New MOLAA exhibits focus on surrealistic anatomy, Mexican identity

A surrealistic look at human anatomy by one of Cuba's most respected contemporary artists and an exploration of Mexican identity through figurative paintings are coming to Long Beach's Museum of Latin American Art this summer.

Fabelo's Anatomy, the first solo exhibition in the U.S. by Cuban illustrator, painter and sculptor Roberto Fabelo, and Neomexicanism, a collection of paintings from the 1980s by Mexican artists such as Monica Castillo, Julio Galan and Nahum B. Zenil, will run concurrently Saturday through Sept. 28, sharing the space that formerly housed the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

We're very excited to have the opportunity to show the work of one of the most compelling artists of our time, said Stuart Ashman, museum president and CEO, referring to Fabelo.

The Fabelo exhibition features more than 50 pieces that include oil and ink paintings on Chinese silk, bronze sculptures and ink on paper all of which focus on human and humanlike anatomy. The highlight of the exhibition is likely the series of hand-colored ink drawings Fabelo created on the pages of an antique anatomy textbook.

The artist drew on the anatomy figures and on the text in the book, which dates back to the late 1880s. He created strange animallike human creatures; for example, one drawing depicts the nude profile of a winged female body wearing only high heels, with a bird head and beak over her head like a helmet. The drawing was created on the book's illustration of internal organs.

Roberto Fabelo's Al techo del seno (At the Celling s Breast). Mixed media on paper. Courtesy of the artist.

Facing the female bird creature is a smaller bearded figure that appears to be a man. He is also wearing a large bird head, but his legs are that of a satyr a mythological Greek figure that is part man, part goat.

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New MOLAA exhibits focus on surrealistic anatomy, Mexican identity