Gallery
The Freedom Tower at MDC, First Floor
Miami, Florida
About MDC Museum of Art + Design
MDC Museum of Art + Design (MOAD) is Miami Dade College's flagship institution dedicated to the presentation and exhibition of visual art and design, housed at the National Historic Landmark Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College in Downtown Miami.
The mission of the Museum is to promote the appreciation and understanding of art and its role in society through direct engagement with original works of art from within the College's extensive permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Furthermore, the Museum presents year-round lectures, symposiums and art related events to expose, educate and engage the greater public through related creative processes.
The MDC Museum of Art + Design provides its patrons and visitors access to unique cultural, historical and educational exhibitions that enrich the greater community while building and preserving an expansive permanent art collection. Miami Dade College has been collecting art since the 1960s. Over the years, the collection has grown contain more than 1,600 works in all mediums and genres, specifically within the movements of minimalism, pop art of the '60s and '70s, conceptual art and contemporary Latin American art. The College and Museum actively acquire works by emerging and under- recognized artists, as well as major figures in modern, post-modern and contemporary art.
For more information about the exhibition and MDC Museum of Art + Design, please contact the Museum at 305-237-7722 ormuseum@mdc.edu.
