Beyond the Frame: Contemporary Cuban Art

A small exhibition of contemporary Cuban art was open in London's Mayfair district for a week at the end of April (23rd - 28th April at Gallery 27). The exhibition was then on show in Glasgow (7th - 13th May at The Lighthouse). I checked out the exhibition while it was in London and very much enjoyed the mixture of work on display. I have included some pictures of works from the exhibition - and offer an advanced warning that the quality is a bit dodgy!

A little background:

The exhibition has been organised in conjunction with the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Photography, prints and paintings from 26 contemporary Cuban artists are on display along with works by 20 other international artists, many based in the UK. All art work is for sale throughout the two weeks.
The exhibition aims to rally support, money and publicity for the cause of the Miami Five (Also known as the Cuban Five).

Who are the Cuban Five?

Since 1959, terrorist attacks aimed at destabilising Castro's Cuba have been frequent. Over 3,000 Cubans have died in such attacks carried out by Miami-based terrorist organisations. Most notably, some might recall the 1997 hotel bombings, when several hotels in Havana were targeted in an attempt to destroy the tourist trade.

The Cuban government sent members of the Wasp Network 'La Red Avispa' to Miami in the 1990s to act as foreign agents. Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González, and René González were among those sent to infiltrate anti-Castro organisations in a bid to prevent further terrorist attacks. The orgnisation was headed by the Dirección de Inteligenica (DI), a branch of Havana’s foreign intelligence service.

The five men passed on information they uncovered about planned attacks to the US government. As a result, rather than following up terrorist leads, the five were arrested by the FBI instead in 1998.
The five were subjected to, what many view as an unfair trial. Pleas made to move the trial from Miami, where there was 'a toxic anti-Cuban atmosphere' were ignored. The five men were sentenced to Miami prison terms in 2001, between the length of 15 years and double life.

Gustavo Díaz Sosa

The Trial, by Joseph K. (2012)

Mixed media on canvas

On its first appeal, the argument of the defense was heeded, and the Court of Appeals agreed to reverse convictions against the five, on the basis that the trial was carried out in a prejudiced environment. However, the Court of Appeals then went on to change its mind and reinstate the convictions. Click here for a more detailed rundown of the case, and here for more information on the campaign to free The Cuban Five.

René González was released in October 2011, after serving the shortest sentence of the five. However, he is restricted to remain on probation in Florida for an additional three years before he can return home. The US government refuses to issue his wife a visa so that she can visit him. In a recent development and after much deliberation, the US government has allowed González to travel back to Cuba for two weeks to visit his severely ill brother (he flew back to the island on 30th March 2012).

Back to the exhibition...

The title of the exhibition 'Beyond the Frame' is extended as a theme in some of the art on display. The title suggests movement beyond the typical role of a frame as 'a boundary or restraint'. It also pays homage to the Cuban Five who were in some ways 'framed' by the US government.

 kennardphillipps

Photo Op (2005)

Photomontage

kennardphillipps toys with boundaries by collapsing different frames of reference to create sensational and shocking images. Here, Tony Blair is pictured, supposedly taking a camera-phone photo of himself in front of a burning oilfield. kennardphillipps presents sovereign power as 'an obscene presence' by putting its figures into the same frame as violent occupation (in this case the war in Iraq).

Luis Enrique Camejo

Sin título/ Untitled (2007)

Oil on canvas

Much of the work on display speaks volumes about Cuban culture, and simultaneously reveals a preoccupation with the questions surrounding the cultural identity of the island. The art shows hints of Spanish, African and American styles and directions.

Eduardo Roca Salazar (Choco)

Ginguindo (2012)

Lithograph

Salazar's prints are distinctly Carribean in style.

 Liudmila Ivella Velasco and Nelson Ramírez de Arellano

Desayuno sobre la Habana (Foto 1 de 5 Absoluto Revolución, 2006) / Breakfast in Havana (1/5 from Absolute Revolution series, 2006)

Photograph

This photo is taken from a series of photographs that explore how Cubans see the world through the image of the Revolution.

Many of the pieces on display are strongly nationalistic. Cuba’s fight for autochthony can be traced back to the island’s political struggle for independence throughout history, and the quashing of its native roots from the beginning of the island’s existence. The Cuban Indian failed to surpass the infracultural level, which meant that no indigenous cultural images survived. From the very beginning then, Cuba was forced to borrow cultural forms and modes of expression from elsewhere. It relied heavily on European modes in the early twentieth century, and of course, mainly, Spanish ones.

Iwan Bala

Cario Cewri Gweigion (Los Gigantes) (2007)

Mixed media, charcoal, chalk, emulsion, ink and collage on handmade Indian Khadi paper

Bala's piece is based on the Spanish parades of los Gigantes, where people are strapped to huge carnivalesque figures that are carried through the streets. Bala also intends the picture to comment on 'political figures, or monarchs, who are a heavy burden that the population have to carry on their shoulders'.

Cuba’s lack of independence in the past, has created the continuous imposition of other cultures upon the island; whether it be as part of the Spanish New World Empire, or Cuba’s shifting dependence upon the superpowers of the US and USSR, Cuba has never been free of transnational influence.

Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy

Día / Day (2011)

Mixed media

Wiliam Hernández Silva

Paisaje infinito/ Endless landscape

Acrylic on canvas

In 'Día', the minimalist face with two eyes and no mouth stares blankly at us. Tension and dischord are evident in the identity, where the face is split into two with twine rope.

In 'Paisaje infinito', Silva paints a beautiful woman tugging at a cloth covered in trees. There are allusions to the physical geography of Cuba as an island surrounded, and controlled in some sense, by the sea surrounding it. The woman depicted could also be seen to personify the transnational influences that have tugged at Cuba throughout its history.

Derek Boshier

Situation in Cuba (Bay of Pigs) (2011)

Watercolour

Boshier's painting portrays the unsuccessful American Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. This inversion shows 'the Cuban flag being eaten away by the stars and stripes: the integrity of the small island nation threatened by the might of its foreign neighbour.' (Marco Livingstone, curator and art
historian).

Roberto Salas Merino

Premier Día / First Day (1961)

Black and white photograph

Merino's photograph was taken in Havana in January 1961. It captures the first day of the embargo; the first time that America broke off relations with Cuba. The US embassy is in the background of the shot. The photo is very famous as it captures the starting point of problematic relations between Cuba and the US, which as yet remain unresolved.

Vicente Rodríguez Bonachea

Sin título/ Untitled (2010)

Acrylic on canvas

Bonachea's painting depicts José Martí (1853-95), Cuba's most revered national hero and freedom fighter (he is the old-skool, 'original' Che Guevara, to put it in crude terms) . Martí was a poet, writer, political theorist and leader of the movement for independence from Spain. He also fought against the threat of US expansion in Cuba. Bonachea explains that Martí 'fills every corner of the Cuban soul, thought and behaviour...[he] has been with us since childhood'. The José Martí tower is also seen in the background of Velasco and Arellano's photograph (further up this article), and in one of Guerrero's dove paintings (bottom of article).

Javier Guerra Fernández

San título/ Untitled

Mixed media on cardboard

Cuba faced economical and political problems after gaining independence from Spain in 1902. Even now, as an independent socialist state and with improved US relations under Obama, Cuba remains cut off from America, and influenced hugely by its other superpower neighbour, the USSR.

Geographically, the island is cut off too, giving Cuban culture a strong insular sense of its own. Cuba is a small, but strong country, that has always fought tooth and nail for its independence and developed a strong national identity as a result.

Cuban Artist, Ibrahim Miranda, (not included in this exhibition), describes the Cuban sense of identity as follows:

 "Our insular condition has been a decisive factor in our culture, influencing our myths, fantasies and our national psyche. The sensation of being isolated, separated from everyone, floating in the middle of the sea, has been a strong stimulus to the imagination of Cuban artists."

Manuel Mendive Hoyas

Sin título/ Untitled (2011)
Oil on canvas

The Cuban Revolution signified a turning point in Cuban Art. Art grew and many more art schools were established. Initially there was a sense of restriction for many artists who did not want to produce pro-Castro art sponsored by the State. Many artists went into exile and continued to produce work. It wasn't really until the 1980s that Cuban art sought a new sense of freedom. The new generation started to exercise a new mode of free expression, and one that broke away from external influences.

Two of the Cuban Five, Gerardo Hernández and Antonio Guerrero, have work on show at the exhibition too, although they are still behind bars after 13 years.

Gerardo Hernández draws satirical cartoons, some of those included in the exhibition are below:

The cartoons illustrate the international media portrayal of Cuba and the double standards imminent in US immigration policy.

Hernández creates art as a means of self-expression and liberation beyond his physical imprisonment. He draws cartoons in this style because "someone once said that 'humour liberates' [...and if nobody said that, I will say it now...] and for me it is something that 'gets us out' for at least a few moments from behind the walls where we have been unjustly imprisoned for almost 13 years".

Antonio Guerrero's art works include a painting of his mother, another of Havana as he remembers his city, and a collection of paintings of doves in flight. These pictures encapsulate Guerrero's sense that imprisonment has not destroyed his freedom.

Of his art, Guerrero says: "The long imprisonment hasn't been able to destroy any of the principles on which we were formed. The long imprisonment has been defeated by love and by art."

'Beyond the Frame' exhibited a wide range of contemporary art work from Cuba and around the world. It was refreshing to walk around a small gallery and see such a mixture of work pulled together; most artists showcased only one piece. Although themes were not exclusive, many pieces were representations of liberty, war and Cuban culture.

I am not sure of the sales stats at the end of this exhibiton, but if the little red 'sold' stickers I witnessed under many works three days into opening were anything to go by, I think a large sum will have been raised for the cause. If nothing else, this exhibition was a wonderful celebration of Cuban art and will have brought publicity to the plight of both the artists, and the fight for liberation of the Cuban Five.