Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, Dec 26.- The field of plastic arts had a great movement in Cuba this 2023, and exponents from the patio also brilliantly showed their work in the international arena.
Some examples can be cited, among them, the exhibition of Architecture of a System, by the artist Michel Mirabal, exhibited in Italy during the Venice Biennale and carrying a reflective look at the global phenomenon of migrations.
Paintings, photographs and sculptures by Mirabal, alongside a videoart by his compatriot, the outstanding performer Alejandro Pérez, with music by internationally renowned pianist maestro Frank Fernández, enchanted the Palazzo Loredan in the famous canal city.
The set of works presented at this 18th Venice Architecture Biennale was curated by the curator Nelson Herrera Ysla.
Furthermore, in Vatican City this year the exhibition A New World, by the Cuban painter and engraver Alexis Leyva (Kcho), was opened to the public at the Palazzo de la Cancellería, a proposal that reflects the artist's dreams of contributing to a better future.
At its opening, it was highlighted that this exhibition by Kcho is an expression of the harmony of Cubans with the ideas of Pope Francis, their concern for the solution of the challenges faced by all countries, cultures, religions and human beings, in these times of the history.
On the other hand, in Brazil, like an expressionist of light and shadow, the plastic artist Nelson Domínguez ruled with engravings the exhibition of Cuban painting and literature in the 37th edition of the Brasilia Book Fair.
There the art exhibition named Contemporary Cuban Painters exhibited pieces by Juan Brower, Yari Rassi, Sándor González, Diana Balboa and Betsi Arias, according to diplomatic sources.
At the beginning of the year, on Cuban soil, the prolific painter Flora Fong officially received the National Prize for Plastic Arts corresponding to the 2022 edition, and thus joined the select group of those recognized with this award.
Trainer of generations of artists and creator of works of singular aesthetic beauty and masterful technique, the creator has a solid career linked to the essences of Cubanness and her Asian roots, which allowed her to stand out among the twenty candidates presented to aspire to the distinction.
The German art school Bauhaus also landed in Havana in the first months, through a heterogeneous exhibition titled The whole world is a Bauhaus, with objects, photographs, works on paper, models, documents and other pieces exhibited at the Contemporary Art Center Wifredo Lam.
It is a European institution that changed the way the world understands the link between art, crafts and life.
Another event of great relevance to Cuban culture was the celebration of the 110th anniversary of the National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA in Spanish), founded on April 28, with various activities in its two buildings, the Cuban Art and Universal Art.
For the name day, the MNBA inaugurated attractive exhibitions, in addition to celebrating the date with concerts, colloquiums, tributes and other activities, to which other institutions joined with initiatives.
These activities included the opening of a large exhibition dedicated to the Cuban artist Servando Cabrera Moreno, titled The memory of the erased, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of this painter.
Likewise, the cultural institution joined the global tribute for the centenary of the death of the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla Bastida, with the inauguration of an exhibition of works by this renowned Spanish painter.
The Museum of Havana houses one of the most important international collections of the Valencian artist, curator Manuel Crespo, one of the main Cuban experts on Sorolla's work, told the press.
Also for the anniversary of the MNBA, Storm in Time was presented, the name of the exhibition by the painter Humberto Hernández El Negro, exhibited in the Villa Manuela gallery, in the Cuban capital, where its author evoked the damage caused by the hurricanes in his native province from Pinar del Río, in the west of the Caribbean nation.
Last May, the group exhibition A Little About Me was presented in the El Reino de este mundo gallery, in the José Martí National Library.
Addressing the complex issue of identity through various manifestations of the visual arts was the central idea of ??this event framed in the first International Congress of Cultural Heritage, which was attended in Havana by representatives of the Ministries of Culture of the Member States of the Group of 77 and China.
The MNBA, in collaboration with the United Kingdom embassy in Cuba, also inaugurated this year the exhibition Illustrating the national landscape. British engravings from the 18th century, as part of the program of temporary exhibitions.
The 16 component engravings belonged to four of the most relevant exponents within this artistic technique; seven to John Boydell, eight to brothers Samuel and Nathaniel Buck, and one attributed to Samuel Scott.
This same venue opened the temporary exhibition Eladio Rivadulla. The ins and outs of a creator, which reveals a little-disseminated facet of the work of the artist who founded an extensive body of work and was the initiator of the graphics of the Cuban Revolution.
As part of the celebrations, the MNBA hosted the exhibition Medusa's Hope, by Keon Vanmechelen; the Jazz X Art project with American musician Ted Nash; and Like pillars of salt. Ernesto Rancaño in Memoriam, one year after the physical departure of that Cuban artist.
Also featured was the discussion on the book Herederos Boggiano, with the presence of its author Cristiano Berti, and the exhibition Paisaje interior, by the Cuban artist Alberto Lescay.
In recent days, the Cuban girl Carolina Reyes won the prize in the World Painting Contest, organized by the Prix Jeunesse Foundation with the theme For us, there is no Planet B: My Eco Message for the World.
An international jury awarded 12 works, which will be printed as posters and exhibited at the Prix Jeunesse International Festival, to be held between May 24 and 29, 2024 in Munich, Germany.
In such a way, this succinct tour of the panorama of the visual arts and the work of Cuban exponents inside and outside the country offers a glimpse of how dynamic this sector has been throughout the year that is ending. (Text and photo: PL)
