Artist Biographies

Alexis Leiva Machado (Kcho) was born in Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, on February 12th, 1970. Son of Ignacio de Loyola Leiva Abreu, a carpenter and telecommunication technician, and Martina Primitiva Machado Cuní, better known as Martha Machado, a tireless, hardworking woman and popular artist, he grew up alongside four other sisters in a humble and working environment.

He did his elementary education in two primary schools, Josué País and Manuel Alcolea, and his secondary education at the Elementary Art School Leonardo Luberta, in his home town. In 1986, he enrolled in the National School of Plastic Arts (ENA) in Havana, and graduated in 1990 specializing in painting and sculpture.

At the age of sixteen, he marks the start of his career with the personal exhibition: Kcho expone favelas, at the Center of Plastic Arts in Nueva Gerona in the year 1986. From 1990 on, already as a professional, he begins to display his works in personal and collective exhibitions both nationally and internationally. From them all, it is indispensable to mention his graduation thesis, Paisaje popular cubano, 1990 (Cuban Popular Landscape), since one of the works that titled the exhibition allowed him to be part of the permanent collection displayed at the Fine Arts Museum of Cuba (MNBA).

The following year, 1991, the young artist makes his first personal exhibition at the MNBA for the “Artist of the Month” space, which around that time received exhibitions from great exponents of Cuban plastic arts. That same year he is awarded the Prize granted by the National Group of Art Schools’ Teachers at the Centre of Plastic Arts and Design of Havana, Cuba.

Also in 1991, he is part of the exhibition Proyectos recientes (Recent Projects) with the sculptors Alejandro Aguilera, Ángel Ricardo Ríos and Osvaldo Yero, among others, at the Arts Centre 23 y 12 in Havana.

He took part in the travelling show Los hijos de Guillermo Tell (The Sons of William Tell) by curator Osvaldo Mosquera, which was displayed at the Museum Alejandro Otero in Caracas, Venezuela and at the Library Luis Ángel Arango in Bogotá, Colombia. It gathered together artists like José Bedía, Glexis Novoa and other important representatives of the generation of ‘80 –Kcho being the youngest artist invited to the exhibition–. This show was given a warm and favourable reception by both the public and the specialized critics, including the article written by Ivonne Pine that appears in the second edition of the ArtNexus magazine under the same title as the exhibition.

The year 1992 was significant for the arts in Cuba since it enhanced the view of strength and creativity held by the plastic arts in this country. It was marked by two important international collective exhibitions in which Kcho had the opportunity to display his work: Vont dort aus: Kuba, organized at the Forum Ludwig in Aachen, Germany, and Arte cubano actual (Current Cuban Art) coordinated by Robert Littman for the Cultural Centre of Contemporary Art from the Cultural Foundation Televisa in Mexico City. He took part as well in important international projects such as the First Biennial Barro de América (Clay of America) by curator –and also critic- Roberto Guevara at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sofía Imber in Caracas, Venezuela, where he shared exhibition spaces with Ana Mendieta (1948 – 1985), Rimel Cardillo, Milton Becerra and other important artists in the region. Other favourable occasions to broaden the perspective of Cuban art, and Kcho’s perspective in particular, were the collective exhibitions La década prodigiosa (The Prodigious Decade), which grouped a selection of Cuban plastic arts from the eighties at the Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City, and La ronda cubana (The Cuban Round) at the Van Reekum Museum in Apeldoorn, Holland.

In 1993, Kcho fulfilled an extensive agenda of national and international commitments exhibiting his works in Cuba, the United States, Mexico, and Holland, among other countries.

In 1994, he wins a scholarship to the Ludwig Foundation for art studies in Aachen, Germany and he also gets invitations for three important events in the art circuits. The first one came from curator Nelson Aguilar to participate in the 22nd Biennial in Sao Paulo, Brazil; the second one from Dan Cameron to be part of the collective exhibition Cocido y crudo (Cooked and Raw) organized at the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid; and the third invitation came from Lliliam Llanes Godoy, curator and director of the first and significant Biennials of Havana, to become part of the exhibition La otra orilla (The Other Shore) during the Fifth Biennial of Havana held at the colonial fortress Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro –in this last event he displayed his work “La Regata” which from that very same year belongs to the collection of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany. “La Regata” appears in the cover of Revolución y Cultura magazine (issue No. 5, 1994) and in Artnews, a publication specialized in arts (June 2000).

In 1995, he participates in the 1st Kwang-Ju Biennial, Korea, where his work wins the Grand Prix. That same year, in Paris, France, he is awarded the Prize for the Promotion of Arts granted by UNESCO due to the magnitude and scope of his work, for which prize an international jury must select from hundreds of applicants worldwide. The award was presented by then Director of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza.

Also in 1995, he makes three personal exhibitions: Kcho at the Pilar i Joan Miró Foundation in Majorca, Spain; El camino de la nostalgia (The road of nostalgia) at Centre Wilfredo Lam in Havana; and Tabla de salvación (Salvation) at the Espacio Abierto Gallery, also in Havana, Cuba. In these three shows the artist reinforces his interest for the subject of travels and migrations with simple but categorical installations such as “El camino de la nostalgia” and “Lo mejor del verano” (The Best Part of Summer) –the latter being also displayed at the exhibition Cocido y Crudo organized by the Museum Reina Sofía in Spain–.

Kcho represents Cuba in important collective exhibitions like: Arte nuevo de Cuba (New Art from Cuba) at the White Chapel Art Gallery in London, Great Britain, by curator Katherine Lampert; Campo (Countryside) by curator Francesco Bonami, for the opening of the Sandretto-Re Rebaudengo Foundation for the Arts, in Turin, Italy –this show was also displayed at the exhibition halls of the same Foundation in Venice, Italy; Nuestro siglo (Our Century) at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Diálogos de paz (Peace Dialogues) at the United Nations Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland;La Habana – Sao Paulo –which grouped a sample of biennials from Cuba and Brazil, at the Centre for Cultures of the World, in Berlin, Germany; at the 1st Biennial of Johannesburg, South Africa; and at the 4th International Biennial of Istanbul, Turkey.

By the end of the year 1995, Kcho meets in Havana Barbara Gladstone, from the United States, owner of the Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York and with whom he organizes two significant exhibitions that helped developing a greater awareness of his work in the United States and the rest of the world.

In 1996, during the first of these shows, which they simply named Kcho, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, acquired his work “Columna Infinita # 1” (Infinite Column # 1)

Source web.

Carlos Alberto Quintana Ledesma was born on November 29th, 1966 in the Vedado district of Havana. His grandparents were illiterate. His mother attended school until the third grade, his father until fifth grade. There had never been an artist in the family. His father was a bookseller. When Carlos was 16 he enrolled at the famed San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts but he lasted only four months. "Studying didn't do me any good," he recalls. "I couldn't accept the rigors of school the discipline, the schedule because of what was going on in my life." Quintana is not clear about whether he was kicked out of art school or whether he just stopped going to classes, but the result was the same. He taught himself to be a painter.

"Everyone treated me like some kind of strange animal," he recalls. "I was like other kids I threw stones, climbed trees, stole horses from my uncles. But I also had other tendencies, spiritual and artistic interests that nobody in my family understood, nor supported, nor respected." The one exception was his aunt Elena, his father's sister, who saw her young nephew's potential. She lent him a little room on Avenida Paseo where he painted on bed sheets he stole from his mother.

When Quintana was 26 whe moved to Spain. He kept a studio in Madrid for 11 years, then in 2003 he moved back to Havana. "I fell in love with a Cuban woman and I'm still with her," he says. He also became something of a nomad, exhibiting his work around the world, painting whenever and wherever he had the chance.

If finding a place to paint wasn't much of a problem, moving his work around was trickier. One time he was coming into the United States with two huge tubes containing his rolled-up paintings and drawings."Hey," an airport guard called to him, "what are you carrying in there? Missiles?" "No," the painter replied matter-of-factly. "It's just art." Another time, in Venezuela, a policeman scrutinized his drawing of human heads in serving dishes a common Quintana theme and asked if those might happen to be murder victims.

In the spring of 2011 Quintana moved into a new studio space on Avenida B in Miramar. When we interviewed him there he was just starting a new painting, which involved consecrating his canvas with spit and the occasional mouthful of beer. He was also contemplating the idea of showing his work for the first time in Havana's National Museum of Fine Arts. The show, which opened in October 2011 and runs until December 2012, is mischievously entitled Nada and features a lot more than nothing to be exact, you'll find 20 large canvasses Quintana painted in Asia, Europe and North America.

source web.

Consuelo Castañeda (born 1958) La Habana, Cuba. Resides in Miami Beach and New York, USA.

Education

1982 Advance Institute of Fine Arts (ISA), La Habana, Cuba.
1977 San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, La Habana, Cuba.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2008 Finding the Self. Art@Work.Miami.FL.USA.
2001 New Work Miami. Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM). Miami, Fl. USA.
1996 Consuelo Castaneda and Quisqueya Henriquez Collaboration Morris-Healy Gallery, New York, NY.
1995 To Be Bilingual, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Coral Gables, Fl, USA
1992 Consuelo Castaneda, Ninart, Centro de Cultura, Mexico, D. F.
1989 La Historia reconstruye la Imagen, Castillo de la Real Fuerza, La Habana, Cuba.
1987 ¿Quien la presta los brazos a la Venus de Milo?. Teatro Nacional de Cuba. La Habana, Cuba.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2008
Why are we here?.801 Projects. Miami, Fl, USA.
Fortuna.La Bodega Spac, (part of 801Projects).Wynwood, Miami,Fl, USA.
2007
Killing Time: An exhibition of Cuban artists from the 1980s to the present. Exit art Gallery. NYC. USA.
Cuba Avant Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection. The Samuel P. Harn Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville.USA.
2006
Artchitecture. The Bentley Bay Building, Miami Beach, Fl. USA
Light in Contemporary Art As Seen in a Selection from the Berezdivin Collection. Espacio 1414. Puerto Rico
2005
Nowhere, Alonso Art Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, Florida, USA.
1999
Time of Our Lives. New Museum. New York, NY, USA.
1998
Miami Arts Project. Miami Beach. Fl. USA
Cuba On: 11 Conceptual Photographers. Generous Miracles Gallery. New York. USA.
1997
The Crystal Stopper. Lehmann Maupin Gallery. New York. USA.
1996
Warehouse Project. Sponsored by Rosa de la Cruz & Fred Snitzer. Miami, Fl. USA.
Vivir es dejar huella, Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
1995
Traces: The Body in Contemporary Photography. The Bronx Museum of Art. New York. USA.
Still Lives: 4 Interactions whit the Past. Ground Level /South Florida Art Center. USA.
1994
Alter Nations, Gallery 312, Chicago, IL.
Consuelo Castaneda & Quisqueya Henriquez, INTAR Gallery, New York.USA
Cubana, The Cuban Museum of Art & Culture, Miami, Fl, USA.
Selected Gallery Artists. Fredric Snitzer Gallery. Coral Gables, Fl. USA.
Day by Day. Gutierrez Fine Art Gallery. Miami Beach. Fl. USA.
Las Nuevas Majas, Otis Art Gallery, Otis College of Arts and Design, Los Angeles,CA.
1993
Art Miami' 93, Convention Center of Miami Beach, Fl, USA.
Las Nuevas Majas, Casona II. Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público, México, D.F.
1992
Los Cubanos llegaron ya. Ninart, Centro de Cultura, México D.F.
Ante America: Cambio de Foco, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá.
La Década Prodigiosa: Plástica Cubana de los 80, Museo del Chopo, México, D.F.
Expo Arte Guadalajara 92, Salón de Ferias, Guadalajara, México.
Once Artistas Cubanos, Museo del Carmen, México, D.F.
Plástica Cubana Contemporánea, Sala de Exposiciones SECOFI, México, D.F.
1991
15 Artistas Cubanos, Ninart, Centro de Cultura , México, D.F.
Arte Cubano Actual, IV Bienal de la Habana, Galeria Manolo Rodríguez, La Habana, Cuba.
Los Hijos de Guillermo Tell, Artistas Cubanos Contemporáneos.
Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero, Banco de La República de Colombia. Bogotá.
Nuevas Adquisiciones Contemporáneas, Muestra de Arte Cubano, Museo de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba.
1990
Arte Contemporáneo de Cuba. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Sevilla, España.
Cinco Pintoras, Galería Arte y Promoción, México, D.F.
Proyecto C&Q, Museo Universitario del Chopo, México
1989
Contemporary Art from Havana, Riverside Studios, London.
Made in Havana, Museum of Contemporary Art, Melbourne.
Art Gallery of New South Whales, Sidney and Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia.
De La Habana. Museo de la Ciudad de México. México . D.F.
1988 Signs of Transitions: 80's Art from Cuba, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Hispano (MOCHA), New York, USA.
Muestra de Arte Cubano. Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAIC), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Arte Cubano. Centro Cultural de Buenos Aires "La Recoleta". Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Exposición de Artistas Cubanos, Galería Nesle, Paris.
Three Cubans Artists, Gallery 76, Toronto; Forest City Gallery, London, Ontario.
Muestra de Pintura Cubana . Moscu.
1987
Aire Fresco, Galería Habana, la Habana , Cuba.
Consuelo Castaneda y Humberto Castro, Museo Provincial de Villa Clara. Cuba.
1986
II Bienal de La Habana, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba.
XVII Festival Internacional de la Pintura de Cannes Sur Mer, Francia.
El Arte con la sonrisa, Milán, Venecia, Regio Emilia, Turin, Genova y Roma.
1985
Exposición Internacional, XII Festival de la Juventud y los Estudiantes, Moscu.
1984
I Bienal de La Habana, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba.
Salón UNEAC, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, La Habana, Cuba.
1983
Plástica Cubana Contemporánea, Museo de Bogotá, Colombia.
Encuentro de Jovenes Artistas Latinoamericanos, Casa de Las Américas, La Habana,Cuba
Concurso Internacional de Dibujo "Joan Miro". España.
Documentos e Instalaciones. Equipo Hexago. Galería Habana. La Habana. Cuba
1981
Concurso 13 de Marzo, Galería L. La Habana. Cuba.

Source web.

Cosme Proenza was born in Holguín, Cuba, March 5th, 1948
Painter, draftsman, illustrator and muralist.
Member of the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) National Association of Writers and Artists of Cuba, and of the International Association of Visual Arts.
Studies
National School of Arts, Havana, Cuba
Institute of Fine Arts, Kiev, Ukrania. Master of Fine Arts.
Personal Exhibitions :
1973-1978 Drawings and Paintings, Holguín Gallery, Cuba
1983 Cuban Paintings, Institute of Civil Aviation, Kiev, Ukrania
1984 Drawings, Central House of the Union of Visual Artists, Kiev, Ukrania
1987 Estos ángeles que desordenan mis sueños, (These Angels that Disorder my Dreams) Provincial Center of Art, Havana, Cuba
1989 Cicatrices (Scars), Provincial Gallery of Art, Matanzas, Cuba
1991 Paintings and Drawings, Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico
1992 Drawings, Hotel Camino Real Gallery, Ciudad México, México
Manipulaciones I, (Manipulations I), ITAM Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
Manipulaciones II, (Manipulations II), Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico
1993 Manipulaciones I, (Manipulations I),, National Museum of Fine Arts,, Santander, Spain
1994 Boscomanía I, Havana Gallery, Havana, Cuba
Boscomanía I ,Center of Fine Arts, Maracaibo, Venezuela
1995 Boscomanía II, Galiano, Gallery, Havana, Cuba
1996 Boscomanía II, Azqueta Gallery San José, Costa Rica
Un desconocido de Vasari (An Unknown from Vasari), Saint Francis of Asísi Convent, Havana, Cuba
Maillope Gallery, Navarra, Spain.
1997 Elogio de la complicidad (In Praise of Complicity), Fátima Cultural Center, Monterrey, Mexico
Anthologic Exhibition, Provincial Center of Fine Arts, Holguín, Cuba
Recent Works, Bayado Gallery, Holguín, Cuba
Memoria (Memories) La Acacia Gallery, Havana, Cuba
1998 Exhibition by Cosme Proenza, Hotel Inglaterra, Havana, Cuba
Anthologic Exhibition, Saint Francis of Asísi Convent, Havana, Cuba
1999 Año cero (Year Zero), Museo de las Américas, Ballajá Headquarter, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2002 Recent Paintings, House of Ibero America, Holguín, Cuba
Exhibition by Cosme Proenza, Cosme Proenza Gallery, Gibara, Holguín, Cuba
Voces del silencio (Voices of Silence), National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba

Source web.

Ernesto Rancaño was born in Havana on 21st September 1968. He graduated in 1991 from the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Alejandro, specialising in painting and drawing. He has been a member of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC) since 1995. Possessing a prolific and diverse body of work, he has made incursions into drawing, painting and sculpture with pieces that provoke different emotions: calm or fright, uncertainty or clarity, pain or pleasure. His works are held in permanent collections in Panama, Mexico, Jamaica and Spain. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions and was awarded First Prize in the Concurso de Carteles, sponsored and organised by the CETSS in Havana, Cuba.

Solo Exibitions
1986 KARMA, Pabellón Cuba, La Habana.
1994 El Jardín de Rancaño, Teatro Karl Marx, La Habana.
1996 La mano ciega, Galería IMAGO, La Habana.
2011 La carta que nunca te escribí
2012 La mitad de mi vida

Collective Exhibitions
2006 Manual de Instrucciones. IX Bienal de La Habana. Sede Convento de Santa Clara, La Habana.
4 en la IX Bienal de La Habana. Estudio Mano Ciega. Del 27 de marzo al 27 de abril.
Desnuda y con sombrilla
Expo Colectiva. España, Sede La Castellana, 18 de mayo.
Number Expo 5 x 5 = 25. Por el 5to aniversario de la revista digital La Jiribilla, Memorial José Martí, La Habana.
¿Quieres más galería? La Copa 42, La Habana.
2005 ArtCuba 2005. Junto al artista plástico V. Bonachea. Sede de la ONU, Ginebra, Suiza.
2004 Uno, dos y tres, que trazo más chévere. Junto a los artistas plásticos Vicente Bonachea y Eduardo Abela, Galería Servando, 23 y 10, Ciudad de La Habana.
2002 Tiempo de ver. Junto a los artistas Rubén Alpízar y María del Pilar Reyes, Galería Espacio 304, San Juan, Puerto Rico, febrero.
Suceden Los Espejos. Museo de la Ciudad de México.
Que joven es mi equipo de pelota. Estadio Latinoamericano de Béisbol, La Habana, Cuba.
2001 Suceden Los Espejos. Sala transitoria del Memorial José Martí, La Habana.
Visiones de La Caridad del Cobre. Cuartel de Ballajá, Museo de las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico, noviembre/diciembre.
Caleidoscopio. 22 artistas plásticos cubanos con motivo del duodécimo aniversario de la Convención de los Derechos del Niño, Teatro Nacional de Cuba, noviembre/diciembre.
2000 Pinceles en punta. Galería de los Oficios de Nelson Domínguez. Participa con una obra a propósito del Festival de Ballet de La Habana. Las obras de esta exposición pasaron a formar parte del patrimonio del Museo de la Danza.
Pintura Cubana Posmedieval. VII Bienal de La Habana, Convento de San Francisco de Asís, Noviembre. "Martí"
1996 Doce cuentos peregrinos, doce pintores cubanos, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá, Colombia.
1995 ONE LOVE Jamaican and cuban artists on the theme of love in honor of Bob Marley´s 50th birthday, Galería Chelsea, Jamaica.
1994 Semana Fundacional, exposición itinerante, España.
1993 Desde el dibujo, Galería La Acacia, La Habana. Art Cuban Now, Galería Chelsea, Jamaica. Arte Cubano en la Pampa, Museo Provincial de Arte de la Pampa, Argentina. Grados de Comandante, 2007
1991 Segunda exposición colectiva de profesores y alumnos, Galería Leopoldo Romañach, La Habana.
1990 Mural Colectivo, Palacio de los Pioneros Ernesto Che Guevara, Parque Lenin, La Habana.
1989 Exposición 170 Aniversario de San Alejandro, La Habana.
1987 Mural infantil en conjunto con los pintores Ulises González, Pedro Socorro y José M. Pérez Fernández.
1986 ESPEJOMAQUIA, Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, La Habana.