The Cuban art collection of Mr. Méndez has been assembled over the course of two decades, beginning in Havana itself. The works were acquired directly from the artists—an approach that, from the outset, served as both a gesture of patronage and a means of sustaining their creative paths. In that same spirit, Leonardo Rodríguez has also prioritized direct acquisition as a form of support and commitment to the artists. The convergence of both collections, soon to be revealed in a series of joint exhibitions, will offer art enthusiasts a far broader—and simultaneously more nuanced—perspective on the Cuban cultural phenomenon within the field of visual arts.
The exhibition brings together both emerging talents—such as Daniela Águila and Brenda Cabrera, to name just two—and established figures of the stature of Alfredo Sosabravo and José Manuel Fors. In total, fifteen works are on display, spanning media such as watercolor, oil and acrylic on canvas, silkscreen, bronze sculpture, and a site-specific installation piece.
Gabriela Milián Calzadilla, Coordinator of the Luciano Méndez Collection, provided us with the collection’s official statement:
Conceived over the course of two decades, the Luciano Méndez Contemporary Cuban Art Collection has become a recognized reference both within Cuba and abroad. Its value lies not only in the breadth of works and artists it gathers, but in the curatorial gaze that brings them together.
Luciano Méndez Sánchez, a collector originally from Salamanca and based in Havana since the early 2000s, approached Cuban art driven by aesthetic affinities and a genuine desire to understand the cultural codes embedded in the work of Cuban artists themselves. In this way, and through sustained engagement with creative circuits and direct contact with artists and studios, he gradually built a collection attuned to the new discourses emerging and reshaping the country’s artistic landscape.
Today, with more than 800 works by over 60 artists, the collection offers a diverse map of the concerns, obsessions, and poetic gestures that define visual production in Cuba. It spans from the 1970s to the present day and encompasses painting, sculpture, photography, video art, video installation, and other media, consolidating itself as a plural and representative archive that also sheds light on key moments in the historiography of Cuban art.
The thematic lines explored by the collection make it possible to identify some of the persistent conceptual nuclei within the island’s creative panorama. Identity and memory, explorations of religiosity, the tensions between heritage and modernity, and the use of humor and satire as critical tools coexist with reflections on migration and diaspora, the insular condition, the dynamics of landscape and territory, corporeal inquiries, and investigations into abstraction and metaphysics.
The catalogue includes works by renowned figures such as Manuel Mendive, Roberto Fabelo, Tomás Sánchez, Alfredo Sosabravo, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Moisés Finalé, and José Bedia, alongside midcareer artists and emerging voices like Alejandro Gómez Cangas, Yasiel Elizagaray, Daniela Águila, Douglas Pérez Castro, Luis Enrique Camejo, William Acosta, José Manuel Fors, among others.
The collection has been featured in more than twenty exhibitions, both in Cuba and internationally. Each exhibition has also served as an opportunity to foster study and reflection on the paths that Cuban art has taken and continues to forge. Because this is not merely a private collection: it is a living, evolving project that understands art as both testimony and an essential language for narrating the nuances and contradictions of its time.
All the artists on view—listed in alphabetical order—are: Daniela Águila, Brenda Cabrera, Moisés Finalé, José Manuel Fors, René Peña, Douglas Pérez Castro, R10, Dagoberto Rodríguez, and Alfredo Sosabravo.
List of works on view
Daniela Águila
Flor de piel ( Skin Flower ), 2023
Mixed Media on Canvas | 47¼ x 31½ Inches
I have you, 2023
Mixed Media on Canvas | 51 x 43 Inches
René Peña
Untitled, 1997
Photographic print | 24 x 31½ Inches (approx.) Ed. 2/5
From the White Things Series: Untitled, 2001
Photographic print | 19¾ x 24 Inches (approx.) AP
Untitled, 2008
Photographic print | 19¾ x 24 Inches (approx.) Ed. 5/10
Untitled, 1995
Photographic print | 24 x 31½ Inches (approx.) Ed. 1/10
Moisés Finalé
Entre hombres ( Among Men ), 2006 Paris Spring
Mixed Media, Acrylic on Canvas | 35 x 51¼ Inches
Brenda Cabrera
La piedra preciosa ( The Precious Stone ), 2024
Acrylic on Canvas | 23½ x 23½ Inches (approx.)
José Manuel Fors
Untitled, 1994
Mixed Media, Installation, photographs on panel | 20 x 24 Inches
Alfredo Sosabravo
The Singer, 2017
Acrylic and Collage on Canvas | 63 x 38½ Inches (approx.)
Undated ( likely circa 2011 )
Bronze Sculpture | 40¼ x 20½ x 18¾ Inches (approx.)
Untitled, 2011
Bronze Sculpture | 33 x 27½ x 13½ Inches (approx.)
Dagoberto Rodríguez
Iceberg gris ( Grey Iceberg ), 2020. Diptych
Watercolor on Paper |
Douglas Pérez Castro
Ariadna, 2009
Mixed Media, Watercolor, Pastel and Thread on Paper | 39 x 51¼ Inches (approx.)
Jorge Rodríguez Diez ( R10)
From the 'Ay, que delicia, doña! Series: Esto no camina, 2011
Screen Print on Paper | 27½ x 39½ Inches (approx.)
All the artists on view—listed in alphabetical order—are: Daniela Águila, Brenda Cabrera, Moisés Finalé, José Manuel Fors, René Peña, Douglas Pérez Castro, R10, Dagoberto Rodríguez, and Alfredo Sosabravo.
List of works on view
Daniela Águila
Flor de piel ( Skin Flower ), 2023
Mixed Media on Canvas | 47¼ x 31½ Inches
I have you, 2023
Mixed Media on Canvas | 51 x 43 Inches
René Peña
Untitled, 1997
Photographic print | 24 x 31½ Inches (approx.) Ed. 2/5
From the White Things Series: Untitled, 2001
Photographic print | 19¾ x 24 Inches (approx.) AP
Untitled, 2008
Photographic print | 19¾ x 24 Inches (approx.) Ed. 5/10
Untitled, 1995
Photographic print | 24 x 31½ Inches (approx.) Ed. 1/10
Moisés Finalé
Entre hombres ( Among Men ), 2006 Paris Spring
Mixed Media, Acrylic on Canvas | 35 x 51¼ Inches
Brenda Cabrera
La piedra preciosa ( The Precious Stone ), 2024
Acrylic on Canvas | 23½ x 23½ Inches (approx.)
José Manuel Fors
Untitled, 1994
Mixed Media, Installation, photographs on panel | 20 x 24 Inches
Alfredo Sosabravo
The Singer, 2017
Acrylic and Collage on Canvas | 63 x 38½ Inches (approx.)
Undated ( likely circa 2011 )
Bronze Sculpture | 40¼ x 20½ x 18¾ Inches (approx.)
Untitled, 2011
Bronze Sculpture | 33 x 27½ x 13½ Inches (approx.)
Dagoberto Rodríguez
Iceberg gris ( Grey Iceberg ), 2020. Diptych
Watercolor on Paper |
Douglas Pérez Castro
Ariadna, 2009
Mixed Media, Watercolor, Pastel and Thread on Paper | 39 x 51¼ Inches (approx.)
Jorge Rodríguez Diez ( R10)
From the 'Ay, que delicia, doña! Series: Esto no camina, 2011
Screen Print on Paper | 27½ x 39½ Inches (approx.)
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.
The Kendall Art Cultural Center (KACC), dedicated the past six years to the preservation and promotion of contemporary art and artists, and to the exchange of art and ideas throughout Miami and South Florida, as well as abroad. Through an energetic calendar of exhibitions, programs, and its collections, KACC provides an international platform for the work of established and emerging artists, advancing public appreciation and understanding of contemporary art.
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The Rodríguez collection is a blueprint of Cuban art and its diaspora. Within the context of the new MoCA-Americas the collection becomes an invaluable visual source for Diaspora identity. It represents a different approach to art history to try to better understand where we come from to better know where we are heading.
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