Yailen Sellén (Cienfuegos, *1987) graduated in Plastic Arts from the Provincial School of Art Instructors “Octavio García”, of Cienfuegos, in 2006. In 2014 she graduated in Social Communication. In the University “Carlos Rafael Rodríguez” of that city.
She has made two personal exhibitions in her hometown and has participated in more than a dozen collective shows in Cuba and Venezuela.Her works are part of private collections in Cuba and the United States.
There is in many of Yailén Sellén’s engravings an almost childish candor, which evokes the illustrations of children’s storybooks. Some, in fact, very well that could be used for that purpose. The diafanity of the approach, the harmony of the lines, the apparent innocence of the themes consolidate a poetic that avoids, with all intent, arduous conflicts.
In her series, even in the most dramatic ones, the artist seems to celebrate the beauty of life, embodied in moments of calm and contemplation. It is notable in his engravings on affective animals. Or in religious scenes. Or in studies about birds. Nothing disturbs the calm of the moment recreated.
In other pieces, a thorough study on the plasticity of the sea and its waves is evident. But even when the waves are particularly violent, the balance of the scene is disturbed. Yailén Sellén usually introduces strangers, figures and elements that poetize, that suggest stories. The viewer could build his own story.
Pending the details, the preciousness of the “drawing”, Sellén seeks to consolidate a style that is, first of all, a sensitivity. His is a lyricism that gets empathy, that stimulates the imagination, that revives nostalgia.
More on Yailen Sellén
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