PARIS.- Galleria Continua is presenting Descendencia (Descendance), the new solo exhibition by Cuban visual artist Osvaldo González, in its Paris space in the heart of the Marais. This exhibition offers a poetic exploration of time, memory, and inheritance, constructing a cartography of the artist’s most intimate universe.
“Osvaldo González elevates the use of adhesive tape to its highest artistic expression, transforming an ordinary material into a plastic medium that challenges the viewer’s perception. Through meticulously layered tape compositions and the interplay of light, the artist creates spaces that evoke inner landscapes - where architecture is not merely a frame for the scene, but a subject in itself. His works capture fleeting moments, frozen images, transitory instants: “ a reminiscence suspended in light.”
After several years devoted to painting — particularly during his studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, where he graduated in 2006 — Osvaldo González discovered the subtlety of tape as a medium. Its ability to create chiaroscuro effects opened a new path of exploration, allowing him to delve into the relationship between light and shadow. In his practice, plexiglass becomes the evolution of the canvas, and tape, the evolution of paint — without abandoning the principles of pictorial composition. At the heart of his approach lies a deep investigation of space : a way to question our relationship with physical environments and everyday objects, while also transcending the traditional principles and techniques of painting.
Descendencia (Descendance) is profoundly rooted in the notion of time, reflecting the artist’s personal journey in recent years, his family nucleus, and most of all, his two daughters. Ámbar and Jade are not simply the titles of his series, nor random color choices — they embody the very essence of his new artistic explorations.
González’s best-known series, Ámbar (Amber), evokes the warmth of an embrace, an intimate and joyful space we return to in our memories. This exhibition also incorporates Jade, a more recent series inspired by an alignment of personal and artistic factors, leading him to explore new shades of adhesive tape - green in this case. “ Jade ” means rebirth, salvation, awakening, and confidence - concepts that have shaped his life and that of his family. The exhibition presents eleven works from Ámbar and five from Jade, revealing silent codes that translate his daughters’ ages into light and matter. Two sculptures, matching their exact heights, further materialize their presence in the space, transforming the exhibition into a visual tribute to their growth and evolution.
The journey is completed with a site-specific piece, Flujo (Flow), an expansive duct tape structure weaving through the gallery, linking the works and spaces, symbolizing the passage of time and the interconnection of loved ones, particularly his daughters. As the artist explains : “ This flow represents not only the passing of time but also the time they experience, the space between them, the bond that unites them while defining them as unique entities within the same cycle. ”
“Ámbar and Jade - two colors, two glows, two heartbeats. They inherited my shadows and my lights, my fears and my dreams. But when I look at them, I see they are not only offspring; they are also the origin of what I am yet to become. My work is our reflection - what we were, what we are, and what we do not yet see but is there, waiting for the right light to reveal itself. ”
With this exhibition, Osvaldo González invites us to reflect on memory and identity, transforming everyday materials into sensory experiences imbued with profound meaning.
Osvaldo González (Camagüey, Cuba, 1982), who graduated from the Higher Institute of Art (2006, Havana), lives and works in Madrid, Spain. Amongst his main solo shows, we mention : Estados (2024, GALLERIA CONTINUA, Havana); Restauración (2023, Galerie Aveline, Paris, France); Apuntes de San Lorenzo (2023, GALLERIA CONTINUA, Rome); La Casa del Salto (2022, Tenuta Casenuove, Italy); Viaje (2021, San Gimignano, Italy); Ámbar (2020, Fondation NC-Arte, Bogotá, Colombia); El principio de todo (2019, Galería Servando, Havana); Como es lo que es (2014, Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana); Una escena doméstica (23 y 12 Gallery, 11th Havana Biennial); among others. His work has been part of group exhibitions, such as: Kaleidoscopes: contemporain perspectives, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France (2024) : Desvíos urbanos (2023, GALLERIA CONTINUA, Sao Paulo, Brazil); Helborg, (pop up space, Sao Paolo, Brazil); The Ability to Dream (2022, GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano, Italy; La Brèche and Truc a faire (2021, GALLERIA CONTINUA, Paris, France); Maintenant ou Jamais! Special project (2021, Ardian. Paris, France); Mirador Circular (2020, GALLERIA CONTINUA, Havana); Umbrales (2019, GALLERIA CONTINUA, Havana); Ola Cuba (2018, Gare de Saint Sauveur, Lille); Cuba mi amor (2017, Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France); ¿ Soy Cuba ? (2017, Palazzina dei Bagni Misteriosi, Milan); Nido sin árbol (2017, UNAICC, Havana); etc. In 2018, he was granted the participation to New York City’s “Residency Unlimited” program by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and won the Acquisition Award for Best Emerging Artist in Zona Maco art fair, Mexico City.
