FLOWERS AND BULLETS IN THE BABEL OF STEEL

A creative collaboration with Lazarus Nazario & Alejandro Mazon

Lazarus Nazario, Naplam Puertorriquena (Detail)

Cuba and Puerto Rico are the two wings of one bird,receiving flowers and bullets into the same heart.

~Lola Rodriguez de Tio

Cuba and Puerto Rico have been called the two wings of one bird, yet the islands have opposite and complicated relationships with the United States. Cubans and Puerto Ricans share a basic culture, but our separate histories bring Puerto Ricans and Cubans to America from opposite ends of the spectrum.

While Puerto Ricans migrate, Cubans exile.

I’m Puerto Rican.  Alejandro Mazon is Cuban,  FLOWERS AND BULLETS IN THE BABEL OF STEEL is a creative collaboration between two artists working within a similar cultural background, yet opposite histories.  While my work explores memories of my homeland as ‘residual memory time lines’, Alejandro’s confronts issues of displacement.  We’re both connected by the experience of living in America, yet separated by the circumstances that led us here.

Over the next year we’ll each produce a body of work exploring these issues, accompanied by a short film documenting our process.  The entire project will consist of over 40 individual works including painting, mixed media, and sculpture, and will be produced independently of each other only coming together at the time of their completion, with the exception of a suite of works that we’ll create together.

FLOWERS AND BULLETS IN THE BABEL OF STEEL focuses on the inspirational dynamics coming from opposite Caribbean Islands and the physiological tensions in the difference between  un emigrante and  un exiliado (immigrant and exile ). In our cultures there’s a clear distinction, and it’s reflected in the iconography of our work. The focus of this exhibition will be on the creative process of a Cuban and Puerto Rican artist united by the need to reconnect with that elusive place we call home.

Curators or venues interested in more information regarding this project, please contact Alejandro Mazon:
Studio tel (646) 662-4957 info@alejandromazon.com

For more information regarding Alejandro Mazon, please visit:

alejandromazon.com