Utopías del Hombre Cansado by Osmel Herrera López Opens at Galiano Gallery

This Friday, May 16, Galiano Gallery in Havana opened the solo exhibition Utopías del Hombre Cansado by artist Osmel Herrera López, winner of the Second Prize in Post-it 9, the Contemporary Cuban Art competition organized by the Collage Habana Art Gallery Division of the Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets. The exhibition is part of the recognition awarded to the artist through that contest.

Centered on the theme of the urban landscape, the show features three series of works: Pueblo Blanco, Nombrar la ciudad and El hombre que se hace con lo que se va perdiendo. The artist delves into individual struggles set against a broader social and collective backdrop, re-imagining the city as a symbolic space of emotional connections between people, explains Marialis Martínez, spokesperson for the Collage Habana Art Gallery Division, part of the Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets.

Through drawing and installation, Herrera López constructs fictional projections of urban spaces, dominated by recurring architectural elements such as towers and buildings—hallmarks of the urban imagination. The materials used—plant fibers (coconut and wood), cages repurposed as lamps, nails, and smoke—play a central role in the works. Though visually striking, these pieces conceal metaphors of hidden human dramas within the landscape.

The title of the exhibition, along with those of the individual works, invites a humanistic and ontological reflection on the individual and their relationship with the environment. Light and shadow serve as a guiding thread throughout the exhibition, offering a conceptual journey that evokes the allegory of Plato’s cave.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez