Experience Cuba’s incredible diversity and history through an ongoing art exhibit at Queens College in Flushing.
“Arte Cubano” is currently on view at the school’s Godwin-Ternbach Museum and features 43 works by 25 artists. Viewers can experience the island’s rich heritage reflected in African, European, Latin and Caribbean influences, combined with the effects of life following the Cuban Revolution.
Displayed on the gallery’s wall is a popular Cuban folk saying, “Every Cuban is a mechanic, which evokes Cuban ingenuity and their affinity for fixing and creating. But it also reflects the elements in the artists’ works from the use of found objects to cast bronze.
Cuba’s socialist revolution isolated it from other countries like the United States. The 25 artist grew up during the socialist period in Cuba and their works reflect the changing relationships between the Cuban and American governments. Through their art, viewers see ruminations on the daily social and political realities of the island and the contemporary world.
Exhibition artists include Lidzie Alvisa, José Bedia, Los Carpinteros, Yoan Capote, Enrique Celaya, Roberto Fabelo, Diana Fonseca, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Kcho, Sandra Ramos and Esterio Segura, among others.
Many of the “Arte Cubano” exhibitors graduated from the prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana’s San Alejandro Art Academy or the Escuela Nacional de Arte, while others graduated from local art schools.
Despite their varying backgrounds, styles, mediums and topics, the artists have created works that are uniquely Cuban. Many of their creations display coded and sometimes subversive ideas while celebrating Cuba’s cultural identity.
Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Center for Cuban Studies (NYC) are co-organizers of the “Arte Cubano” exhibit, which premiered in October and is on view from now until Feb. 20, 2020.
Admission is free to students and the public. Gallery hours are from Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit gtmuseum.org or call 718-997-4747.
