The presentation of issues 4 and 5 of the Art by Excelencias magazine served as the perfect occasion to observe the day of the press and celebrate the first year of this printed publication and its digital weekly supplement.
The keynote speech was made by art critic and essayist Rufo Caballero, who said how amazing “it is to see this magazine’s geo-esthetic and thematic scope, its interest in thinking of Latin America and the Caribbean as a democratic and complex space, without incurring in hateful exclusions and leaning trends toward a particular vision on esthetics or the way culture flows in our countries”.
“It’s so hard to believe that anyone could bar a provincial, village-oriented magazine from interacting or dialoguing in an unbiased fashion, from taking into account cultural multiplicity. Art by Excelencias takes on that fragmented reality –just to put it this way–without any trace of sensationalism, tabloid gossiping or frivolity”, Mr. Caballero added in another moment of his speech as he underscored the prestige this publication has been achieving, let alone the multitude of glimpses and standpoints it has managed to muster up in just five issues of existence.
Writer Roberto Fernandez Retamar, President of Casa de las Americas, artists Nelson Dominguez (National Fine Arts Prize), Zaida del Rio, Manuel Lopez Oliva, Lesbia Vent Dumois, Alicia Leal, Juan Moreira, Pedro Abascal, Ever Fonseca, Rigoberto Mena, Nadal Antelmo, Jose Fuster, academicians and art critics Adelaida de Juan and Luz Merino Acosta, among other boldface names of the arts and some collaborating writers of the past two issues, also attended.
As part of an engagement and legitimization strategy worldwide, Jorge Gomez de Mello, marketing director of the Art Excelencias Project, attended recently the Zona MACO Fair (Mexico-Contemporary Art) as representative of Art by Excelencias magazine. Staff members from our newsroom learned the magazine’s booth lured both experts and the public. A number of artists, art critics, gallery owners and editors praised the publication’s quality printing, the level of the artworks and the texts.
Art by Excelencias shared the limelight with such other world-class magazines as Art Nexus, Arte al Limite, Arte al Dia (Mexico’s issue) and Exit Express.