Biografia dell'autore

Ana Mendieta (Havana, November 18, 1948 – New York, September 8, 1985) was a Cuban American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" art work.

Mendieta’s short career was prolific, beginning with an accomplished and influential body of work created as a graduate student at the University of Iowa. As a student Mendieta became interested in the interaction between performative rituals and sculpture, and important motifs for her life-long practice emerged during these years, including the use of blood, feathers, fire, earth, and the body. Mendieta also began to draw upon and recreate rituals particularly resonant with Afro-Cuban and Catholic traditions, and goddess archetypes.

In her work, she left haunting traces of her body fashioned from flowers, tree branches, mud, rocks, sand, gunpowder, and fire. Her fragile yet powerful works speak of the desire to connect with the earth and to explore a mythical relationship with nature.

Since her death in 1985 Mendieta has featured in solo exhibitions at major institutions including the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C.; Whitney Museum, New York; Tapiés Foundation in Barcelona; and Castello di Rivoli in Turin; among others.

Her work has been featured in a number of important international group shows including WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, The Geffen Contemporary, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2007); Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (2010); Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2012); A Bigger Splash: Painting After Performance, Tate Modern, London (2012-2013); Female Power, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem (MMKA), Arnhem (2013).


SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013
Ana Mendieta: Traces, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, United Kingdom. Traveling through 2014 to Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria
Ana Mendieta: Late Works 1980-1985, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
Ana Mendieta: She Got Love, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Ana Mendieta in Exile: The Silueta Films, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

2011
Ana Mendieta: Blood and Fire, Galerie Lelong, Paris, France

2010
Ana Mendieta: Documentation and Artwork, 1972-1985, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
Where is Ana Mendieta? Donde esta Ana Mendieta? 25 Years Later – An Exhibition and Symposium, Fales Library, New York University, New York, New York
Silueta and Silence, Alison Jacques Gallery, London, England

2009
People Looking at Blood, Moffitt, Signal Contemporary Art Center, Malmö, Sweden

2008
Converge: Ana Mendieta and Hans Breder 1970-1980, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York

2005
Beyond the Performance: Ana Mendieta in the 1970’s, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
Heroines: Valie Export, Carolee Schneemann, Ana Mendieta, Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2004
Ana Mendieta: Earth Body, Sculpture and Performance 1972-1985, Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York City. Traveled through 2006 to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa; Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida
Film Works and Drawings 1974 - 1985, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica

2002
Ana Mendieta (1948 – 1985) – Body Tracks, Neues Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland. Traveled through 2003 to Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Ana Mendieta: Selected Works, Kunst-Werke Berlin, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany

2000
Ana Mendieta and Vito Acconci: A Relationship Study 1969-1976, Galerie Lelong, New
York, New York
Performance works, Siluetas, Drawings, and Objects, Galerie Lelong, Zürich, Switzerland

1999
Ana Mendieta and Marina Abramovic: Rest/energy, Galerie Lelong, New York, in
collaboration with Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, New York
Galerie Akinci, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, France
Selected Works, Kunstwerke, Berlin, Germany

1998
Blum and Poe, Los Angeles, California
Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California

1997
Body Imprints and Transformations, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York
Elba Benitez Galeria, Madrid, Spain

1996
Ana Mendieta (1948–1985), Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finlan. Traveled through 1997 to Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala, Sweden; The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark
Ana Mendieta, Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Traveled through 2000 to Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany; Fundació Antoni Tápies, Barcelona, Spain; Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Mexico; and Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Ana Mendieta: photo etchings, photographs, & works on paper, Elizabeth Newman: collotypes & constructions, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon

1995
Barbara Gross Galerie, Munich, Germany
Galeria DV, San Sebastian, Spain

1994
Ana Mendieta: Burial of the Nanigo, Ruth Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, California
Ana Mendieta: The Late Works, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Artothèque de Caen, France
Lineas, 1980-1983, Galerie Lelong, New York, New York

1993
Centre d'Art Contemporain, Ile de Vassivière, France

1992
Laura Carpenter Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico

1991
Ana Mendieta: The Silueta Series, Galerie Lelong, New York. Traveled through 1993 to University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San Diego, California; Freedman Gallery, Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania

1990
Aspen Arts Museum, Aspen, Colorado
Pat Hearn Gallery, New York, New York

1989
Carlo Lamagna Gallery, New York, New York

1988
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), Los Angeles, California
Terne Gallery, New York, New York

1987
The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, New York

1985
Gallery A.A.M. Architettura Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy

1984
Primo Piano, Rome, Italy

1983
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba

1982
Douglas College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
The Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Miami, Florida
The University Art Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Yvonne Seguy Gallery, New York, New York

1981
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, New York

1980
Colburn Gallery, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
Keane College, Union, New Jersey
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, São Paolo, Brazil

1979
A.I.R. Gallery, New York, New York

1977
Corroboree: Gallery of New Concepts, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

1976
112 Greene Street, New York, New York

1971
Iowa Memorial Union, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa