1. 

   Tonel, Las partes que mas me sudan cuando me pongo nervioso [The Parts of Me that Sweat the Most When I Get Nervous] , 1995-2009.
   Wall drawing, dimensions variable.

Tonel

Las partes que más me sudan cuando me pongo nervioso
[The Parts of Me that Sweat the Most When I Get Nervous]

July 10 to December 20, 2009

Walter C. Koerner Library, Main floor, 1958 Main Mall, University of British Columbia

Library hours:
Monday to Friday 8 am to 11 pm, Saturday to Sunday 10 am to 11 pm
Click here for directions

Artist talk: Tuesday September 29, 12:30 pm to 1:30
BC Gas Conference Room (Room 742) Walter C. Koerner Library

Watch a video clip of the artist in conversation about his work:

Tonel (7’ 20”)

The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, the University of British Columbia Library, and Walter C. Koerner Library are pleased to announce the exhibition of Las partes que más me sudan cuando me pongo nervioso, by Tonel.

Las partes que más me sudan cuando me pongo nervioso [The Parts of Me that Sweat the Most When I Get Nervous], a large, diptych drawing of a sweating male nude, is both a self-portrait and a fictional character. The work, installed in the main floor of Koerner Library evokes graphic humour while dealing with marginal aspects of human sexuality and the physical nature of bodies. Connotations of a day-to-day physicality, including scatological and psychological concerns come through in the image of a sweating, nervous man, whose placement leaves him open to inspection and scrutiny. Irony plays a role, as this peculiar personal moment subverts any common notion of male machismo. In the tradition of cartooning, a bare minimum of line and written text convey a simple message about bodily function that leads to a related question: what personal moments are occurring in our bodies when we are in public situations?

Antonio Eligio Fernández, known as Tonel, is an artist, scholar, critic, and curator. He has worked extensively in Cuba, Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States. His early formation as an artist included regular publication of his drawings and cartoons, notably in DDT, a bi-weekly humour magazine published in Cuba in the 1970s. His articles and essays on Cuban and Latin American contemporary art have been published regularly in Cuba and elsewhere.

This project is a collaboration of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the Walter C. Koerner Library at the University of British Columbia, and is made possible by the generous support of the Audain Foundation. Art in the Library aims to open possibilities for interpretation and new perspectives on contemporary art by presenting art that questions and challenges our current perceptions.

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For further information please contact: Jana Tyner at jana.tyner@ubc.ca,
tel: (604) 822-1389, or fax: (604) 822-6689