Cuba, casi todo el año, casi a todas horas / Cuba, almost all year round, almost at all hours

Bojeo - Circumnavigation

Jany Batista

At first glance, the paintings in this series might appear to be truly minimalist landscapes. And they are, in fact. But they are more. If one looks at the edges of the relief, one could glimpse the lines of a map. And they are ultimately a map: the perimeter of an island, Cuba, fragmented and multiplied, in a superimposition that distinguishes nuances. This speech has several levels of reading. The initial landscape becomes more complex in a conceptual dimension: a cartographic reference opens up to new implications. In the end, the island is the physical space and at the same time the symbolic sphere. Jany Batista has synthesized some of the narratives of the nation (including those that have become commonplace) in an essential proposal, with exemplary economy of resources. Each painting is a metaphor for an edge of what we call "Cuban identity", which is specified geographically and culturally. And in the end it is summed up in an integrating landscape. The idea is rounded.