Adrián Socorro’s wink to Charles Baudelaire in Matanzas.

He thus makes us participants in a question whose answer was kept under wraps by the History of Universal Art, but which beats in these paintings while inviting reflection and dialogue.

Who killed Baudelaire? Adrián Socorro leaves the question suspended in the air between the walls of the provincial gallery Pedro Esquerré, in the city of Matanzas, thus making us participants in a question whose answer remained protected by the History of Universal Art, but which beats in these paintings while inviting reflection and dialogue. «I connected with Baudelaire from the first time I read him, that I learned about his work. To mine I always bring universal passions.

«I believe that me and Baudelaire are united by thoughts, ideals, worlds in which we converge, he in his time and I in mine. Art is capable of connecting artists and that is why, in this case, Baudelaire does not die but is here on display.»

Charles Baudelaire, art critic, translator, the most important poet of French symbolism and recognized as «one of the cursed poets of France in the late 19th century for his bohemian lifestyle, excesses and human decadence, is assumed by a painter who recreates universal passions and fluctuating experiences in much of his work,» according to Meira Marrero Diaz, curator of the Center for the Development of Visual Arts.

«From the title itself, Who killed Baudelaire? It is collected in the History of Art but it is better not to know it, it is better to stay with the majestic works that he gave to literature and French intellectual culture. The very thing that killed Baudelaire is in these pieces.

«As far as I have been able to appreciate Socorro’s work is evolutionarily greater, which is a victory of constancy, of perseverance, of wisdom, of enlightenment, even of faith, spiritual. May she never lose her way, may she never find out who killed Baudelaire».

The art critic (National Curatorial Award 2017) was previously in charge of the curatorship of the exhibition La delgada línea negra, by Adrian Socorro at Collage Habana and now she arrives in Matanzas to enjoy an exhibition in which, she said, a greater conceptual maturity and execution of the artist can be appreciated.

«I’ve been following Socorro’s work very closely for more than four years now. It is a higher step in pictorial production, even in conceptual production.

«Having been able to see the art in his most recent exhibition abroad has enriched the factual act of painting. He is a great painter, always has been, but now he also has a hard drive full of wonderful things, beyond the concepts he may use in his work historically.

«This is a completely different exhibition from the previous one we did based on drawing, on charcoal. When we arrived here, painting is imposed again and it is again the use, no longer disproportionate, of color, with a consensual, safe, mature, elegant treatment.

«We are in front of an artist at another level of appreciation. The show is very coherent and to do it by contrast, to interact with the work of this Canadian creator who is exhibiting for the first time in Cuba, whose work we could consider naive for the context and for the concept of the exhibition, seems wonderful to me».

On this occasion Socorro invited a Canadian artist to establish a dialogue between the pictorial production of both. «This is the first time I have invited an artist to an exhibition of mine. I had the good fortune to teach Alain Dorval and since then we have maintained a friendship of several years.

«He has developed his career on his own, he has had several exhibitions in Canada. I decided to invite him to exhibit with me because we share the same views on art and life. Alain has a very interesting work that is not divorced from mine despite being completely different in terms of aesthetics and visuals.»

Alain Dorval thus joins Who Killed Baudelaire? with a dozen pieces. «Adrian and I have a very special connection and one day he asked me if I wanted to come here to paint alongside him.

«Our work is very different but the connection is very strong. I am very happy for this event, I never thought the opening would be so big, with so many people.»

Although Dorval has visited the Island nearly twenty times as a tourist, this is the first time he exhibits his work here. «In 2019 was the first time I came to Cuba,» he says.

«I have an undeniable connection with this country; for me it is the best place where I can see different things and I feel good here in Cuba. I really like the country, the people, the culture, in this place the people are like my family.»

During the inauguration Socorro commented some details about the project he is currently working on.

«I was invited to the Cervantino, a festival that will take place during the month of October in Mexico and I will already start working on the works that I will bring».

Who Killed Baudelaire?, an exhibition by Adrián Socorro with Canadian artist Alain Dorval as his guest, will remain at the provincial gallery Pedro Esquerré for a month.

Written by Jessica Mesa.