The Cuban artist Eduardo Ponjuán (Pinar del Río, 1956), was awarded this year’s National Arts Award for his lifetime achievement as a creator. Graduated from the National School of Art in 1978 and ISA 1983, Ponjuán has over thirty solo and group exhibitions.
Conceptualism is perhaps the main feature in Ponjuán production. The idea behind the whole from a part that ends in a drawing to installation. Reflection on the nature of artistic production, the work and its meaning are essential when approaching his creations.
Eduardo Ponjuán works are in the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana and at the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, as well as in the collections of Peter Ludwig Forum (Aachen, Germany), Jürgen Harten, Dusseldorf, and Nina Menocal, Mexico, DF. He has won several awards throughout his career: First Prize of Provincial Exhibition of Fine Arts in his native Pinar del Río, the shared Prize City Hall, First Prize Salon Award and the First Prize of Collage in Malta Biennale.
The National Arts Award, awarded by the National Council of Plastic Arts, was presented for the first time in 1994 and is awarded annually to a Cuban visual artist, living and residing in the country, whose production is distinguished by provide valuable contribution to the development and history of the visual arts in Cuba. It also considers his accomplishments and his national and international projection.
For this occasion 25 cultural institutions across the country submitted their proposals and was appointed a jury of prestigious personalities of the visual arts, chaired by the last year’s National Award Ever Fonseca. The nominees this year were the artists José Julián Aguilera Vicente, Zaida del Río, Eduardo Roca ( Choco ) , Alexis Leyva ( Kcho ), Roberto Salas ( Salitas ) Lesbia Vent Dumois , Lescay Alberto , José Antonio Choy , Lázaro Saavedra, Flora Fong, Corratgé Salvador , Manuel Hernández Valdés, and José Manuel Ernesto Rancaño Fors .
