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I just saw the exuberant exhibition of Cuban art in at the Montreal MFA, and was impressed by the way the art and history of the island were interwoven so cohesively. The show ranges from landscapes of sugarcane and sea, to political posters, to the journalistic photos of Walker Evans, to contemporary video installations and the collectively painted Salon de mai mural (1967) (see below). It explores various notions of "cubanidad", on both the personal and national level. 
A common theme was the insularity of Cuba, and the importance of the sea in identity. This idea is expressed very well in the poem "La isla en peso" ("The Weight of the Island") by the poet Virgilio Pinera:
"...sintiendo como el agua lo rodea por todas partes/ mas abajo, mas abajo, y el mar picando en sus espaldas/ un pueblo permanece junto a su bestia en la hora de partir/ aullando en el mar, devorando frutas, sacrificando animales/ siempre mas abajo, hasta saber el peso de su isla/ el peso de una isla en el amor de un pueblo."As a frequent visitor to Canada from the south, I was surprised by the lack of politics surrounding the show, and the true focus on the art (appropriate for a museum, I suppose). What did remind me of the political side was the fact that I was unfamiliar with most of the artists represented (Maria Madelena Compos-Pons was not included)such as the Cuban-born French painter Wilfredo Lam.
Cuba! Art and History from 1868 to Today
at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Until June 8, 2008
I didn't get to see the show "Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art which closed on January 27, but I would have liked to. One of the participating artists was Peter Dean Rickards, a Jamaica-based photographer with a keen social/ cultural sensitivity and a wicked sense of humor. On his website his photos are divided into specific catagories: Women, Places, Famous People and People Who Think They're Famous, and Everything Else. I guess the above photo, Dogball, would qualify as everything else. see more of Peter Dean Rickards' work: http://www.afflictedyard.com/index.html
Maria Magdelena Compos Pons is an afro-cuban-american artist. I saw her show, "Everything is Separated by Water" a while ago at the Bass Museum in Miami Beach. My favorites are her large-format Polaroid photographs, in which she rearranges parts and symbols of personal and collective memories. Recurring images are birds, painted skin, strings and ties that resemble ligaments or unraveled nests, and natural objects such as seeds and plants. Her work explores her imagined displacement from Africa, her actual exile from Cuba, and her experience as a black Cuban woman living in North America.You can see more of her work on Artnet:http://www.artnet.com/Artists/ArtistHomePage.aspx?artist_id=184874&page_tab=Artworks_for_sale
I just saw the exuberant exhibition of Cuban art in at the Montreal MFA, and was impressed by the way the art and history of the island were interwoven so cohesively. The show ranges from landscapes of sugarcane and sea, to political posters, to the journalistic photos of Walker Evans, to contemporary video installations and the collectively painted Salon de mai mural (1967) (see below). It explores various notions of "cubanidad", on both the personal and national level. 
