Cuban Art!!

Wilfredo Lam

(1902-1982)

Wifredo Lam is a Cuban artist who was raised in Sagua La Grande which is the sugar farming area of Villa Clara, Cuba. His father was a Chinese immigrant his mother’s parents were former Cuban slaves. Lam’s art was influence by Afro-Cubans, using Cubist and surrealist ideas in creating iconography of the Afro-Cuban religion, not belonging to a single art movement. His beliefs were that society focused to much on individuality and he focused on society as a whole.

I chose this artist because his art style has a cartoon appeal to it. It appears be mostly abstract, yet there is an obvious meaning behind them. His use of geometric/cartoon shapes and dark pastel colors makes his work very eye catching. This artist was primarily a painter, but also did sculpture and ceramics.

His materpiece was La Jungla” (“The Jungle”, 1943). This piece focuses on the closeness of humans, animals, and plants. His intention for this painting was to depict a spiritual state.