INMINENCIA

INMINENCIA

Inminencia explores the vast, untamed spaces that exist both within us and beyond—between memory and forgetting, the deep ocean and outer space, and the industrial and the organic. Raised in Havana, Cuba, Capaz creates large-scale, immersive works that hover between chaos and contemplation, material and spirit. His paintings don't just depict landscapes; they plunge into the feeling of being on the edge of something immense, something unknown.

Capaz’s aesthetic is rooted in his childhood environment where industry dominated the senses—he absorbed the flickering glow of refinery flames painting the night sky, the deafening roar of heavy machinery reverberating through the streets, and the thick, acrid scent of burning oil clinging to the air. These formative experiences shaped his artistic language, where destruction and beauty are inseparable. The Cold War presence of Soviet ships in Havana’s bay added another layer of tension, not as a relic of the past but as a persistent geopolitical reality that continues to shape contemporary discourse. In Inminencia, these elements return—not as nostalgic memories but as metaphors for existential confrontation: the imminence of the void, the compulsion toward the abyss.

Capaz has long been fascinated by infinity, repetition, and scale. His paintings stretch toward boundless space, filled with rhythmic patterns and symbols drawn from his past. Fire is a central motif—both destructive and regenerative. His work throbs with a raw energy, balancing violence and meditation. Unlike the traditional, romanticized portrayals of the Caribbean—full of sunlight, turquoise waters, and tourist fantasies—he presents an alternate reading. His Caribbean is one of solitude, vastness, and danger, echoing post-colonial critiques like those of V.S. Naipaul, who framed the region as a space of displacement, alienation, profound loneliness, and existential historical weight rather than paradise.

The tension between the familiar and the unknown is at the heart of Inminencia, especially in the way Capaz approaches water and space. He draws a direct connection between the deep ocean and the infinite cosmos—both vast, mysterious, and filled with a sense of isolation. This concept is deeply personal for him. During a freediving trip in one of Cuba’s deepest underwater pits, he found himself at the threshold of something overwhelming. Suspended in the silent depths, he was overcome with an eerie mix of peace and panic. This moment—hovering on the edge of an abyss—became a pivotal inspiration for Inminencia.

His earlier Ataraxia series explored emotional detachment and existential crisis, laying the foundation for this exhibition. But while Ataraxia meditated on stillness, Inminencia vibrates with urgency. It is not about reaching balance; it is about teetering on the brink of an uncertain future. The exhibition’s title, meaning “imminence,” captures this feeling—being suspended in the in-between, at the moment just before something happens, whether it’s a fall, a transformation, or a revelation.

A key part of Inminencia is a large-scale installation that blends two seemingly opposite voids: the depths of the ocean and the vastness of space. Figures float and tumble through a dreamlike realm, caught in a moment where gravity seems to falter. They are dissolving—into the air, into water, into something beyond human comprehension. This idea of transformation and adaptation is central to Capaz’s work; nothing remains fixed, and everything is in flux. His paintings are not just about physical landscapes but inner ones—the landscapes of memory, fear, and solitude.

At its core, Inminencia challenges us to confront uncertainty. It pushes us to consider what lies beyond the familiar, beyond what we think we know. Its immersive compositions and engulfing voids remind us that we are always on the edge of something—destruction, discovery, transcendence. Capaz doesn’t offer easy answers. Instead, he invites us to step closer, to stand at the precipice, and to feel the abyss staring back.

Michael Edwards