Inverna Lockpez

Inverna Lockpez (born November 21, 1941) is a Cuban American feminist, painter, sculptor, and activist, that actively participated in the second wave of America's feminist movement. She is best known for her graphic novel Cuba: My Revolution (illustrated by Dean Haspiel), a fictionalized memoir of her life prior to coming to the United States.

Inverna Lockpez
Born (1941-11-21) November 21, 1941
Havana, Cuba
EducationUniversity of Havana
National Academy of San Alejandro
Taller de Grabado
School of Social Work at Columbia University
School of Visual Arts
Known forPainter, sculptor
WebsiteInvernaLockpez.com

Biography

Inverna Lockpez was born in Havana, Cuba Growing up, Lockpez yearned to be an artist although her mother wanted her to follow behind her father’s footsteps as a doctor. However, in 1959, after Fidel Castro overthrows previous Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, Lockpez decided to set aside art and pursue a career in medical studies in order to help Castro’s militia as a doctor.[1] During the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, Lockpez volunteers as a medic to go to the front-lines to help the Cubans fight the Americans. There, Lockpez helped an injured CIA prisoner and is arrested for conspiracy.[2] While in prison, Lockpez is tortured repeatedly by her own comrades. After three months, Lockpez is released from prison and begins to focus on art once again. On September 1965, Lockpez’s art exhibition was opened to the public, however, riots started to form because her art did not fall under the category approved by Fidel Castro. Lockpez’s artwork was confiscated and she was forced to hide. After receiving her travel visa, Lockpez left Cuba in September, 1966 and arrived in the United States.[1][3]

After settling in New York, Lockpez attended the School of Social Work at Columbia University. In 1969, she attended her first exhibition in the United States: the Woodstock Music Festival. This influenced her to exhibit her own art in the 1970 all-female art exhibition “X12.” Shortly after, Lockpez joined the NYC Women Artists in Revolution, an organization that protests against museums and galleries that do not portray female artists in their exhibitions and shows. During the 1970s, Lockpez primarily focused on sculptures, and in 1972, her 25-foot sculpture “Walking Pineapples” won the outdoor competition of The Municipal Art Society. However, her artwork was met with much controversy because New York at the time was mainly influenced by minimalist and conceptual art.[4] In 1978, she became the director of INTAR Gallery, NYC, which focused on exhibiting the work of artists with multiracial heritages. She attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and studied film, video, and computer graphics. Her art reflected themes of ecology and the welfare of the environment. In 1985, Lockpez began her series “Markings of the Land” after she moved to a farmhouse in Delaware County. Her art was mainly black and white and its artistic features were of mountains and animal iconography. From 1982 to 1993, Lockpez curated or produced a series of feminist art exhibits in New York City; her most prominent being the 1993 portfolio for Heresies, issue #27. In 1988, Lockpez assumed role of President for the National Association of Artists’ Organizations (NAAO). Years later, in 2001, she became the director of the Catskill Center’s Erpf Gallery in Arkville and in 2008, Lockpez wrote a novel of her experiences from her time in Cuba.

In 2010, Cuba: My Revolution was published by DC Comics/Vertigo, documenting her struggles from her time during the Cuban Revolution until her eventual coming to America.[4][5]

Currently, Lockpez lives in Florida and is working on her new series of works, entitled Avian Impressions and The Boat Run.

Education

Lockpez attended medical school at the University of Havana, then she studied painting and sculpture at the National Academy of San Alejandro. Afterwards, she studied printmaking at Taller de Grabado. Lockpez attended the School of Social Work at Columbia University once she came to the United States and later in the 1980s, she attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.[2][3]

Artworks

Ms.

Lockpez exhibited a 15-foot sculpture, titled Ms. in New York City in 1973. This was the first time the word "Ms." was used as a title for a woman in a public exhibition. Lockpez displayed this artwork at the political show titled Women Choose Women in order to demonstrate the artwork woman artists are able to create.[4]

Walking Pineapples

For the 1974 CESP project, Lockpez created a foam board sculpture titled "Walking Pineapples." Lockpez's project was a three-curved shaped structure of graduated height. Each was segmented into black-outlined parts of tropical oranges, yellows, pinks, and greens, with addition three-dimensional shapes. The curve of the sculpture and counter-curve gave the ensemble the look of a pineapple. Lockpez used urethane foam blocks, laminated polyester, and fiberglass sheeting to create her 25-foot sculpture. To complete the entire sculpture, Lockpez spent $6,800 on materials.[6][7]

Untitled

Lockpez's 1975, Untitled, features a three-dimensional paper and foam sculpture of what seems to be a volcano. It is a black-and-white visual art that portrays the volcano separating into three different parts, representing the different types of rocks that are found during an volcanic explosion.[8]

The Green Barn

Lockpez completed her oil on canvas painting in 2000. It features a dark green barn with a dark green tree to its left, in a snowy setting. The dark color of the barn and tree contrasts with the white snow, which gives the artwork a blurry, but grandiose accomplishment. This painting was featured in Lockpez's 2008 gallery titled The Noble Barn.

Exhibitions

In 1976, she exhibited several 12-foot, three-dimensional works in the first feminist exhibition titled X12. The exhibition group later merged with the NYC Women Artists in Revolution, a group which organized demonstrations against museums and galleries that did not exhibit the work of female artists. Lockpez also participated in multiple political shows. The first one she was involved in was The Flag Show, an anti-Vietnam show at the Judson Memorial Church. She was also a part of Women Choose Women, in which she displayed her art, "Ms." The MOD ART at the Public Theater in New York City was in part with one of the first feminist music plays, and in 1981, Lockpez also took part in directing the controversial play: My Sister in This House. The last political show she was involved in was the Erotic Garden at the Women's interart Center in New York in which artists reclaimed their sexuality in visual terms.[5][9]

  • In 1974, Lockpez concurrently exhibited her artwork at Pratt Institute; Artist Space, 55 Street Mercer Gallery' and at the Aldrich Museum in Connecticut
  • 1970 Judson Church, NYC, "People's Flag Show"; MUSEUM, A Project for Living Artists, NYC, "Territories" & "X12, 12 Women Show" (coorganizer); Soho Festival, NYC, "Women Artists"

Collections and galleries

While Lockpez was with the X12 artist group, several of their artworks were displayed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and at the Museum of Modern Art. The X12 group's work was exhibited under the title "Spaces" at the Museum of Modern Art and they put out experimental exhibitions at Gain Ground. In 2007, the remaining X12 were asked to put together a show for a historical review of feminist art called WACK! at the Museum of Contemporary Art.[10]

Lockpez was a curator from 1982-1993 and she also helped publish many books on the exhibitions she curated. In 1984, she curated Lydia Cabrera: An Intimate Portrait which was the first retrospective on the life and work of the Afro-Cuban culture. Following, she co-published Chicano Expressions: A New View in American Art in 1986.[11] This was the first comprehensive exhibition of Chicano art in the Northeast. In 1988, Lopez curated Autobiography: In Her Own Image, which was a prospective of Latin, African, Asian and Native American sensibilities. Besides curating artwork, Lockpez started her own gallery of different art. Her gallery,The Noble Barn, was published in 2008 and it features New York's Catskill landscape through natural and architectural form. In addition to the paintings, there are interviews and essays about the vanishing lifestyle of farm families. Her most recent galleries are The Last Barn and Rural Roadscapes. The galleries are both mainly oil on canvas paintings and it features vivid colors with a heavy use of white. She is currently working on her two newest galleries, Avian Impressions and The Boat Run. Similarly, in The Boat Run, most of the artworks features different shapes and sizes of boats, while using vivid colors on the boat to contrast the dark colors of the sea.[8]

Publications

In 2010, Lockpez decided to write about her early life in the form of a graphic novel. It was published by DC Comics/Vertigo. Lockpez wrote the story while Dean Haspiel supplied the art.

  • author of Cuba: My Revolution, 2010
  • co-author of Another Face of the Diamond: pathways through the Black Atlantic South, 1988
  • co-author of Rejoining the spiritual: the Land in Contemporary Latin American art, 1994
  • co-author of Mira!: the Canadian Club Hispanic art Tour III, 1988
  • author of Chicano expressions: a new view in American art, 1986
  • co-author of The Migrations of Meaning, 1992
  • co-author of Grotto of the Virgins, 1987

Bibliography
  • American Historical Review. Dec. 2018, Vol. 123 Issue 5, p1602-1603. 2p.
  • Fuentes-Pérez, Ileana, Graciella Cruz-Taura, and Ricardo Pau-Llosa. Outside Cuba: Contemporary Cuban Visual Artists. New Brunswick: Office of Hispanic Arts, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 1989. Print
  • Glueck, Grace. "Art Notes." The New York Times, 7 Jan. 1973.
  • Heresies. 1993, Vol. 7 Issue 27, p87. 1p. 1 Black and White Photograph.
  • Johnston, Laurie. "Women Activism Turns To Alternatives in Arts." The New York Times, 21 Mar. 1973.
  • Keyes, Allison. "Graphic Novel Tells Grim Story Of Cuban Revolution." NPR, NPR, 24 Nov. 2010.
  • Lockpez, Inverna, and Judith McWillie. Another Face of the Diamond: Pathways Through the Black Atlantic South, January 23-March 3, 1989. New York, N.Y: INTAR, Hispanic Arts Center, 1988. Print.
  • Lockpez, Inverna. Chicano Expressions: A New View in American Art. New York, N.Y: Intar Latin American Gallery, 1986. Print.
  • Modern & Contemporary Art. New York: Bonhams, 2011. Print.
  • Rosati, Lauren, and Mary A. Staniszewski. Alternative Histories: New York Art Spaces, 1960 to 2010. , 2012. Print.
  • Schenker, Brett. "Review - Cuba: My Revolution." Graphic Policy, 27 Nov. 2010.
  • Torruella, Leval S, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, and Inverna Lockpez. Míra!: The Canadian Club Hispanic Art Tour Iii, 1988-1989. Farmington Hills, MI?: Hiram Walker, Inc.?, 1988. Print.

References
  1. Lockpez, Inverna (2011). Cuba: My Revolution. Titan Books Limited. ISBN 9780857680297.
  2. Lockpez, Inverna (September 2010). "Cuba: My Revolution". Read Comics Online.
  3. Vargas, Kathy (1993). Intimate Lives: Work by Ten Contemporary Latina Artists. Women & Their Work Gallery.
  4. Love, Barbara (2006). Feminists Who Changed America:1963-1975. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252031892.
  5. Nemec, Vernita (February 1970). "X12 woman art" (PDF).
  6. Bogart, Michele (2018). Sculpture in Gotham: Art and Urban Renewal in New York City. Reaktion Books Ltd. ISBN 9781780239224.
  7. ARCHIVES (July 11, 1972). "Art Commission Now Approves A Cube for Washington Heights". The New York Times.
  8. Lockpez, Inverna (May 2019). "Gallery".
  9. Torruella, Leval S, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, and Inverna Lockpez. Míra!: The Canadian Club Hispanic Art Tour Iii, 1988-1989. Farmington Hills, MI?: Hiram Walker, Inc.?, 1988. Print.
  10. Nemec, Verhita (May 29, 2019). "My Feminist Art History".
  11. Hoover, Stewart; Clark, Lynn (2001). Practicing Religion in the Age of the Media. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231120885.
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