From Sierra Maestra to La Habana: The Drawings of Chago

Marking the first presentation of the work of Santiago "Chago" Armada (1937–1995) outside his native country of Cuba, Havana-based curator Sandra Ceballos and Luis Camnitzer, The Drawing Center's Viewing Program Curator, selected drawings from the artist's entire career for the exhibition. Having joined the Cuban guerrilla movement against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, Chago became the first cartoonist of the Revolution, helping to organize both revolutionary publications and broadcasts, all while fighting in Sierra Maestra. After victory, Chago continued to produce drawings that employed humor, while acting as the art editor and designer of the newspaper Granma, a position he held until his death.

Chago produced an enormous range of drawings that were influential in the formation of Cuban artists then coming of age. Often these works did not meet with official approval, leading to the cancellation of some shows and complications with the distribution of his publications. Chago exhibited rarely, and after two solo gallery exhibitions in Havana in 1986, it took him nine years to show his work again. Chago established himself as the cartoonist of the Cuban Revolution, and went on to inspire the next generation of Cuban artists.

Comprised of approximately fifty drawings from different periods of Chago's oeuvre, the exhibition—while not a retrospective—provided an overview of his development, and started with some examples of the "Julito 26," a comic strip drawn during the revolutionary war; other works dealt with existential questions and erotic themes.