Arturo Montoto Reveals His Art Through Diversiones

Diversiones is the title of a solo exhibition by the renowned visual artist and teacher Arturo Montoto, which opens today at the Antonio Alejo Gallery of the San Alejandro National School of Visual Arts. On view throughout the month of October, the show will also feature complementary activities, including a conversation with the artist, the exchange of experiences, and interactions with both students and the general public.

According to Montoto, this exhibition was conceived specifically for an academic setting, though it is equally accessible to the wider public. It is designed to provide students with an overview of different stages of his artistic career, as well as the various techniques and formats present in his body of work. The idea, he explained, is to offer a general creative panorama that students greatly value, since it serves as a practical exercise of the artist’s workshop practice, sparking inspiration for more ambitious creations.

“Diversiones plays with the idea that there is enjoyment in interacting with each work; beyond that, the very concept of the piece diverges—it has fun—since the painting suddenly branches into the realm of printmaking, drawing, and so on,” the artist added. Examples include a seemingly minor sketch that served as the basis and preparation for a more significant work, or a painting in acrylics, oils, watercolors, or mixed media. Equally present are prints—lithographs, etchings, serigraphs—as well as charcoal drawings, particularly in compressed charcoal, all techniques Montoto has consistently employed, often in combination with materials such as ink and colored pencils.

For Reynier Suñol Silva, Artistic Director and Deputy Director of the prestigious School, this exhibition has a profound impact on academic processes. He emphasized that visual art figures such as Montoto represent an invaluable reference for transmitting knowledge, vision, and experience to new generations, who must understand how their skills and creativity, coupled with time and practice, become their most reliable path to artistic achievement.

Those who wish to explore Montoto’s recent work, following his extended absence from the Cuban visual arts scene, may also visit Casa Víctor Hugo in Old Havana, where since September 12 the exhibition La Piedra Angular has been on view. In this show, the artist offers a new perspective—one more oriented toward the ancestral and the aboriginal, “almost as if he were an archaeologist.”