Geandy Pavón, Artist
Imara López Boada, Collaborating Artist
Paquito D’Rivera, Soundtrack
Adriana Ospina, Director
Greg Svitil, Public and Media Relations
Fabian Gonsalvez, Exhibition Coordinator
Nuria Clusella, Team Liaison
John Allen, Executive Director
Yuneikys Villalonga, Chief Curator
José Valdes-Fauli, Chair, Exhibitions Committee
Fabian Peña, Installation
Jan Vandermey, Installation
Pamela Londono, Curatorial Assistant
We would also like to thank Christopher Spuches, Board Chair, and the Board of Trustees.
Pablo Zuñiga, Director
Adriana Ospina, Curator of Collections
Greg Svitil, Public & Media Relations
Leilani Campbell, Virtual Exhibition Designer
Fabian Gonsalvez, Exhibition Coordinator
Nuria Clusella, Team Liaison
Laura Blanco, Exhibition Producer
Lynette Bosch, SUNY Distinguished Professor & Chair
Department of Art History, Geneseo
Jorge Brioso, Contributor
Professor of Latin American Literature
Carleton College
Paul Hiller, IT Director
Erica Chan, Graphic Designer
Geandy Pavón is a multi-disciplinary artist who explores the ills that plague global society. His observations into totalitarianism and displays of power are expressed through paint, photography and video. An example of the provocative work that brought his name to light is Nemesis (2010-2012) - a part of a body of work that entails guerrilla projections of photographs of renowned dissidents and political prisoners on the facades of their corresponding embassies and consulates.
His work has gained praise and positive critical reviews from esteemed figures such as Holland Cotter, of The New York Times.
Pavón’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions such as Caribbean: Crossroads of the World, at The Studio Museum of Harlem and PAMM; The X Files Bienal at El Museo del Barrio; the Annenberg Space for Photography as part of Pacific Time LA/LA; and at the USF Contemporary Museum of Art in Tampa, Florida. His photo series The Cuban-Americans was recently added to the permanent collection of El Museo del Barrio.
Lynette M.F. Bosch is a SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York, Geenseo, where she is also the founding Chair of the Department of Art History. She received her Ph.D. from Princeton University; M.A. City University of New York, Hunter College; B.A. City University of New York, Queens College. She has written several books, numerous articles and has curated multiple exhibitions in the areas of Spanish and Italian Renaissance Art and Latin American Art. Her publications include: Demi, Rizzoli Press (2019); The Cuban and American Art of Alberto Rey (co-edited with Mark Denaci), SUNY Press (2014) Cuban-American Literature and Art (Ed. Isabel Alvarez-Borland), SUNY Press (2000); Identity, Memory and Diaspora: Voices of Cuban-American Philosophers, Writers, Poets and Artists (Co-Eds. Jorge Gracia, Isabel Alvarez-Borland), SUNY Press, 2007); Cuban-American Art in Miami: Exile, Identity and the Neo-Baroque, Lund Humphries Press (2004); Ernesto Barreda: Contemporary Chilean Painter, Editorial Morgan (1996); Art, Liturgy and Legend in Renaissance Toledo: The Mendoza and the Iglesia Primada, Penn State Press (2000), which received the Eleanor Tufts Book Prize (2001), from the American Society of Hispanic Art Scholars. She has received significant honors and Awards, including: National Endowment for the Humanities Grant for Summer Seminar for College and University Professors (2005); Franklin Research Grant, American Philosophical Society (2004); Fellow, The Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, Harvard University (1998-99); Program for Cultural Cooperation Between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities (1998); American Philosophical Society Research Grant (1998); National Endowment for the Humanities Travel Award (1989 & 1986); American Council of Learned Societies Research Grant (1986); Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1984); American Association of University Women Fellowship (1983). She has most recently published Mannerism, Spirituality and Cognition: The Art of Enargeia, Routledge (2019).
Audio: La Bella Cubana, performed by Paquito D'Rivera
(Versions 1 and 2, respectively.)
La Bella Cubana is José White’s most famous composition. The work is beloved and played frequently since the 19th century. Stylistically, it is an Habanera, a style that arrived in Cuba from Spain in the mid-19th century. Examples of this musical style can be found in Bizet’s Carmen.
José Silvetre White Lafitte was a violinist and composer born in Matanzas, Cuba on January 17, 1836. His parents were Spanish and Afro-Cuban. He lived and studied in Paris under the tutelage of Louis Gottschalk and was director of the Imperial Conservatory in Rio de Janeiro. In addition to composing his most famous work, La Bella Cubana, White also wrote violin concertos and recorded for the Columbia label. Mr. White died in Paris, in 1918.
photo courtesy of GEANDY PAVÓN
We are honored by Paquito’s spirit of camaraderie in recording José White’s, La Bella Cubana for this exhibition. He graciously sent us two stylistically different recordings and we decided to use both. Paquito was born in Havana, Cuba to a tradition of gifted musicians. He has won multiple Grammy awards since 1979, and has been the recipient of the National Medal of Arts.