Overview
The art scene in Cuba is thriving as never before. Young, politically active artists are stretching the limits of creative freedom and, as tourism to Cuba continues to increase, making their mark in the international art world. Coming at a time when Americans' interest in the country and its art is at a peak, this is the first major survey to show the wide range of art coming out of Cuba today.Overflowing with illustrations—including 100 colorplates—Art Cuba presents exciting new works, most produced in the past five years, by more than 60 artists. The mediums extend from oil on canvas, pen and ink, watercolor, lithography, and mosaic to photography, sculpture, embroidery, and performance art. The essays examine the changes in Cuban art in the decades since the Revolution and the new directions it is taking today. This comprehensive look at Cuban art today is an important addition to the literature on contemporary art.
Author Biography: HOLLY BLOCK is the director of Art in General in New York City.
Synopsis
The art scene in Cuba is thriving as never before. Young, politically active artists are stretching the limits of creative freedom and, as tourism to Cuba continues to increase, making their mark in the international art world. Coming at a time when Americans' interest in the country and its art is at a peak, this is the first major survey to show the wide range of art coming out of Cuba today.
Overflowing with illustrations—including 100 colorplates—Art Cuba presents exciting new works, most produced in the past five years, by more than 60 artists. The mediums extend from oil on canvas, pen and ink, watercolor, lithography, and mosaic to photography, sculpture, embroidery, and performance art. The essays examine the changes in Cuban art in the decades since the Revolution and the new directions it is taking today. This comprehensive look at Cuban art today is an important addition to the literature on contemporary art.
Author Biography: HOLLY BLOCK is the director of Art in General in New York City.
Publishers Weekly
The recent, somewhat surreptitious loosening of the U.S. embargo and Castro's concurrent opening up of state-regulated tourism has yielded a flurry of student programs, professional conferences, books, movies and general enthusiasm in this country for all things Cuban. In Art Cuba: The New Generation, editor Holly Block, executive director of New York's Art in General, explores how Cuban artists have worked in and around the constraints of Castroism ("Within the Revolution, everything; outside the Revolution, nothing") and Cuba's severely depressed economy. (During the "Special Period," 1991-1994 after Soviet funds stopped, the sugar crop failed and the U.S. reinforced the embargo artists in Cuba relied on the relatively few visitors to bring supplies from other countries.) The book includes more than 100 color plates and essays by, among others, Gerardo Mosquera and Antonio Eligio. (July) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.