Tonel, A Tribute to Water and Sugar, 1996-2000. Wood, cement, water, pump, brown sugar, urinal, and mixed media, 4 x 6 x 10 meters.

Poetics and Utopia in Cuban Contemporary Sculpture

Recent exhibitions of Latin American and Caribbean contemporary art have fostered new interest in Cuban art. While the island nation may be isolated politically and economically, its art scene has kept the door open to international influences and exchange. Today, Cuban art raises questions about the meaning of socialist or socially contextual art in a post-socialist era, about its capacity to challenge the limitations of political ideologies, and about whether socially contextual art can be both critical and complacent.