Tomás Esson’s Erotic Politics
At David Lewis, New York, a presentation of the artist’s recent paintings and drawings reveals his continued obsession with sexual imagery and socialist Cuba
The Cuban artist Tomás Esson hasn’t shown in New York in over a decade; his last solo outing in this city was in 2011 at the now-defunct Ramis Barquet – a gallery that specialized in contemporary Latin-American art. This spring, however, at David Lewis, Esson returns to Manhattan with the solo exhibition ‘KRAKEN’ – an extensive overview of his more recent painting and drawing. The show also coincides with the artist’s 30-year career retrospective, ‘The GOAT’, at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami. Both exhibitions were organized by Gean Moreno – ICA Miami’s curator of programmes – who neatly positions ‘KRAKEN’ as a bookend to ‘The GOAT’, presenting works that culminate in the artist’s most iconic and explosive visual play of whirling shapes, colours and venereal imagery.