Praxis International Art is proud to present Open Secrets, recent photographs by Luis Mallo (b. Havana, Cuba. 1962). A selection of the works recently exhibited at the Project Gallery of The Jersey City Museum.

In this series of photographs, Luis Mallo enters the world of museum storage spaces, giving us access to the confidential and forbidden rooms that hold the valuable objects of our historic and cultural identity. Mallo breaches the walls that keep most of us out, but, at the same time, manages to maintain the secrecy and sanctity of the private space, leaving it mostly undisturbed and not seeking to fully expose or unveil it. We receive then, in these visually arresting images, a language of labels and signs, side views and partial indicators of what we still cannot fully see¹. The mystery of the locked storage door remains in the image even though we have entered the room and we remain engaged in the hope to further decipher and identify the treasures being presented to us.

Born in Cuba, Luis Mallo left the island with his family in 1970, heading for Spain and eventually settling in the United States, where he studied graphic design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. His work has been shown extensively around the US, Canada, Latin America and Europe, and has been included in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Museum of Art at Fort Lauderdale and the New York Public Library. He is a recipient of the Cintas Foundation award and the Art Matters photography award. The artist currently resides and works in Brooklyn, New York.

[1] Jesus Rosado. West Miami, June 2009