Art in Cuba is Public (and Political)

Havana's streets are peppered with whimsy.  Some of the public art in the streets is clever and amusing -- seeking smiles. 

Entrance to a movie theater. Brilliant box office

Mail slot in the Outdoor Wall of a Building

Sculptures sitting in the Plaza de San Francisco de Asis in Habana Vieja 

 Mirrored Windows in the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, reflecting Old Buildings across the street

Artist Jose Fuster, who builds ceramic sculptures all over his property and his neighbors' homes. His mosaics look like Gaudi's work that appears in public places in Barcelona.

This wall and bench a block away from Jose Fuster's home offers Homage to Gaudi

 Havana's University of the Arts

Student demonstrating his art project, putting heads of figures on unlikely bodies -- Mother Teresa and Salvadore Dali naked.  It's a game.  Everything is political.

Huge mural of Che Guevara on Plaza de la Revolucion. The words "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Always toward Victory)  

This cartoon poster is on the wall of the first floor in the Museum of the Revolution. The museum is in the palace of Cuba's former president. The beautiful marble palace was designed by Tiffany of New York in the spirit of a European royal palace, with a second floor ballroom of mirrors fashioned after Versailles in France.  Each of the capitalist leaders in this line-up is insulted in three languages. The Rincon de los Cretinos ("Cretins' Corner") consists of unflattering cartoons of Batista, Reagan, George Bush and "W. Bush".  The message to W (pictured with a swastika on his helmet). is: "Thank you cretin for helping us to make socialism irrevocable". 

Artist Lester Campa lives and works in Las Terrazas, a community in rural Vinales, west of Havana.  His work has been called environmental political. I think it's just political.  He is standing next to a drawing of a tree casting a shadow. The reality is not as full of life as the shadow suggests.

This black coral jewelry is for sale in the gift shop of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba.  The hotel is owned and managed by the government.  By the way, it is against the law in Cuba to take black coral or to sell it. How deliciously ironic that it is displayed for sale in a government-owned store?