New York Artist Visit Cuba
Art has a way of breaking down barriers and that’s exactly what happened when New York artist visited Havana over the weekend. From CNN:
The “Chelsea visits Havana” exhibition is part of the 10th Havana Biennial art show. Works by more than 30 artists representing different galleries in New York City’s modern-art hub of Chelsea will be on display.
And no censorship was demonstrated by the Cuban government:
Works include “Castrobama,” by Padraig Tarrant, which has cutout profiles of Barack Obama and Fidel Castro painted red and facing each other.
“Animal Farm — McCain and Palin,” a painting by Tim Rollins and K.O.S., a South Bronx art collective, depicts the head of Sarah Palin on the body of a moose.
Magnan says one of the highlights so far has been a St. Patrick’s Day parade celebrating Irish-Cuban culture, organized by Duke Riley, one of a number of the exhibited artists who have accompanied the show to Havana.
“The Cuban people responded incredibly to that. The streets were closed, they had Cuban bagpipes and they plan to make it a yearly event,” said Magnan.
It’s obvious allowing interaction between US and Cubans citizens will have a stronger effect in bringing freedom to Cuba than the embargo ever has.