The Third World According to Abel

Abel Barroso is one of Cuba 's highly successful, young contemporary artists. Born on July 17, 1971 in Pinar del Rio, Cuba , he currently lives in Havana . Primarily a printmaker, Barroso investigates non-conventional ways of applying the printing method. Specifically, in addition to producing an actual print from a wood block, he may actually be more interested in the wooden printing block itself - black with the ink of the print - which, for him, is as powerful as the print. By extension, the use of printing blocks or carved block surfaces as a part of the work gives rise to relief surfaces with a black (ink) and brown (wood) tapestry. His objects are therefore surfaces which are textured as a result of using carved, inked blocks.

Central to Barosso's work is its richness in whimsy and satire. The element of humour, as well as the element of tongue-in-cheek socio-political commentary is important in the understanding of the artist's intent. He often pokes fun at the material and electronic culture around him by mimicking it, and uses this as a device to investigate socio-political phenomena in the Caribbean - known as part of the " Third World ". His installation, Café Internet de Tercer Mundo (Third World Internet Café) , was complete with tables and chairs as in any internet café, but full of wooden terminals, CD-ROMs and other electronic devices whose brand name was Mango - a fitting Caribbean twist, since neither apples nor Apples grow here for the most part. The terminals are not functional; the viewer must smile and realize that it is futile to boot them up or surf the 'net; perhaps getting online is not the most important thing in life, or maybe it is. By naming the computers after a common fruit of the Caribbean, the artist is also locating them in the region, or any Third World region where mangoes grow - perhaps a comment on how advanced and accessible (or not) technology is in certain parts of the Third World.

Barroso has done the same for cars and televisions - infantalizing - almost - our cultural obsession with the material object. The fact that these objects are created in wood with highly carved, decorated surfaces immediately puts the work in the context of satire - they cannot possibly function as they do in the real world. They are playthings. The cars, from his interactive series, Automobiles del Tercer Mundo (Cars of the Third World ) resemble - in scale and design - toy cars for children. Each is made so that an adult can barely fit in it, and it must be powered by another person pushing it. The wheels are disproportionately small, and the entire effect is one of the absurd. By extension, the power of real objects (i.e. real cars, real televisions, etc.) is called into question. Equally important is the comment that in the Third World the issue of access, or lack thereof, is never far away. The print and print block imagery on the surface of the cars (as on most of his work) is often a visual comment on living in a developing country, where too often the citizens have to settle for second- and third-class access to amenities easily available to those in the so-called First World.

One of his arguably most ambitious projects, however, had to do with his construction of a custom-made, wooden robot - his Hombre Tecnologico which, as part of his presentation, he would wear. The robot was constructed - again using print blocks - in such a way as to allow him limited movement, such as walking and making certain gestures with his arms. Barroso's work crossed the dividing line between visual and performance art particularly when he approached the Honda headquarters in Japan, one of the international bastions of technology, donned his robot costume and requested a meeting with Asimo - the world's first known commercial robot, introduced to the world by Honda in the mid-nineties, and which is one of the more dramatic marketing results of the application of artificial intelligence. A sort of trimmer, adolescent cross between C3P0 and R2 D2 of Star Wars fame (at least in appearance), Asimo is the humanoid precursor to robotic pet dogs and cats - with a sort of helpful-robot-next-door appeal. Barroso's whimsical side is evident in the request for the meeting - along comes a wooden, almost filigreed robot - one powered by human physiology and human intelligence - to meet a product of artificial intelligence, with whom he wishes to communicate. They still can't truly communicate, and for now, the human has the upper hand. For now. The whimsical nature of such a meeting and the imagined possible permutations of how such interactivity could develop in a world obsessed with technology is at the heart of the artist's investigation. Again the issue of Third World versus First World technology is something to consider.

In 2004, Barosso also created his Transformer series - a set of wooden superheroes which again poke fun at the human condition in the context of a world where politics and materialism are constantly entangled. He is currently constructing a wooden leggo set and assembling it to create a massive installation, where each "leggo" piece is handmade. His work is in the permanent collections of El Museo de Bellas Artes in Cuba (the National Collection), the Bacardi Collection in Miami , Florida , the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Whitney Museum , also in New York , as well several other collections in the United States and Canada .