A Selection of Our Past Stories
Blackness and Racism in Cuba: International Exhibitions
An exhibition travels from the Wifredo Lam Center in Havana to the Matress Factory in Pittsburgh, while a South African show kicks off the cultural program for the World Cup.
Awards! Choco, Lissette Solórzano, and El Silencio de Duchamp Are Among...
Earlier this month, Cuban art world saluted some of its distinguished longtime members—and a few emerging voices—with this year’s national prizes in the visual arts and curatorship, and the Guy Cisneros prizes for art criticism. Here’s a roundup of the winners and honorable mentions, and a photography award in Italy.
VIDEO: The Arcades of La Habana
As the northern hemisphere moves into the “dog days” of August heat and humidity, we share a celebration of the arcades that define so much of Havana’s enduring architecture, in a video slide show by Cuban-born, Florida-based architect Ángel C. Saqui.
Update: René Francisco in Germany, Cruz Azaceta at the Whitney, Glenda...
Alexandre Arrechea’s Park Avenue skyscrapers move downtown, Luis Cruz Azaceta joins a group show at the Whitney, and René Francisco leads art students in witty “interventions” in Germany. Cuban artists take part in El Museo’s Bienal, Alberto Rey opens a solo show in Spain, Maria Elena González exhibits on Long Island, and Glenda León talks about the response to her current work at the Venice Biennale.
A Fertile Universe: Tomás Esson’s Miami Flow
Janet Batet surveys the art and career of Tomás Esson, and the tormented, mythological beings, erogenous plant life, and other motifs that populate his art, including the show that just closed in Miami.
Miami Spotlight: Cuban Abstract Art x 3
The fall-winter season saw exhibitions of Cuban abstract art in three Miami galleries—including one on view right now. Art historian Valia Garzón Díaz takes a look at the shows and their approaches to the topic, both historical and contemporary.
Loló Soldevilla: Forgotten No More
Loló Soldevilla was in her late 40s when she began experimenting with abstract art. Over the next two decades, her work would continue to break new ground in contemporary Cuban art. In Chelsea, curator Rafael DiazCasas talks about “Constructing Her Universe: Loló Soldevilla.”
Homoerotic Art in Cuba
In a conversation with Lidia Hernández Tapia, Eduardo Hernández Santos discusses his untraditional uses of photographic images, masculine beauty, and eroticism versus pornography.
Apropos “Post-It 3”: One Critic’s Response
This month, the third edition of Post-It—a juried competition, exhibition, and sale of works by island artists under 35—ended its run at four Havana galleries. Art and visual media critic Hamlet Fernández, professor at the University of Havana and three-time winner of the Guy Cisneros National Prize for art criticism, takes Post-It 3 as a jumping-off point for an assessment of the current moment in contemporary Cuban art, and where the field is headed.