The “largest exhibition ever” of Cuban erotic art will open in Miami Beach.
WEAM is presenting the new, “historic” exhibition, Forbidden Fruit: The Art of Cuban Sexuality, which will open on December 2nd to start off Miami Art Week.
WEAM said it is proud to present the museum’s first-ever exhibition of Cuban art, a notable and historic exhibition, as it is the largest known exhibition dedicated to Cuban erotic art ever held, on-or-off the island. It spans more than 70 artists and over 150 works across painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography from the last 90 years.
The featured works span from the legendary Cuban “Vanguardia” (Vanguard) generation, who are credited with creating modern Cuban art, up to contemporary artists, to bridge as well as contrast contemporary works with the works of previous decades, stretching back to the early 1930s.
Forbidden Fruit is noted for its ambitious scale and taboo-breaking, genre-bending approach to curation. The fullest range of sexuality is showcased, from the subtle, lyrical, abstract, and symbolic to the palpable and explicit. Sexuality is explored through various themes, including spirituality, mythology, and nature, to the surprisingly dark landscapes of the psychological.
Curator, critic, collector, and art patron Antonio Permuy is donating more than 30 works by 26 artists spanning painting, drawing, sculpture and pyrography, primarily by Cuban artists. The collection includes work by several notable artists including Josigancio, Ramón Unzueta, Carlos Navarro, Ramón Alejandro, Adriano Nicot, Miguel Fleitas, Neith Nevelson, and AGalban.
This generous gift marks the largest donation of art WEAM has ever received outside of the Wilzig family, and also marks the largest set of donations ever made by Permuy, who has previously donated works to the permanent collections of other prominent cultural and educational institutions, including the Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum at FIU.
Most of the donated works by Cuban artists will also feature in the upcoming Forbidden Fruit: The Art of Cuban Sexuality exhibition, curated by Antonio Permuy, and joined by assistant curator Karina Sirven.
“It would be too easy to thank Antonio Permuy for his generous donation on behalf of the Wilzig family and the museum,” Director of WEAM Helmut Schuster said regarding the donation. “His donation means much more- it is a gift to the residents of the city of Miami who will now call the donated works of art their own, and will include them in their collective memory for generations.”
In addition to the famed Vanguardia, the four generations represented in the exhibition include most members of the prominent “Grupo GALA” — the first known Latin American artist association in Florida: Enrique Riverón, Rafael Soriano, José Mijares, and Baruj Salinas. Forbidden Fruit also marks Salinas’ final career exhibition, as well as that of Margarita Cano, who both passed away in 2024 after selecting their works for this exhibition. Subsequent generational artists include global record-setting artist Josignacio, late Magical Realism painters Juan González and Ramón Unzueta, and Pop artist Carlos Navarro. Other notable featured artists include Servando Cabrera, Ramón Alejandro, Miguel Fleitas, Adriano Nicot, Pedro Hernández and AGalban.
Forbidden Fruit also features three works by guest artist, famed American photographer Mariette Pathy Allen. These three works, taken in Havana, bridge Forbidden Fruit with Mariette Pathy Allen: Breaking Boundaries, a special retrospective guest exhibition from the Kinsey Institute, which will also be opening at WEAM that evening. Breaking Boundaries showcases photographs by Mariette Pathy Allen that capture the love, beauty, intimacy, joy, and heartache of transgender and gender-expansive communities across the globe, offering a powerful look into the evolution of attitudes toward transgender, non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender non-conforming individuals.
This exhibition opens on December 2nd and will remain on view through July 2025.
