Art on the Hyphen: Cuban-American Artists of Western New York

Guest curator Lynette Bosch selected the art of eight Cuban-American artists working in Western New York. As “hyphenated Americans,” these artists partake of Cuban and U.S. cultures. The exhibition sought to provide an artistic context for these artists within the history of the art of Cuba and the United States. The exhibition and its catalog also explored the importance of their experiences as Cubans and Americans and the transmission of this experience into their art. While the location in Western New York immersed these artists in American culture, the part of them which remains Cuban provides a different perspective on their experiences that give their lives and work an added dimension that differentiates them from non-hyphenated Americans. The exhibition explored this difference with the intention of using diversity as a bridge to universal communication.

Artists included Christian Campos, George Campos, Errol Daniels, Jorge Guitart, Alberto Rey, Agustin Rolando Rojas, and Nestor Zarragoitia, six of whom gave artist’s talks during the run of the exhibition. Complementing this multi-disciplinary selection of painters, photographers, and printmakers were a curator’s talk, two book signings, a program on the music of Cuban composers, seven films, poetry by Olga Karman and Jorge Guitart, a symposium, “Cuban and Cuban-American Art: An Overview,” featuring Carol Damian, Juan A. Martinez and Alejandro Anreus, and a family workshop on Afro-Cuban theatrical makeup. This exhibition was made possible, in part, with a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts through its "Challenge America: Serving Every Community" program supported by Senator Charles E. Schumer.

Happy Hour with Latin Jazz Project: February 10, Lecture: March 5. Pablo Menendez from Havana, Cuba is a musician and cultural anthropologist and, as leader of the band "Mezcla," has been active in the world of Cuban music, culture and politics for many years. His lecture, entitled "Cuban Music: History, Culture, Politics and beyond" was a broad-based discussion of the critical aspects of the Cuban musical expression. In addition, Menendez presented his own video containing performances and interviews with the leading Cuban musicians of our day.