The CCCNY bestows the Amelia Peláez Award 2021, its highest recognition in the visual arts, to artist Baruj Salinas (Havana, 1935), widely recognized as a central figure in modern Latin American 
art. His work is regularly exhibited in galleries in Europe, Latin America and the United States. Of Cuban-Jewish descent, Salinas’s art is noted for its spiritual, philosophical, cultural, and symbolic layerings. He is identified with the Abstract Expressionism movement, having first been exposed to the work of its leading members (Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Marth Roghko, Zao Wou-Ki) while at Kent State University. He has occasionally taken to forays of figurative and representational abstraction. Baruj Salinas is the winner of numerous awards, including the Prize to Excellency at the VII Grand Prix International de Peinture in Cannes, a first prize at the IV Pan American Exhibition in Miami, and a first prize at the Sexta Bienal del Grabado Latinoamericano in San Juan. Collections of his work are housed in Villafames Museum, Spain; Carrillo Gil Museum, Mexico; Fine Arts Museum, Budapest, Hungary; Beit Uri Museum, Israel; and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., among other museums.
The award ceremony will be preceded by an introduction by curator Adriana Herrera who will give a panoramic overview of Salinas’s trajectory and evolution as an artist; and an illustrated commentary by art critic Janet Batet on Salinas’s cosmovision. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with the audience, with distinguished personalities from the art, music, and literary world in attendance.
This art event is part of our CreateNYC Language Access Series on Cuban History, Art, and Literature.
DUE TO THE COVID PANDEMIC, IT WILL BE STREAMED THROUGH OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
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General Admission: FREE
Baruj Salinas, Sepia & black, 2020, acrylic on paper, 14″ x 20″
Adriana Herrera is an art critic and curator. She earned her Ph.D. with an interdisciplinary dissertation in art and literature, formulating the concept of “extreme fiction.” She is currently working on an individual exhibition that will showcase the work of Baruj Salinas in the Cuban Legacy Gallery at the Freedom Tower, Miami. Her essays have been published in books and artists’ catalogs from different countries: The Island Rape. Neso-lecture Exercises around Bill Viola, As Time Goes By. Gonzalo Lebrija, International Yearbook of Futurism Studies, Volume 6, Antología de arte brasileño, and “Feminine Transgression = Transgresión femenina, among others. She cofounded Aluna Art Foundation in 2011. More than 200 artists have participated in the projects of the foundation, expanding social thought and imagination. Crystal Planet by Dagoberto Rodriguez, exhibited at Piero Atchugarry Gallery is the latest project of the Curatorial Collective.
Janet Batet (b. Havana, Cuba) is an independent curator, art critic, 
and essayist currently living in Miami. She is a former researcher and curator at the Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales (Development Center of Visual Arts) and a former professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte (Higher Institute of Art), both in Havana. She is passionate about contemporary art, Latin American art, and new technology. Her articles on art practices are regularly published in Art Nexus, Art Pulse, Arte al Día, Art Experience: NYC, and El Nuevo Herald, among others.
This event is co-sponsored by Cuba Art NY
And is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council
With the promotional collaboration of
