La cosa está mala 2008
Contemporary art in Cuba seems on one hand to be flourishing, with studios all over Havana asking you to come in and have a look at some brightly-colored, expressive 
paintings– all done rather skillfully. They start to look the same after a while. However, Carlos Quintana had a show up (in a proper gallery, no less) that really impressed me.
Quintana was born in Havana in 1966 and went to art school there. I found that he moved to Madrid, where he currently resides, in 1993. The large canvases with bright washes and splatters of color that he uses belie the darker undercurrent of his figures. In the work below, he slaps on paint in a manner more violent than cartoonish, and the size of the canvas (79 x 79 in.) can overwhelm. Yet the Senorita’s innocent expression and sea foam green dress add a wistfulness to the composition.
