Complicated Beauty: Contemporary Cuban Art

Complicated Beauty, a survey exhibition of contemporary Cuban art from the 1970s to the present, will be the first of several Cuban art exhibitions at the Museum. Inspired by historic connections between Tampa and Havana, as well as the recent reopening of relations between the US and Cuba, Complicated Beauty will highlight several recent acquisitions to the Tampa Museum of Art’s permanent collection, including Simply Beautiful by Mabel Poblet and Cada Sonido es una Forma del Tiempo (Every Sound is a Shape of Time) by Glenda León. Alongside these and other artworks from the Tampa collection, the exhibition will also include numerous loaned artworks from the collections of the Bronx Museum of the Arts and several private collections. Altogether, some 50 artworks by more than 20 artists will offer visitors a cross-generational look at themes related to Cuban identity and the island nation’s complex socio-political environment. Many of the artists celebrate the natural beauty and diversity of Cuba while also exploring notions of isolation and escape.

Featured artists include José Bedia, Tania Bruguera, Los Carpinteros, Humberto Diaz, KCHO, Glenda León, Ana Mendieta, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Mabel Poblet, Diana Fonseca Quiñones, Sandra Ramos, Lazaro Armando Saavedra, Esterio Segura, and others.