First US art exhibit in 50 yrs in Cuba

Agence France-Presse

The exhibition opened Saturday under the title "Chelsea visits Havana" Ğ after the famed New York art district Ğ displays 39 works of art by 33 American artists from 28 New York art galleries, according to National Art Museum curator Abelardo Mena.

"It is the biggest exhibition by U.S. art galleries in Cuba" since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, says Havana Biennial organizer Alberto Magnan, who left Cuba when he was 5 years old and now owns an art gallery in Chelsea.

He says the exhibit took us two-and-a-half years to organize. "I hope it's the first step toward U.S.-Cuban relations," Magnan said.

The exhibit, which altogether involves more than 200 artists from some 40 countries, will run through May 17.

The works displayed at the exhibit represent a wide range of views. Some make references to the history of the United States, notably the war in Iraq. Others focus on Cuba and its past, including the famous portrait Cuban Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara made to look like a jigsaw puzzle, from which it is very hard to conclude whether it is about to be finished or taken apart.

"One can see the difference from the Cuban art, which is more linked to tradition, to the collective identity," said Abelardo Mena, the show organizer. "American art is more individualistic."