Suspended in the Landscape

The history of caricature is always a story of reassertion. Cartoonists have long been compelled to assert their artistic skill as equal to that of other visual artists (painters, sculptors, video artists, filmmakers) whose practise typically receives greater attention and is granted more prestige. It does not matter that we recall the aesthetics of James Gillray or J.J. Grandville, Daumier or José Guadalupe Posada, Saul Steinberg — the great mentor referred to as the "Picasso of caricature"— or Eduardo Abela — a key painter of the Cuban avant-guard.

As a matter of fact, Brady's art has been influenced by various practices. A claim that has been rooted in the Cuban tradition for over a century, of which he is an heir. In fact, almost all the great Cuban cartoonists have experimented with painting, engraving, ceramics, installation, bookbinding, or animated drawing. This includes Jesús de Armas, José Luis Posada, Nuez, Manuel, or Ares, to mention a few within a long saga of artists.

Brady's exhibition Suspended in the landscape urges us to engage with broader perspectives beyond the visible. A series in which the "landscape" is barely recognizable. Perhaps, at some point, a car gives us a clue that we are in Tapachula, Mexico, a transit city through which thousands of Latin Americans, including Cubans, try to cross the border to reach the United States. A hint that points to a fleeting and terrible reality...