Hidden Realities in Human Feelings: Abstraction as a Shared Language in South Florida
On February 12, 2025, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas opened Hidden Realities in Human Feelings, a group exhibition curated by Pedro Hernández as part of the Art in the Community program and the ongoing 7 Plus One project, founded by Cuban artist Emilio Héctor Rodriguez. Bringing together fourteen artists of diverse national origins—all currently based in Miami, with the sole exception of one artist living in Bilbao—the exhibition explored the expansive potential of abstraction to illuminate the emotional and psychological layers that underlie human experience.
Far from being a purely formal exercise, the exhibition offered a deeply affective encounter with abstraction as a language of intuition, memory, and inner landscapes. Through painting, sculpture, and mixed media works, the participating artists activated a broad spectrum of visual strategies—from gestural expression to geometric restraint and material experimentation—underscoring the continued relevance of nonfigurative art as a means of articulating the ineffable.
At a moment when visual culture is often defined by immediacy and overstimulation, Hidden Realities in Human Feelings proposed a contemplative countercurrent. It returned the viewer to the terrain of suggestion, ambiguity, and open interpretation. In doing so, it reaffirmed the lasting vitality of abstract art, a movement born in the early twentieth century through radical ruptures with representational conventions. From Malevich’s Suprematism and the postwar American Abstract Expressionists to the Latin American traditions of Concrete and Geometric Abstraction, the genre continues to evolve through new conceptual and aesthetic lenses.
South Florida—particularly Miami—has emerged as a fertile ground for the reinvention of abstraction. Shaped by diasporic exchanges and cultural pluralism, the city has become a vibrant site of artistic production where abstraction is reimagined through the intersection of personal histories, regional identities, and global perspectives. In this context, the exhibition stood as a testament to the city’s growing role as a crossroads for contemporary art.
Pedro Hernández’s curatorial vision orchestrated a thoughtful and nuanced dialogue among the works on view. Rather than seeking thematic uniformity, the exhibition privileged resonance and juxtaposition, allowing viewers to draw their own connections across the assembled voices. Each artist’s practice, while distinct, contributed to a collective exploration of abstraction as an evolving language for feeling, sensing, and knowing.
The Museum extended special thanks to Leonardo Rodríguez for his steadfast support of cultural initiatives that strengthen Miami’s artistic ecosystem. It is through such collaborations that the MoCAA continues to fulfill its mission of fostering critical engagement and cross-cultural dialogue through contemporary art.
Participating artists included: Beatriz Ramírez (Colombia), Bibiana Cervantes (Colombia), Blanca Caraballo (Cuba), Carlos Llanes (Cuba), Carmen Verdura (Spain), Elsa Victorio (Colombia), Emilio Héctor Rodriguez (Cuba), Maruchi Carmona (Cuba), Mila Hajjar (Italy/Venezuela), Pedro Ávila Gendis (Cuba), Pedro Hernández (Cuba), Rolando Paciel (Cuba, based in Bilbao), Sandra García Pardo (Colombia), and José Pablo Ravinet (Chile).
With Hidden Realities in Human Feelings, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas once again affirmed its commitment to presenting contemporary abstraction as a dynamic and essential mode of visual inquiry—one that continues to transcend boundaries and engage with the complexity of our inner and outer worlds.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.
The Kendall Art Cultural Center (KACC), dedicated the past six years to the preservation and promotion of contemporary art and artists, and to the exchange of art and ideas throughout Miami and South Florida, as well as abroad. Through an energetic calendar of exhibitions, programs, and its collections, KACC provides an international platform for the work of established and emerging artists, advancing public appreciation and understanding of contemporary art.
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The Rodríguez collection is a blueprint of Cuban art and its diaspora. Within the context of the new MoCA-Americas the collection becomes an invaluable visual source for Diaspora identity. It represents a different approach to art history to try to better understand where we come from to better know where we are heading.
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