First of all we would like to express our sincere thanks to José Veigas, the curator and archivist of Cuban art, for his generous support in putting this catalog together.
A complete description of the Cuban art from 1902 till 2002 can be found in “ Memoria: Cuban Art of the 20th Century ” compiled by José Veigas and four other leading experts. It presents 470 artists and 568 works with many critical and historical texts written by various authors, plus a chronology, description and analysis of the 100 most important exhibitions between 1921 and 1996.
More about it under www.artnexus.com
We are able to get you in touch with all the artists presented in this book - as far as they are still living in Cuba - and also to help you find works of late artists.
We also do highly recomment "New Art of Cuba" by Luis Camnitzer, which is published by the University of Texas Press and offers an excellent analysis of what happened in the Cuban Arts between 1960 and 1985.
about Santería
The cosmology of the Santería is led by Olorun, the west african god of creation, who is also called Olofi - the supreme judge - and Oloddumare - the universal law. Between him and man mediates a pantheon of gods called Orishas. The, in Cuba most worshiped, Orishas are Changó, the god of fire and thunderstorm, whose colors are red and white, and Ochún the nigerian river deity of love, whose color is yellow. Blue signifies Yemayá, the godess of the seas and the female principle of nature, while black is the color of Eleguá, the messenger of the gods, who is also worshiped as a personification of death. But these are only a few of more than thirty Orishas, which originate primarily from the west african Yoruba-culture, while there are also the cults from Calabar, Dohemey, Congo and other regions. Most of them do use magical rituals, and their priests function also as healers as well as psychologists and social workers. Most of the Orishas have animals and plants assigned and a multitude of astract symbols which do also appear in the paintings and in the arrangement of instalation artists.
about Trillo
Carlos Trillo uses besides the usual painting utensils sand, asphalt, marble dust, wood and other construction materials.
Market Infos
According to "Art News" have the prices for the works of Nelson Domínguez tripled in 10 years and the ones of Mendive doubled in the last 5 years, while the value of Mena's paintings rose 60 % within just one year.