Contemporary Cuban art shown at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport

Photo by Omar Valenti

Three contemporary Cuban artists are showing photos, paintings and sculpture at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport (MSP). The exhibit, called "Buoyancy," opened October 5 in Concourses E and F of MSP's Terminal 1 - Lindbergh. The display's title is a tip-of-the-hat to the enduring resilience of the Cuban people despite political and economic isolation from their near neighbor, the United States. The event bills itself as "the first-ever Cuban art exhibit at a U.S. airport."

The display includes a visual and sound installation about Cuba that was produced by "The Touch of Sound" (www.thetouchofsound.com), an online collection of recordings assembled by Jesse and Jonah Marks. The Minnesota-based duo are brothers who roam the world recording what they hear.

Participating artists are:

Photographer Omar Valenti, a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, whose picturesque images of his homeland's people and architecture have been shown in more than 60 international exhibitions;

Painter Adrian Rumbaut, whose work includes manipulated images of political and pop culture figures, among them Marilyn Monroe and Ernesto "Che" Guevara.;

Camilo Diaz de Villavilla, an illustrator and sculptor who is also a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. Widely exhibited internationally, Diaz de Villavilla incorporates images of historic and contemporary figures into constructions intended as socio-political critiques.