Kcho

In 1991, KCHO made his first personal exhibition at the MNBA for the "Artist of the Month" space, which around that time received exhibitions from great exponents of Cuban plastic arts. That same year he was awarded the Prize granted by the National Group of Art Schools' Teachers at the Centre of Plastic Arts and Design of Havana, Cuba. Also in 1991, he was part of the exhibition Proyectos Recientes (Recent Projects) with the sculptors Alejandro Aguilera, Ángel Ricardo Ríos, and Osvaldo Yero, among others, at the Arts Centre 23 y 12 in Havana. He took part in the travelling show Los Hijos de Guillermo Tell (The Sons of William Tell) by curator Gerardo Mosquera, which was displayed at the Museum Alejandro Otero in Caracas, Venezuela and the Library Luis Ángel Arango in Bogotá Colombia. It gathered artists like José Bedía, Glexis Novoa, and other important representatives of the 80's generation –Kcho being the youngest artist invited to the exhibition. This show was given a warm and favourable reception by both the public and the specialized critics, including the article written by Ivonne Pine that appeared in the second edition of the ArtNexus magazine under the same title as the exhibition. 1992, was significant for the arts in Cuba since it enhanced the view of strength and creativity held by the plastic arts in this country. It was marked by two crucial international collective exhibitions in which Kcho had the opportunity to display his work: Vont Dort Aus: Kuba, organized at the Forum Ludwig in Aachen, Germany, and Arte Cubano Actual (Current Cuban Art) coordinated by Robert Littman for the Cultural Centre of Contemporary Art from the Cultural Foundation Televisa in Mexico City. He took part as well in critical international projects such as the First Biennial Barro de América (Clay of America) by curator and critic Roberto Guevara at the Museum of Contemporary Art Sofía Imber in Caracas, Venezuela, where he shared exhibition spaces with Ana Mendieta (1948 – 1985), Rimel Cardillo, Milton Becerra and other essential artists in the region. Other favourable occasions to broaden the perspective of Cuban art, and Kcho's view, in particular, was the collective exhibitions La Década Prodigiosa (The Prodigious Decade), which grouped a selection of Cuban plastic arts from the eighties at the Museo Universitario del Chopo in Mexico City, and La Ronda Cubana (The Cuban Round) at the Van Reekum Museum in Apeldoorn, Holland. In 1993, Kcho fulfilled an extensive agenda of national and international commitments exhibiting his works in Cuba, the United States, Mexico, and Holland, among other countries. In 1994, he won a scholarship to the Ludwig Foundation for art studies in Aachen, Germany, and he also got invitations to three critical events in the art circuit. The first one came from curator Nelson Aguilar to participate in the 22nd Biennial in São Paulo, Brazil; the second one from Dan Cameron to be part of the collective exhibition Cocido y Crudo (Cooked and Raw) organized at the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid; and the third invitation came from Yiliam Yanes Godoy, curator and director of the first and significant Biennials of Havana, to become part of the exhibition La Otra Orilla (The Other Shore) during the Fifth Biennial of Havana held at the colonial fortress Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morro –in this last event, he displayed his work La Regata which from that very same year belongs to the collection of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Ge

Kcho had three outstanding exhibitions during the year 2000. The first one took place in Cuba. It was titled No me agradezcan el silencio (Don't Thank Me for the Silence) and displayed at Casa de las Américas in Havana. This display allowed him to show how his ideas and projects have evolved after some time without exhibiting in his own country. Very soon after, another show was opened, this time in Madrid, Spain: La columna infinitaLa columna Infinita (The Infinite Column) at the National Museum Reina Sofia. And finally, in the United States of America, the exhibition Kcho. Dibujos (Kcho. Drawings) turned out to be his last to date at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery since the impossibility of travelling to the United States made it very hard to meet the established obligations and to keep actual relations with this vital gallery in New York. During his career, Kcho has kept up to date with all engraving techniques. This passion made him create or restore a series of Engraving Workshops all along Cuba, which facilitated the creative work of artists and students specialized in this branch of the plastic arts in the country. In the year 2001, he displayed "25 Piedras" (25 Stones), a personal exhibition of lithographs at Taller Experimental de Gráfica (Graph Experimental Workshop) in Havana, Cuba; Diez Grabadores Cubanos (Ten Cuban Engravers) at the Fundación Provincial de Artes Plásticas Rafael Botí (Provincial Foundation of Plastic Arts Rafael Botí), Spain. For the first time, he took a personal exhibition to Isla de la Juventud, specifically to the Martha Machado Gallery, titled "En el mar no hay nada escrito" (There Is Nothing Written on the Sea). Kcho deems this show as a homecoming to share with his fellow countrymen the progress made in his artistic life. There, he built the pieces for the installation La Jungla (Jungle) and exhibited part of this work before embarking on its journey. In 2001, Kcho exhibited for the second time at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, with his work La Jungla. Then he participated in the exhibitions: Contemporary Art in Cuba: Irony and Survival in the Island of Utopia organized by the Spencer Museum of Art of the University of Kansas, USA; Estructuras Similares a Los Ojos de la Historia (Similar Structures in the Eyes of History) at the Tent Centrum Belldende Kunst in Rotterdam, Holland; the 1st Biennial in Valencia, Spain, by curator Aquiles Bonito Oliva; Arco 2001 in Madrid, Spain; and together with artist Kenji Yanobe, he exhibited Para Olvidar at the Shiseido Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. Kcho was part of the travelling portfolio Suite Europa 2001, carried out by the Dirección General de la Secretaría de Estado para la Cooperación Internacional y para Iberoamérica (General Management of the State Department for International Cooperation and Latin America) organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid, Spain. Moreover, in 2001, he received the Prize for Cuban Delivery at the 4th Caribbean Biennial at the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. All personal and collective exhibitions in 2002 were favourable occasions for the artist to reinforce his career and the development of his work by making his new installations, engravings and drawings are known worldwide. The national and international press echoed his achievements when articles appeared in La Rivista del Libri in Italy, Granma newspaper in Cuba under the headline Expectativas for Kcho en Brasil (Expectation

In 2010 the artist received an invitation to participate in the piece's history as a carousel that appears from the darkness at the Biennale Cuvée, OK Center, Linz, Austria, and in various collective exhibitions organized annually by the Marlborough Gallery in headquarters and at international art fairs. Celebrating its 40 years, making the second edition of Live and Let Live in Central Park Line and L, in Havana, Cuba, again, with massive public participation. In early 2011, he moved to Europe to participate in two solo exhibitions he organized with headquarters in Marlborough, called Recent Works (Oeuvres recentes) in Monaco and Barcelona Night View, while in the old continent formed the works exhibited at the Palace Grimani as part of the 54th Venice Biennale, entitled Monument end, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi and Luciano Caprile, with the collaboration of Tega Gallery. Back in Cuba, he travelled to the Isla de la Juventud and continued to organize and develop the Isla de la Juventud Days Mine, Cuba, by the Revolution as part of the actions of the brigade "Martha Machado" and took this stay in their homeland for the third edition of his performance-installation-Live and Let Live, this time within the Gallery Martha Machado. Currently, the artist is working on several projects in Europe and America. But mostly, the sample Sacrifice at the crossroads, ready to open in the coming month of November, gives significant importance because it showed a group of essential works made between 2005 and 2011, summarizing the course of their work by making explicit its concerns about the man, his cultural essences and sorrows. His short career - until 2011 - more than 90 solo exhibitions and 200 group exhibitions in 35 countries. His work has been exhibited in major museums and galleries worldwide and has hosted major biennial work. Kcho has also been honoured for his work as a social being, as a Cuban who loves his country. Among the most significant awards include the distinction "National Culture" in 1998, awarded by the Ministry of Culture and in 2003 received the Medal "Abel Santamaria" award by the State Council on the proposal of the Young Communists (UJC) and the Replica of the Machete of Maximo Gomez. He delivers the minister of the FAR. In 2008, he was awarded the Order "Julio Antonio Mella", issued by the State Council, a proposal from the National UJC. As a creator of the brigade "Martha Machado" received in 2008, in conjunction with the other members, the Flag Feat Labor conferred by CTC and the Commemorative Medal for the Bicentennial of the Republic of Haiti in 2010, the artwork and solidarity developed in that sister nation. He was elected deputy of the Popular Power National Assembly in July 2003 to represent the people of the Isla de la Juventud and was reelected in January 2008. Kcho received in April 2011 the stamp commemorating the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) on the 70th anniversary of its founding.