A body is leaping backwards which turns into smoke in the distance. Headless bodies and torso are flying around. A train is about to hit the struggling people. It is amazing how I can feel how fast the train is moving. Cesar Menedez intrigues me. His work is very bold and gruesome. While I would not want his work in my home, it is unique.
Cuban Artist Jose Manuel Fors was born in 1956. Fors and other Cuban artists help the world realize that big murals of Che Guevara are not the only works of art in Cuba. Fors has a very distinct style; he takes photographs and arranges them in such a way that they convey a message or mood. Other photographs are not his Fors serves as the narrator guiding the viewer through the picture. .
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The picture above has a series of family pictures. Looking at it purely in shades, it is balanced out; if a vertical line were to be drawn down the middle, this collection would be symmetrical. Looking closer at the pictures with the imaginary line going down the middle, there is symmetry. There is an old couple in the bottom left and right. Horizontally along the middle is a collection of children. .
All of the inner pictures involve a package of some sort. On the outside are two little girls who maybe the same one. Except for the middle three, all of the other pictures are worn out. I wish I could understand the meaning of this collection better. Art is something that does not need to be translated and is the only universal method of communication. I like Jose Fors" artwork because it has pictures to look at but it is up to the viewer to put everything together.
According to the Baltimore City Guide, Fors' imagery includes many snapshots from his own family's collection that have been artificially marked up with slashing lines, and otherwise made to look aged and weathered. Some of the photographs are perfectly clear. Some photos are of old family letters, others are of common objects ranging from forks to seashells; and actual everyday objects sparingly applied atop related photos.