My name is Daniela del Riego Labrada, however in the artistic sector I am known as Nana del Riego.  I am 27 years old, I was born in Havana , Cuba, and currently live in Mexico City.   I have studied in art schools for 9 years, and currently I carry on as an independent artist with exhibitions within the country and abroad.

My work deals largely with the field of digital photography, despite my holding of a painting degree. This branch of art provides me with the immediacy and “reality” that are very much in line with current times, where photography appears as king of social networks, advertisements, magazines, tabloids, etc.

My working references are not only found within the visual arts universe, like Cindy Sherman, as I also receive the influence of  popular  elements such as fashion magazines and photographers of this nature (Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle or designers such as Alexander McQueen). Not to mention the influence received from social networks, which are endless galleries of human behavior.

The images that I create are mostly self-portraits; working with the presence of the female body is a constant in my daily pursuit.

It is obvious that in plastic arts and more so in photography, there has been a use and abuse of the female image, mainly by women, who have traditionally focused on gender work, on the body as an object of exploration.

 In my case, I prefer the female body because in it I recognize a metaphor for our modernity. A woman is undoubtedly the image representing modern times, an object of desire for men and of worship for women themselves. In advertising, social networks, media or basically any digital or real scenario, the woman is the image that seduces the masses, and thus becomes a product in itself.

The aesthetics of my work is strongly inspired by the aesthetics of good living that the aforementioned media and platforms show us; the aestheticizing process of everyday life that human beings promote based on their own lives or the lives they yearn to achieve is made ironically evident  in my photographs… “ The civilization of the spectacle,”  as Vargas Llosa would call it.

The concepts of pose and pause are essential in my work. The pause that the scenario allows freezes an almost performative scene based on simulation. In this sense,  I use my image to deconstruct and construct identities that become the protagonists of these pressing scenes.

My work takes over an "aesthetic and a contemporary script" to discuss universal themes and of important local projection.

 In this way the stories that appear in my images are staged so as to present us with dissimilar situations, where we find reflections on art, migration, gender, and also on the consumption of aesthetic ideals, lifestyles and cultural appropriations, considering the theatricalizing and the aesthetizicing of the everyday life and the cult of the image as a representational  core .

Of course, talking about global concerns and Anglo-Saxon aesthetic ideals may sound somewhat abstract to some, considering that in Cuba you only see the outside world by glimpses, since it becomes difficult to escape, not only physically, but psychologically from this Tropical Alcatraz, where tiny snippets of information are received.

In Cuba, after so many years of rejection and ignorance imposed regarding the outside world, (here,  “the outside” represents an enigma, an aspiration or an enemy, “the outside” is always suspicious, often negative), there is so much  emptiness  of knowledge, that speaking about  such topics seems superfluous, almost sinful. I always recall people asking me at I.S.A (Higher Institute of Arts), why I was studying art, instead of fashion design. Those inquiring me were simply predisposed by the aesthetics of my work, that at first glance was not “committed to society”, as they told me. Why don't you do something with a "poorer" aesthetic, with old clothes or kitch, something that really talks about Cuba, they would ask.  But I believe the concern embodied in my work become now more pressing than ever , since they undoubtedly reflect a complex Cuba from the social and cultural point of view, where new more global languages ​​are inserted . We now recognize among us new types of citizens with whom we relate feeling an insatiable thirst for what comes from outside, without knowing how to adjust all this  to our daily lives, reinterpreting aesthetic codes and appropriating cultural patterns very distant from our implacable environment. (At least among all those I count myself).

Although my work nurtures from and feels magnetized by the appealing image that the electronic and communication media offer us, a kind of pastiche is created in many, since there are always objects that reveal my insular condition with elements and essences of my environment.

I am interested in the environments in which I regularly coexist, but I do not intend to use them to discuss on domesticity because it is surprising all that they are capable of transmitting to me in a more intimate second reading. The environments in which we unfold our existence, reflect our way of life, society, socioeconomic status, etc. In my condition as a Cuban, my  insularity, my feeling of being trapped is also transmitted in most of my images as I always show closed and common environments, limitation of movements, freedom or imaginary events  that  make me feel enclosed as a Cuban.




    Curriculum Vitae

Represented by Nuno Sacramento Gallery In Portugal
Represented by Cuban Fine Arts In New York
Represented by Haba Gallery in Barcelona.
Represented by Imitate Modern in London

Graduated in 2014 from the "National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro"

Graduated in 2019 from the University of Fine Arts "I.S.A" with the distinction of "Best Research for a creative work"

 Winner of the Art Residency “Mi casa es tu casa”. Aveiro, Portugal.


GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023:
Woman at Work. Cuban Fine Arts Gallery NYC, USA.
Boundless Perspectives. Nuno Sacramento Gallery. Aveiro, Portugal.
Paralelas. Galería Oscar Román. CDMX, México.


2022:
Subasta de Arte Contemporáneo. Casa de Subastas Morton. CDMX, México Hamptons Art Fair. NY, USA.
25 Points of View. Galería Nuno Sacramento. Aveiro, Portugal. Disidencias del Cuerpo. Haba Gallery. Barcelona, España.
Ellas, Nosotras, Todas. Galería Oscar Román. CDMX, México. Paralelas. Galería Oscar Román. CDMX, México.


2021:
Open Studio. New York Art District. NY, NYC
Ensambles. Art Cage Condesa. La Condesa, CDMX


2020:

Femme, Ahora hablamos las mujeres. Utopia 126. Barcelona, Spain.
Transferencia Cultural. Utopia 126. Barcelona, Spain
Mail Art Project. Inglewood Centre for Contemporary Art. Tennessee, U.S.A
I´m not suspiscious. Nuno Sacramento Gallery. Aveiro, Portugal
Pandemic Art.  Nuno Sacramento Gallery. Aveiro, Portugal.
O meu lado feminino. Dionisio Pinheiro Foundation. Águeda, Portugal.

2019:

Nativos. Nuno Sacramento Gallery. Aveiro, Portugal.
Girl Power III edition. Zenit Tattoo.Havana, Cuba.
13 relatos + 1. Special Edition.  Collateral to the  XIII Biennal of Havana. Arte Sano Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
Luz a tu propia química. Superior Institute of Arts. XIII Biennal of Havana. Havana, Cuba

2018: 

Retratos y Momentos. Servando Cabrera Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
Pin-Up Girls. Zenit Tattoo Studio. Havana, Cuba.
Bridges not walls. II edition Mena Gallery. Havana, Cuba.

2017:

Bridges not walls. School of Art and Design . Cincinatti, Ohio.
13 relatos + 1. Ludwig Foundation. Havana, Cuba.
Esperma.(Project  exhibited on  the streets of malecón). Havana, Cuba.
Clase Abierta. Gorria Gallery. Havana, Cuba.

2016: 

Selfie. National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro. Photographic November. Havana, Cuba.
Plastic Generation. Espacio Altamira Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
Lamernos los unos a los otros. Centre for the development of Fine Arts. Havana, Cuba.
Open House. Sense Lab. Centre for the development of Fine Arts. Havana, Cuba.

2015: 

 Cascarilla. National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro. Havana, Cuba.  XII Biennal of Havana.
En bruto. Superior Institute of Arts. Havana, Cuba. 
Post it. Artis 718 Gallery, Havana, Cuba. 
 ZIP. Ludwig Foundation. Havana, Cuba 

2014: 

 Los sueños del alma. Self portrait Saloon. Photo library of Cuba. Havana, Cuba. 

2013:

 Salón 28 de enero. Centre of the Arts of Havana. Havana, Cuba. 
MARTies. Saint Charles Seminary. Havana, Cuba.
20 millones respaldados en esperanza. II Edition. Luz y Oficios Gallery. Havana, Cuba. 

2012: 

 20 millones respaldados en esperanza. Photo library of Cuba. Havana, Cuba.
Cuban Bills. XII  Artdecó Congress. López Serrano Building. Havana, Cuba. 


SOLO SHOWS:


2019:

 Alquimia II. NH Art Design Gallery. Porto, Portugal
Alquimia. Nuno Sacramento Gallery. Aveiro, Portugal.
Intemperie. Mena Gallery. Havana, Cuba. 

2018:

Sin sentido de lugar. El Artista Gallery. Havana.Cuba.

2017: 

 Truisms. Altamira Gallery. Havana, Cuba. 

2015: 

Ombligo. Superior Institute of Arts. Havana, Cuba. XII Biennal of Havana.
POPLAND . National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro. Havana, Cuba.  XI Biennal of Havana    


















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