GLEXIS NOVOA (b. 1964)
Untitled (from the series De la etapa práctica)
signed and dated 'Glexis 89' (lower right); signed, dated and titled 'GLEXIS NOVOA, 1989, LA HABANA, CUBA, DE LA ETAPA PRACTICA SIN TITULO' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
76 x 77¹⁄₄ in. (193 x 196.2 cm.)
Painted in Havana in 1989.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner.

L. Camnitzer, New Art from Cuba, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994 (illustrated, p. 235).

Havana, Castillo de la Real Fuerza, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Patria o muerte (Etapa práctica), 1989.
Pori, Finland, Pori Art Museum; Budapest, Mucsarnok Museum; Vienna, Palffy Palace, No Man is an Island: Young Cuban Art, 1990.
Gainesville, Florida, Harn Museum of Art; Sarasota, Florida, John & Marble Ringling Museum of art; Eugene, Oregon, Jordan Schnitzer Museum; Manitoba, Canada, Winnipeg Art Gallery; Coral Gables, Florida, Lowe Art Museum; Katonah, New York, Katonah Museum of Art, Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection, May 2007- September 2010, pp. 141-142 (illustrated, p. 143).

We are grateful to the artist for his assistance cataloguing this work.

Conditions of Sale
FAQs
This lot is offered by Christie's Inc

Brought to you by

Lot Essay

Alongside such artists as Carlos Cárdenas and Tomás Esson, Novoa emerged in late 1980s Cuba with critical-conceptual work that parodied institutional iconography and propaganda through cryptic, coded language. “That was a time of ironic intent with the art institution, where I took advantage of the conventions that were responsible for an artist’s prestige or not, as well as institutions, museums, and galleries,” Novoa reflected of his early “etapa práctica” series, to which the present work belongs. “It was a time when my whole generation was questioning the extreme political and social situations in the country, and I decided to express that in my work” (quoted in L. Hernández, “Glexis Novoa: A Havana Wake-Up,” Cuban Art News, 18 October 2016).
The present painting, a graphic parody of both Soviet agitprop and American Abstract Expressionism, was included in Novoa’s acclaimed installation at the Third Havana Biennial in 1989. “His painterly skills returned, this time to execute huge multi-panel installations in the fashion of Soviet socialist-realist pomposity,” wrote Luis Camnitzer of the development of Novoa’s “etapa práctica.” “Many of the panels bear unintelligible inscriptions written in a Cyrillic-looking alphabet created by himself, which with little effort can be decoded into PCC (Partido Comunista Cubano) and into ‘Patria o Muerte,’ the national Cuban slogan. The work is totally cynical, made to measure to satisfy the expectations of a perestroika-contaminated international market while making a devastating criticism of it. The ruse worked” (New Art of Cuba, Austin, 2003, p. 235).
Abby McEwen, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, College Park