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Roberto Fabelo

b. 1950. Camagüey, Cuba


Roberto Fabelo is a Cuban painter, sculptor, and illustrator. Along with fellow Cuban artists such as José Bedia, Fabelo is a member of “the generation of sure hope” who emerged in the 1980s alongside the founding of the First Havana Biennial, at which Fabelo received an award. He has since become known for the absurdist humor he embeds in his watercolors and sculptures, such as his ongoing series of bare-chested women wearing tin pots or conch shells as hats. A prime example of his work is Viaje Fantástico (2012), one of the the largest non-memorial statues in Havana, which depicts a nude woman riding a chicken and armed with a fork. Fabelo has had many solo exhibitions outside of Cuba, including at the Museum of Latin American Art in California in 2014. Born in 1951 in Guáimaro, Cuba, he went on to study at the National Art School and at the Superior Art Institute of Havana. The Cuban government awarded Fabelo a medal for national culture, the Alejo Carpentier, for his outstanding artistic achievements.