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A CONVERSATION WITH MAXIMO CAMINERO
Máximo Caminero, Travesía, 2009, oil/canvas, 43” x 43”. Courtesy of the artist and Abro Gallery
Maximo Caminero (Dominican Republic, 1962) has a solid career spanning more than two decades of tireless work. The themes of his canvases cover the Caribbean ideo-aesthetic spectrum, understood from a mystical and philosophical perspective. Caminero has participated in exhibitions in the United States, Italy, Central America and the Caribbean. Endorsed by renowned critics, his work has been presented in numerous auction houses in the Americas. It currently forms part of prominent public and private collections, such as: The Harriet & George D. Cornell Museum of Art and History (Delray Beach, FL), Museo Casa de Bastidas (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic), Museo Fundación Guayasamín (Quito, Ecuador) Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC) (Santurce, Puerto Rico), among others.
The prestigious Dominican artist, Ada Balcacer, interviewed him for ARTDISTRICTS regarding his professional evolution and the conceptual bases of his work.
By Ada Balcacer
Via Biscayne Boulevard we arrive at the studio of the painter, Maximo Caminero, located in North Miami. From a large window, which fronts the street, a cubic space extends to an intimate room full of trade secrets, painters’ materials and props: black leather seats, a guitar, a bicycle, canvas stretched on the wall ready to be violated, works hanging in frames - an inviting and visually stimulating atmosphere … a preliminary glimpse…
“Hello Maximo”
“Hello Ada… “ (an embrace between colleagues)
The conversation begins…
Ada Balcacer - At what point in your art/life did you decide to integrate yourself into the Dominican diaspora in Miami, Florida ?
Maximo Caminero- As soon as I discovered in my soul the freedom of being, when I glimpsed a horizon that was more real than the line traced on the ocean, my hand started moving ahead of my thoughts. I sensed an ardor that tempted me to discover everything. That happened to me when I was 21 years old, 26 years ago.
AB- In the midst of the cultural diversity that characterizes the global development of the visual arts in this century, does your career flow with or against the tide?
MC- My oeuvre is influenced by my origins. It carries an imprint that has its source in the Antilles with the first settlers, the Taínos and Caribs, and is combined with images that inhabit my subconscious. This tendency is shared with Lam or Matta, each with his own specific vision; the first entrenched in his African roots, the other in accordance with his Universalist aspirations. It causes me go against current contemporary art that, not to take anything away from it, often starts with the desire to create something new but, lacking in foundation, tends towards the ridiculous.
Everything is art, but not everything has a soul and that is where the artist separates himself from the creator. The creator provokes; the artist invokes. The purpose of art is not to challenge us, but to slay us and connect our souls to the universe.
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Máximo Caminero, Presencia, 2010, oil/canvas, 61” x 51”. Courtesy of the artist and Abro Gallery
AB- Where do you direct the conceptual thread of your work?
MC- My work is separate from my material being, because it is essence and mystery. It must be discovered through pure philosophy. I associate it metaphorically with the creation of the universe.
AB- In 1997 you organized La Casa Cultural Dominico-Americana here in Miami, Florida. Do you still participate in those Floridian socio-cultural projects?
MC- Yes, I continue to participate in them. When you have a vocation for service, it stays with you forever. I am a humanist, generous and thankful.
Miami, Florida, January 21, 2010.
Maximo Caminero’s oeuvre will be exhibited during the month of March 2010 at ABRO Gallery. 2137 NW 2nd Ave., Miami, FL, 33127 - T. 786 348 2100
Ada Balcacer is one of the most representative figures of Caribbean modernism. Painter, draftswoman and engraver, she was born in the Dominican Republic in 1930. She participated in the Nueva Imagen movement that arose in 1972. She has been the teacher of several generations of Caribbean artists and has garnered considerable recognition, including the “Eduardo León Jiménez” prize. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the world.
