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Cuban artists' work turning heads in Southtown

Nude
Jorge Lopez
Nude Next Door

A new art exhibition from the San-Havana Project reveals a remarkable well of creativity from Cuba.

Angela Martinez owns the mobile movie-showing Slab Cinema, but this particular work she’s tackled isn’t commerce. It’s a labor of love.

“In December, we took three artists to Havana, and we did two pop-up shows,” Martinez said. “And then part of that exchange is bringing the Cuban art here and doing a pop up show here. So this is our second showing of Cuban art from Cuban artists here in San Antonio.”

The US and Cuba officially don’t really get along well with one another, but Martinez tries to put her efforts at a human level, not a governmental one.

“We're trying to navigate everything very carefully so that we can continue. Our idea would be to be able to bring the Cuban artists here eventually for a show,” she said.

Ausencia
Eduardo Santana
Ausencia

This exhibiition just around the corner from Blue Star shows 21 photos of four different Havana artists. As to how you get to see them, give them a call.

“It's open by appointment, and it'll be open on third Thursday. We'll be having a reception,” Martinez said.

You can make that appointment by going to san-havana.com, or go to the reception on Third Thursday on February 15. There’s no pressure to buy the artwork because it’s not for sale.

“It's just about building community and building this bridge and using art as a unifier,” she said. “There's four Cuban artists represented here. Mostly these are photographs. Some of them are digital art manipulations.”

Martinez continues to navigate the waters between the two countries to establish an artistic dialogue between San Antonio and Havana.

“This is our second showing of Havana work and our seventh showing overall in this project," she said.

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Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org and on Twitter at @JackMorganii