Now on Display
A little racy for quaint Delray Beach, Maestros de Cuba at the Cornell Museum showcases five contemporary Cuban artists whose work has never been exhibited together before this show. Working in different media with vastly different perspectives, the artists were selected by Anita and Jay Hyman, founders of the Society for the Advancement of Latin American Art, who frequently travel to Cuba to collect art. Los Pajaros, a crayon and watercolor piece by Jose Roberto Fabelo Perez, greets the visitor in the museum's foyer. It has a beautifully serene and surreal quality: a flock of birds moving toward a woman's profile, with shells suggesting the curls of her hair. Drawings and watercolors by Pedro Pablo Oliva Rodriguez appear, at first, like caricatures, almost Hirschfeldesque in their repeated lines and exaggerated features. But closer inspection reveals penises and genitalia, a pin driven through a man's neck, and a vise around a doll's head. Nelson Dominguez Cedeno offers several stunning paintings and mixed-media works: Cargo en Rojo (2005) describes a horse's muzzle seen from above, its nose gleaming white against a dark burgundy background. In contrast to the male Cuban artists in the downstairs galleries, Vernissage, an ambitiously multifaceted exhibit of female artists, occupies two of the upstairs rooms. Organized by the Florida chapter of the National Association of Women Artists, the exhibit represents works by 41 women. Villagio di Barga, an etching by Bernice Harwood, stands out: Its black shapes contrast with peach shadows, a rough rendering of an alleyway view. Eleanor Shane's acrylics pop off the walls: Cave Music is a particularly vibrant example of fluorescent colors and abstract shapes. (Both through October 30 at the Cornell Museum of Art & History, Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Call 561-243-7922.)