Cuban Art Jam “Descarga Cubana” at di Rosa Center (Napa)

Descarga translates literally to “discharge,” but is also used to refer to what we might call a musicians’ “jam session”: a group improvisation session.

Organized by Rick Swig, Descarga Cubana features work drawn from his personal collection by 15 contemporary Cuban visual artists, accompanied by Swig’s own photographs of the artists. As an extemporaneous collaboration, Descarga Cubana can be thought of a jam session itself: a convergence of work by some of Cuba’s finest artists of the last 80 years.

The artists featured — Abel Barroso, Luis Enrique Camejo, Juan Roberto Diago, Nelson Dominguez, Roberto Fabelo, Ever Fonseca, Alberto Lescay, Alexis Leyva Machado “Kcho”, Rigoberto Mena, Manuel Mendive, Santiago Rodriguez Olazábal, Mabel Poblet, Carlos Quintana, Eduardo Roca Salazar “Choco”, and José Villa Soberón — work across media in sculpture, painting, printmaking, and more. Spanning abstraction, figuration, and conceptual modes, the work offers a reflection of the political and cultural complexities of life in Cuba: its joys, challenges, and beauties.

The United States embargo against Cuba — along with other political and cultural forces — have led to the broad under-recognition and under-exposure of Cuban artists to U.S. audiences. Pairing culturally significant artwork with Swig’s photographic portraits of the artists in their homes and studios, Descarga Cubana offers a vision of cultural exchange and collaboration.