
Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art
Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida
July 11, 2023 - January 10, 2024
Curators: Gabriela Azcuy and David Horta
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Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art traces the Rice family’s decade-long path of discovering the art and artists of Cuba. This inaugural exhibition drawn from a collection of 230 works of art presents 79 paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, mixed media, art books, and sculptures by fifty-three artists selected and organized along six themes: The Language of Forms and the Forms of Language; The Prophet’s Dream; The Great Journey; Sensory Landscapes of Memory and Desire; The Musings of Narcissus; and The Spirit of the Real, the Reality of the Spirit.
The exhibition deviates from a traditional historical narrative and is presented as a compass rather than a timeline―a map for a journey through the varying themes, genres, and styles that align with the sensibilities of two generations of collectors in the Rice family.
The guide for this winding course of visual and conceptual ideas is the family’s unwavering admiration of Cuban artistic culture―epitomized here by the royal palm tree, the unifying symbol of ‘Cubanness.’ Their esteem for the art and the people of Cuba brings meaning and bestows consistency to the collection, making a strong whole of the multiplicity of parts.
The six thematic sections in Under the Spell of the Palm Tree wind through the exhibition space like convolutions of the brain, articulating individual yet functionally inseparable hemispheres. The analytical and cynical coexist with the emotional, intuitive, spiritual, and fantastical.
On one side, artists express an acute engagement with Cuba´s history, society, and culture. Their work centers on the utopias and dystopias found in the myths and aspirations of the Cuban psyche against a backdrop of totalitarianism, freedom fights, and migration.
But another direction along the pathway reveals an undertone of sensuality, imagination, and wit, a reconnection with nature, a search for self-awareness and transcendence, a personal ideal of art and beauty that is both abstract and concrete.
Taken together, the art within the exhibition―and in the Rice Collection as a whole―comprise a complete topography of shared imagery, symbolism, ideals, and allegories.
LIST OF ARTISTS
Belkis Ayón, Abel Barroso, José Bedia, Cundo Bermúdez, Tania Bruguera, Iván Capote, Mario Carreño, Liset Castillo, Salvador Corratgé, Pedro de Oraá, Juan Roberto Diago, Roberto Diago Durruthy, Carlos Enríquez, Roberto Fabelo, Ernesto Javier Fernández, Adrián Fernández, José A. Figueroa, Carlos Garaicoa, Inti Hernández, Alex Hernández, Ricardo Miguel Hernández, Jesús Hdez-Güero, Alberto Lago, Wifredo Lam, Jorge Lavoy, Ernesto Leal, Glenda León, Reynier Leyva (Chino Novo), Kadir López, Jacqueline Maggi, Manuel Mendive, Frank Mujica, Mabel Poblet, Eduardo Ponjuán, René Portocarrero, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Ángel Ramírez, Sandra Ramos, Enrique Riverón, René Francisco Rodríguez, José Rosabal, Lázaro Saavedra, Emilio Sánchez, Tomás Sánchez, Esterio Segura, Rafael Soriano, Alfredo Sosabravo, Stainless (Alejandro Piñeiro, José Capaz and Roberto Fabelo Hung), José A. Toirac, Alexi Torres, Antonio Vidal, José Angel Vincench.
ARTWORKS

Presente en tu vida (Present in Your Life) 2011 Mixed media on canvas

Akanabionké, Akuaramina, Sikaneka, Sikán 1987 Collagraph

Untitled (Laberinto de grecas) (Greek Pattern Labyrinth) 1996 Collagraph

Dando y dando (Give and Take) 1997 Collagraph

Alimenta a mi gallo y se alimenta mi espíritu (Feed My Rooster and My Spirit Shall Be Fed) 1998 Oil on canvas

Untitled 1999 Acrylic, thread, beads and shells on canvas in a metal frame

Abalorios (Beads), From the Series "Energía para el amor y la bondad" (Energy for Love and Kindness) 2015 Acrylic painting, fabric, foam, iron, feathers and beads

Fragmento arrancado (Torn Fragment) 2017 Acrylic, metal, wood, canvas

Lango va a correr (La Lluvia o Agua va a correr) (Lango is Going to Run (Rain or Water Will Fall Down)) 1995 Charcoal, watercolor, and india ink on heavy paper

Composition 1976 Oil on canvas

Untitled 1973 Oil on canvas

Casita verde y blanca (Little Green and White House) c. 1990s Oil on canvas

Bottleneck c. 1979 Watercolor on heavy paper

La Finca (The Farm) 1945 Oil on canvas

El rapto (The Kidnapping) 1953 Gouache on paper

Basurero (Dump) 1991 Acrylic canvas

Campo de Tennis (Tennis Court) 2014 Graphite and oil on canvas

Comfort Pattern 56, From the Series "Habana-Miami" 2013 Oil on canvas

De la serie “Developer” (From the Series "Developer") 2012 Digital print on Fuji photographic paper

De la serie “Developer” (From the Series "Developer") 2012 Digital print on Fuji photographic paper

Cada sonido es una forma del tiempo (Every Sound Is a Shape of Time) 2015 Artist’s book with seven prints

We are thirsty, yet we have time, From the Series "Human Needs" 2016 Carved wood

Untitled No. 12, From the Series "Epilogue II" (Tropicana Dancer) 2012 Archival pigment ink on Hanhemuhle Luster GSM professional paper

The River, From the Series “Color Girl” 2016 Wood, pigment printing on canvas, resin

La belleza interna (The Inner Beauty) 2014 Fluorescent and phosphorescent acrylic on canvas

La belleza interna (The Inner Beauty) 2014 Fluorescent and phosphorescent acrylic on canvas

Pequeñas fantasías (Little Fantasies) 1994 Charcoal on paper

Naturaleza muerta con artista, modelo y pájaro (Still Life with Artist, Model, and Bird), From the Series “Pequeño teatro” (Little Theater) 1994 Watercolor on paper

Frijoles (Beans) 2014 Pastel on masonite

Homenaje a Rembrandt (Homage to Rembrandt), From the Series “El artista y su modelo” (The Artist and His Model) 2000 Oil on canvas
EXHIBITION VIEWS

Harn Museum entrance. On the windows, detail of Mario Carreño's painting "La Finca" (The Farm)

Sculpture "Hybrid of a Chrysler" by Esterio Segura

Sculpture "Hybrid of a Chrysler" by Esterio Segura

Gallery Entrance

Gallery Entrance

Gallery Entrance
























ARTIST'S VIDEOS
EVENTS AND MEDIATION PROGRAM
