Art OnCuba 16

We have arrived at issue number 16, with which this year comes to a close. A year characterized by the appearance of social, natural and political events of huge impact on all regions of the world. Let us hope that nature and society settle down in the New Year, for the well-being of all the citizens of the planet, and that art may continue to develop, as the enjoyment and greater enrichment of our spirits requires.

We open this issue with a beautiful work on Manuel Piña, who made the Havana Malecón the object of his gaze in those fateful years of the nineties. We are also pleased to inform our readers of the interesting project carried out by Tania Bruguera in Portugal, as well as that of Morales in Greece; while updating the view on Carlos Estévez, who in recent years has developed a work of particular interest in Miami. We likewise draw attention to some of the youngest artists of the moment, whose work shows the development of a very personal iconography, as in the cases of Ariamna Contino and Rafael Villares in Havana, and José M. Costa in Las Tunas. Many friends will wonder what happened to Ajubel, who formerly displayed such good humor. We have brought him to our pages from Valencia, where he currently devotes part of his time to painting.

Certain other exhibitions that have taken place in recent months also attract our attention. Firstly, that held in Havana’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, featuring drawings from the twenties and thirties, of particular interest for experts and aficionados of the historic Cuban vanguardia, or avant-garde. An equally valued exhibition was that held at the Kendall Center, in Miami, as the backdrop to launch a book which brings together the collection created by Cuban Jorge Reynardus, of works by artists belonging to the generation of the eighties in Cuba. Also, the space awarded to Cuban posters this year is interesting. Once again, exhibitions that bring together many of the major artists in this field continue to multiply.

At the same time, the collection that Spaniard Luciano Méndez has created on the island is revealed, and his ideas on the subject are made known in a lucid interview, conducted by one of our assiduous collaborators. Among the rarities that we propose to our readers in this issue is an approach to anthropological studies in Cuban art, whose author presents some ideas that could serve as information and areas of debate on such a little-studied subject. Meanwhile, we did not want to overlook the appearance in our art scene of a medium that has gone unnoticed since the days of the Rafart. A sculptor with a such a career as José Villa has surprised us with the miniature recreation of his multifaceted abstractions in the form of jewels of a singular beauty; and a young, thus far unknown woman has presented herself as a jeweler, demonstrating her extraordinary creativity in a beautiful set of pieces also inspired by the geometric tradition that today arouses so much interest.

A beloved figure, Natalia Bolívar, is also part of this issue; an essential personality of Cuban art and culture since the second half of the twentieth century. And of course, it is not possible to overlook the San Alejandro Academy, which is all set to celebrate the bicentennial of its founding, and hopes to be the object of the attention and affection of all those Cuban artists who have passed through its classrooms, and whom we call on to send us their memories for publication in the next issues of the magazine.

Until now, we were privileged to have Deborah de la Paz as part of the team, an intelligent editor and great friend, who devoted all her energy to this dream of a specialized Cuban art publication, ever since its founding. New projects demand her knowledge, and our team is pleased to offer her a warm farewell, wishing her all the success she deserves in her new endeavors.