Cuban art rarely mass exhibits in U.S.

A cluster of ears carved in limestone greets visitors at the Confluencias: Inside Arte Cubano Contemporáneo exhibit at the National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum.

“The first piece with all the ears is all about communication and is the government listening? You can interpret it like the walls have ears,” said Tey Marianna, director of the National Hispanic Cultural Center.

A projector displays flashing images of various cities around the world in the piece, “Globalization Bridge,” by Abel Barroso. A blown-up picture of eyes flashes video scenes of birth, war and various images in the piece “In My Head,” by Sandra Ramos. Esterio Segura’s piece, titled “Pinocchio and Napoleon tell History,” displays a metallic statue of Pinocchio on a stack of books with a 6-foot-long nose and an airplane at its tip.

This is a taste of the most extensive collection of Cuban artists displayed in the United States in more than 50 years, Marianna said.
“What he really tries to do in the show is expand our perceptions of what Cuban art is,” she said.

Juanito Delgado of Cuba is the curator of the exhibit and wanted a wide range of Cuban artists. The exhibit features artists from 18 to 80 years of age, she said. Most of the art has a European influence. Because of the embargo between the United States and Cuba, this is a rare opportunity to view Cuban art in the U.S.

“A lot of the artists are postmodern,” she said. “The artists are shown in Europe because of the embargoes in the U.S. and laws. They don’t always show their work here in the U.S., but a lot of them are really well known in Europe. They have gone to European art schools, because they can travel to Europe and not necessarily here.”

Marianna said most people leave messages in the exhibit’s visitors log.

“There are a lot of messages there, and we cannot know the artists’ original intent,” she said. “There is some pain, angst and memory of what circumstances in Cuba and their relationship with the U.S. or lack of a relationship does to a people, society and culture. I think there is a lot of that in the exhibit.”
Richard Garcia, admissions desk employee, said people who have seen the exhibit say it has a dark perspective and is intense.

“In most cases, it’s representative of, what I believe, how Americans see Cuba viewing America,” he said. “People come into the museum and perceive the art as political and alluding to the U.S. and Cuba’s relations.”

It is evident most of the artists are influenced by European styles of contemporary art, Garcia said.

“You notice a lot of European influence versus the American school of thought in most pieces because a lot of it doesn’t have any type of American pop influence,” Garcia said. “You can see it through the type of techniques they are using or any other attributes they may have.”

Art admirer Alexa Trujillo said the exhibit is rich in symbolism.
“I think it is the most sophisticated art exhibit in Albuquerque ever,” she said. “Politically, humanistically, it’s just beautiful and challenging and I’m just very impressed with it. There is a lot of subtext of politics but it is really about humanity, the suffering of the human condition under politics and regimes.”

*Confluencias: Inside Arte Cubano Contemporáneo
$3 for students
Free on Sunday
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Tuesday-Sunday.
National Hispanic Cultural Center Art Museum
1701 4th St. S.W.*