Cuba 1965

Alejandro Sainz Alfonso is a Cuban contemporary artist, widely known and recognized for his paintings and prints, where he often depicts his own life. Sainz began his art studies after finishing pre-university courses at the Institute of Design in Havana in 1985. Two years years after graduating as a graphic designer, he enrolled in the Academy of Plastic Arts, San Alejandro. He graduated in 1991 with specializations in painting and drawing. For the last twenty-five years he’s been with the Taller Experimental de Grafica in Havana for engravings– lithographs, serigraphy, xylographs. He’s currently working on a series of xylographs called “20,000 leguas of journeys and lies.” He’s also working on other artistic endeavors related to painting, photography, and sculpture in addition to participating in events and personal and collective expositions in various parts of the world. During the last few years, he’s made inroads into the area of book art as an artistic manifestation of his work.

Growing up in Cuba his art and stylistic influences included 1950s movie stars, Albrecht Durer prints, propaganda posters of Cuban leaders, and interestingly, Andy Warhol. Sainz uses the craft of “xylography” (carving into wood for the purposes of printmaking) to create some of his images. As a print maker he uses the human figure along with texts to describe social and political commentary often informed by his Cuban background. This prize-winning craftsman is an artist in residence at the Experimental Workshop of Graphic Arts of La Havana and has a continuing relationship with The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he has worked and lectured in the Type Lab. Some of his better-known works include a series of colorful underwater silkscreen prints that resemble cartoon panels. The piece we framed is a newer black and white composition produced as a woodcut, but it demonstrates his continued use of figuration and text to create works of socio-political critique; in this case, the tension between the use of force and the strength of intelligence.