About the Exhibition
Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory and 21c Museum are delighted to co-present Stealing Base: Cuba at Bat, a group exhibition of paintings, photographs, prints, and videos exploring the role of baseball in shaping contemporary Cuban culture. Largely drawn from the Shelley and Donald Rubin Private Collection, this selection features works by fifteen established and emerging artists: Jesoviel Abstengo-Chaviano, Alejandro Aguilera, Carlos Cárdenas, Yunier Hernández Figueroa, Duniesky Martín, Frank Ernesto Martínez González, Bernardo Navarro Tomas, Juan Padrón, Douglas Pérez Castro, Arlés del Rio, Perfecto Romero, Reynerio Tamayo, José Angel Toirac, Harold Vázquez Ley and Villalvilla. The exhibition, Stealing Base: Cuba at Bat also features an essay by Havana-based curator Orlando Hernández.
Without question, baseball is a great generator of meanings. The game can and should be used as a grand metaphor to express or to understand not only art but the very reality in which we live.
– Orlando Hernández
A love for baseball connects Cubans across race, religion, politics and geography. Pop-flys, stolen bases, and home runs provide meaningful and accessible imagery for Cuban artists. Responding not only to the sport as national pastime, their work further conveys larger complexities within Cuban society. Stealing Base presents the work of a diverse range of contemporary artists, living in both Cuba and in the U.S., who have found potency in the imagery of the sport.
“Baseball has played an important role in the impugning, critical, and revolutionary spirit that Cuban artists have demonstrated when faced with acts of dogmatism, official intolerance, and censorship,” writes Hernández, “Thanks to these brave artists, we realize that the game is not over yet.”
In Louisville, this two-venue exhibition is the first collaboration between 21c and LSMF. Located only a block apart on Main Street’s Museum Row in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, both 21c and LSMF look forward to cross-pollinating audiences, and welcoming sports fans and art enthusiasts alike. Stealing Base will provide an unprecedented opportunity to engage a diverse public, and broaden the appreciation for both baseball and contemporary art.
About Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory
Guests experience history-in-the-making at Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory as they stroll through the factory where world-famous Louisville Slugger baseball bats are created. Along with the award-winning factory tour, the facility features galleries with interactive exhibits, historic memorabilia, the World’s Biggest Baseball Bat, daily programming, and a free miniature bat for every guest. The museum regularly mounts temporary exhibits and has partnered in the past with the Smithsonian, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Negro Leagues Museum, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, private collectors, and many more. LSMF welcomes more than 275,000 guests annually and is committed to celebrating and communicating the extraordinary role of Louisville Slugger in baseball’s past, present, and future. Forbes.com recently referred to LSMF as “One of the greatest sports museums in the world.”
About 21c Museum
A multi-venue museum, 21c was founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, contemporary art collectors and preservationists who are committed to bringing works of art to the public through innovative exhibitions and programs that integrate contemporary art into daily life. 21c Museum presents a range of arts programming curated by VP, Museum Director, Alice Gray Stites, including thought-provoking solo and group exhibitions that reflect the global nature of art today, site-specific, commissioned installations, as well as a wide range of cultural programming. Since opening in Louisville in 2006, 21c Museum has presented over 80 exhibitions, including Simen Johan: Until the Kingdom Comes, Alter Ego: A Decade of Work by Anthony Goicolea, Blue: Matter, Mood, and Melancholy; Aftermath: Witnessing War, Countenancing Compassion; Wild Card: The Art of Michael Combs; see you at the finish line: Duke Riley; and Cuba Now! Also now on view at 21c Louisville until March 2015 is a solo exhibition of works by Havana-based artist Jose Angel Toirac, who is among the artists featured in Stealing Base: Cuba at Bat.
