States of Exchange: Cuban Artists, (Hardcover)

In States of Exchange, Cuban artist Gerardo Mosquera characterizes the sudden shift that visual artists in his country underwent in the 1980s: "These artists broke with the official ideology of culture imposed by the Cuban regime throughout the 1970s, rejecting its political and nationalist clichés. They did so spontaneously, without benefit of programs, mission statements or manifestos; they simply stopped taking any notice of government guidelines in order to work as they wished, without constraints." This volume is a first-hand account of the development of the Cuban avant-garde--which Mosquera terms "New Cuban Art"--detailing how the artists countered the nationalist vernacular of the 1970s to create a language that reflected contemporary Cuban society. This volume coincides with an exhibition of the same name at the Institute of International Visual Arts in London and includes critical essays on Iván and Yoan Capote, Jeannette Chávez, Diana Fonseca, Wilfredo Prieto and Lázaro Saavedra.