"Kcho”. Alexis Leiva - Zapata Gallery

“KCHO” (Alexis Leiva) is a contemporary Cuban artist working in sculpture and mixed media. He was born in 1970 in Isla de la Juventud, Cuba, and graduated from the Elementary Art School of Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, in 1986 and from the National School of Arts in Havana in 1990. Kcho has participated in numerous renowned international biennials, including Havana, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Gwangju, and Venice. His works are part of the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba; the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, Arizona; the Museo Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain; the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Mallorca, Spain; the Ludwig Forum fur Internationale Kunst in Aachen, Germany; the Van Reekum Museum in Apeldoorn, Netherlands; Les Cent Jours d’Art Contemporain of Montreal, Canada; the Galleria Civica di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin, Italy; the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, Israel; the Gwangju Biennale Foundation, South Korea; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California; the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris, France; the Gan Gallery in Tokyo, Japan; and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He received the Artistic Merit Diploma of the Superior Institute of Art in Havana (2001); the Prize for the Cuban Exhibition at the Biennial of the Caribbean at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (2001); the Grand Prize at the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea (1995); and the UNESCO Award for the Promotion of the Arts (1995).

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The sea is a recurring element in the work of KCHO. As a man from an island, he has explored the theme of the sea in many of his pieces, using this natural element as a powerful symbol. The sea can represent different meanings in his work, such as the idea of the island as a territory surrounded by water, the connection with nature and the marine environment, as well as the notion of freedom and the possibility of exploration and escape that the sea can symbolize. In his installations and sculptures, KCHO has used objects related to the sea, such as boats, oars, fishing nets, or nautical elements, to create works that engage with the maritime history of Cuba and the world, allowing him to explore broader concepts of identity, history, nostalgia, and above all, migration, a theme on which he has focused.

Lianet Martínez Pino is a visual artist born in Cienfuegos, Cuba. She graduated in 2012 with a specialization in Painting from the National Academy of Fine Arts “San Alejandro” in Havana. In 2019, she completed her studies at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), where she received the distinction of Most Creative Graduate. Since 2011, she has taken part in numerous exhibitions both in Cuba and abroad. Shortly after graduating, she was invited by Nuno Sacramento Contemporary Art Gallery to the artist residency “Mi casa es tu casa,” which concluded with the two-person exhibition “Alquimia” in Aveiro, Portugal. In 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2022 she was selected to participate in the Havana Biennial, where she presented large-scale public works. Her work is part of important collections in the United States, Puerto Rico, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Cuba.In 2024, her work was selected within the curatorial section “Ejes,” together with Galería Servando, for the ZONAMACO International Art Fair at the Citibanamex Center in Mexico. That same year, she was chosen to represent Cuba at the Artomatic art event in Washington, D.C., USA. In 2025, two of her works were selected to participate in the ZONAMACO International Art Fair as part of the Galería Habana booth. She was invited to take part in the two-person exhibition “Alquimia de una Isla” held at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MoCAA) in the United States. In March of the same year, she represented Cuba at the Osaka International Art Fair in Japan. In August, she was selected for the Unlimited Art Residency in New York, supported by the Cuban Artists Fund and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which culminated in the “Blossom” Open Studio. On October 11, she presented her solo exhibition “Espacio Liminal” at Zapata Gallery in Miami, United States. At the end of October, she was invited by the Metropolitan Academy of Art of Chile to give a lecture on her work titled The Body as Shield: Matter, Identity, and Memory. One of her works (Encuentro) is currently on view at FotoFac Gallery as part of the group exhibition “Puertas al Ingenio” at Fábrica de Arte. Also at the end of October, she will be participating with one of her works in the exhibition “Paisaje bajo Sospecha” at Picci Fine Arts Gallery in Mexico City, Mexico.She is currently represented by Génesis Galerías de Arte, working within this group with Galería Habana in Havana, Cuba, and by Zapata Gallery in Miami, United States.

Lianet’s work is characterized by the use of multiple media, scales, and techniques. It includes paintings, drawings, photographs, collages, and sculptural or installation structures whose processes of reference and meaning transcend the two-dimensional plane. It is through this methodology that she channels her ideas. These stem from personal experiences—her own or others’—in dialogue with everyday contexts and broader experiences that inform and shape her working process.