ARTIKA Artists’ Books Introduces Lita Cabellut's Blood Wedding
Lita Cabellut is petite and expressive. She wears her long black hair half piled on top of her head. One might compare her to a stone material like onyx or obsidian, but suggesting the woman is hardened or cold would be an injustice. She glitters with a dark but kindly fire in her eyes, is motherly in her affect, and exhibits a gaze that has seen and sublimated much from the world she inhabits. Her gratitude for her vision and inspiration is evident in her voice, whose patterns are melodic and magnetic. I try to sketch her, but her visage gallops quickly between deep seriousness and fervent grace - as gestural and kinetic as her paintings.
Lita Cabellut Photo © Manolo Yllera
“Blood Wedding,” a new book by Spanish artist Lita Cabellut for Barcelona-based publisher ARTIKA, was launched at La Nacional in New York on February 19. The book is Cabellut’s visual interpretation of Federico García Lorca’s famous play. Printed in a limited-edition collection of 1,998 hand-signed copies, “Blood Wedding, with both Spanish and English text, features 31 of Cabellut’s previously unpublished mixed-media figurative drawings combining painting and photography. The book and a study book come packaged in a specially designed case by Cabellut.
Art Book © Manolo Yllera
The launch event included a panel discussion with Lita Cabellut, with ARTIKA CEO Juan Ribalta, with ARTIKA Global Director Marc Buil and with art critic Robert C. Morgan. At the beginning of the discussion, Buil introduced ARTIKA as a unique arts publishing house that has for 15 years published exclusive, high-quality limited-edition books about a variety of artists. Each book is styled uniquely to match the aesthetic of the artist requiring close collaboration with ARTIKA. Ribalta said that his intent and vision for the company is to reinterpret classics of world literature through the lens of talented artists. He added that Cabellut was an excellent candidate for the collaboration because of her strength, passion, and indelible respect for Lorca’s work.
Art critic Robert C. Morgan, a long-time friend of Cabellut’s, talked about the authenticity of her figurative expressionism and remarked about her eloquent and poetic style as being “an open channel for one to think and feel without having to separate the two.” He also complimented Cabellut’s creative voice, stating that she is an artist who is not afraid to doubt, and that “Lorca is the source and the void of her pictorial desire.”
Blood Wedding, 2020, Lita Cabellut, published by Artika © Manolo Yllera
Study Book © Manolo Yllera
Closed Book Case © Manolo Yllera
Cabellut delivered a heartfelt testimony about the importance of Lorca to her life and creative career. Born in Sariñena, Spain in 1961, Cabellut grew up as a street child until she was adopted at the age of twelve. It was then that she first visited the Prado Museum in Madrid, and fell in love with painters such as Goya, Velázquez, and Rembrandt. At the age of nineteen, Cabellut moved to The Netherlands and pursued the study of art. She continues to reside in The Hague, where she works in a wide range of mediums including photography, painting, drawing, video, installation, and poetry.
Die-cut print © Manolo Yllera
