# Alexis Leyva Machado **Date of birth:** February 12, 1970 **Categories:** Arts, Painter, sculptor, Society Kcho is considered one of the Cuban visual artists with the greatest international recognition. A native of Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, son of Ignacio de Loyola Leiva Abreu, a carpenter and telecommunications technician, and of Martina Primitiva Machado Cuní, better known as Martha Machado, a tireless worker and popular artist. He grew up alongside four sisters in a humble, work-oriented environment. Alexis began his studies in 1986 at the National School of Visual Arts in the city of La Habana, graduating in 1990, the year he began his professional career. Since then he has held more than 90 individual exhibitions and 200 collective ones. In 1995, Kcho became the youngest artist in Latin America to be part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), at age 25. Known for his large-scale installations, Kcho is also an excellent draftsman and creator of paintings, drawings, and engravings. He won the grand prize at the I Kwangju Biennial in South Korea in 1995, which launched him onto the international art scene. As art critic and curator Francesco Bonami aptly expressed: The first and only monetary prize, of $50,000, went to the new rising star, Cuban Kcho, a very unique and symbolic decision considering the title of the exhibition "Beyond the Borders," besides Korea maintains no diplomatic relations with Cuba and Kcho was more than welcome to this country. He has also received important awards, including: the Ludwig Foundation Scholarship. Aachen, Germany, 1994, UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts, Paris, 1995; Calder Atelier Residency, Saché, France, 1999; Diploma of Artistic Merit awarded by the Superior Institute of Art (ISA), La Habana, 2001. He received the National Distinction of Culture in 1998, granted by the Ministry of Culture. In 2014, Kcho inaugurated the Via Crucis exhibition at the Vatican Chancellery Palace in Rome, becoming the first Cuban to exhibit at the Vatican. In 2003 he received the "Abel Santa María" Medal and in 2008 the "Julio Antonio Mella" Order, granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. A Cuban art critic has expressed: "Kcho has become known internationally for the strength of his images and the depth with which he reflects on issues that, stemming from his most immediate context, find their points of contact with other realities on the planet, within an unusual maturity of thought for an artist of his age. He began 1994 with 'La regata,' from the Fifth Havana Biennial, and ended it with 'The Best of Summer,' from Cooked and Raw, at the Reina Sofía Art Center in Madrid. The first became part of the permanent collection of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, and the second will be exhibited again at the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation in Mallorca. Between both works, which could be considered decisive in the development of his creative activity, he conceived and realized others as relevant as the one titled 'On the Horizon,' from the São Paulo Biennial, to mention just one of them, as well as a significant collection of drawings and paintings, starting points for future installations and sculptures. In 2015, at the Twelfth Havana Biennial, Kcho creates his major work the Organic Museum of Romerillo. The Organic Museum is a non-profit cultural nucleus whose purpose is the experimentation, development, and dissemination of the arts, new communication technologies, creation and human understanding. It is a space for dialogue, culture, knowledge, and peace. Its purpose is to develop projects with a marked social, educational, and cultural profile aimed at human improvement and defending the values of national culture, as well as its role and contributions to the global concert. In all his installations Kcho tends to use the same basic vocabulary of images and objects related to the sea. "He works with few symbols, but each time you look at a new drawing or boat, it's as if you're seeing it for the first time." –says Alma Ruiz, curator of MoCA in Los Angeles, who organized Kcho's 1997 exhibition called "Everything Changes." The artist created two installations for the exhibition. One was a series of totemic sculptures made of raw clay in the forms of a raft, sailboat, kayak, oar, and rubber chamber. The other consisted of a large boat constructed with wooden bookshelves of the kind used by vendors in La Habana, filled with texts in Spanish, English, and French representing a wide range of literature available in Cuba. Visitors were encouraged to board the boat and spend time there reading the books. "These works have great physical presence," Ruiz comments. "Just like him." In September 2015, his work "Miracle," previously exhibited at the Vatican, was given as a gift by the President of the Councils of State and Ministers of Cuba Raúl Castro Ruz to Pope Francis during his papal tour of Cuba and the United States. The Supreme Pontiff decided to give this oar cross, christened "The Christ of the Mediterranean," to the Church of Lampedusa, an island in Italy that is the mandatory passage for thousands of migrants attempting to reach European shores. "Miracle" was exhibited on December 13 at the Church of San Agrigento, as part of the opening of the Holy Door of Sicily in the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. In 2016, when Hurricane Matthews hit Guantánamo, Kcho reached another different level of work, where alongside the artists, he added the people: ordinary people from Guantánamo whom he met there and who provided him with resources, tools, ideas, and became builders of houses and schools. It was another ameliorative point, of which he feels proud. In 2017 the same happened with Hurricane "Irma"; he arrived in Camagüey and Santa Clara and we added more people from the territories themselves. We brought art, yes; but also tools. One must understand what the path is, for the path will determine the destiny. The path is work, the destiny is triumph, in the name of the Homeland, of the people. He has spent ten years thinking about the Martha Machado Brigade (in memory of his mother) in each second of his existence. Exhibitions Personal Exhibitions 1986 Fables. Center of Visual Arts, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. 1991 IV Havana Biennial. National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana. 1992 Artist of the Month. National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana. 1993 Installation. Contemporary Art Gallery, Mexico D. F., Mexico. 1994 Searching for Likeness. Galería Habana, La Habana. 1995 Kcho. Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation, Mallorca, Spain. The Path of Nostalgia. Wifredo Lam Center, La Habana. 1996 Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York. Studio Guenzani, Milan, Italy. To Forget. "Les Cent Jours d' Art Contemprain de Montreal", Canada. Centre International d'Art contemporain de Montreal, Montreal, Canada. Kcho. Regen Projects, Los Angeles, United States. 1997 Everything Changes. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, United States. To Speak of the Obvious Was Never a Pleasure for Us. the Israel Museum, Billy Rose Pavilion, Jerusalem. 1998 Kcho. Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris, France. ARCO 98 Fair. Madrid, Spain. 1999 Calder Studio, Tours, France 2000 Don't Thank Me for the Silence. Casa de las Américas, La Habana. The Infinite Column. National Museum Center of Contemporary Art Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain. Kcho. André Viana Gallery, Porto, Portugal. To Forget. Convent of San Francisco de Asís, 7th Havana Biennial. Kcho Drawings. Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, USA. Installations. Tel Aviv, Israel. 2001 To Forget. Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. Kcho, Drawings. Gallery 106, Austin, Texas, USA. There is Nothing Written at Sea. Habana Foundation Gallery, La Habana. 25 Stones. Lithography Exhibition. Printmaking Meeting 2001, La Habana. Drawing is the Support of the Idea. Small Space Gallery, National Council of Visual Arts, La Habana. There is Nothing Written at Sea, drawings and lithographs. Martha Machado Gallery, Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud. The Jungle. National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana, Cuba 2002 The Jungle. Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin, Italy. Collective Exhibitions 1991 The Sons of William Tell. Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas, Venezuela. 1992 International Workshop of Ephemeral Sculpture. IV Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana. The Prodigious Decade. Plastics of the 80s. El Chopo Museum, Mexico. 1994, 1997 A Frame for the Earth. Center for Development of Visual Arts, La Habana. I International Graphics Biennial. Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre, Maastricht, Holland. V and VI Havana Biennial. National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana. 1995 22 International São Paulo Biennial. São Paulo Biennial Foundation, Brazil. New Art from Cuba. Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England. The First Kwangju International Biennial. Beyond the Borders, Kwangju, Korea. Orientation, 4th International Istanbul Biennial. Antrepo I, Istanbul, Turkey. 1996 I Salon of Contemporary Cuban Art. National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana Container 96. Art across Oceans, Copenhagen, Denmark. 1997 Without Borders. Contemporary Latin American Art. Alejandro Otero Museum, Caracas, Venezuela. 1998 Trash. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Italy. Every Day: 11th Sidney Biennial, Sydney, Australia. Contemporary Art from Cuba: Irony and Survival on the Utopian Island. Arizona, United States. Objectivity: International Objects of Subjectivity. Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, USA. Dak'Art'98. African Contemporary Art Biennial, Senegal Contemporary Art from Cuba: Irony and Survival on the Island of Utopia. Arizona State University Art Museum, USA. Clay Biennial of America. Caracas, Venezuela Zone. Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene d'Alba, Italy. 1999 Dapertutto Aperto Overall. Venice Biennial, Italy. Kunstvelten im Dialog. Ludwig Museum of Germany Encounters. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA. Clay Biennial of America. Memorial of Latin America, São Paulo, Brazil. The Fields of Sculpture. Champs Élysées, Paris, France. 2000 ARCO 2000. Madrid, Spain. Over the Edges. Smak, Ghent, Belgium. Resistances. Kodo Mixelena, Donostia, San Sebastián. Dialogue Between Islands. 7th Havana Biennial. 2001 ARCO 2001. Madrid, Spain. Structures Similar to the Eyes of History. I Valencia Biennial, Spain. IV Caribbean Biennial. Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Kaleidoscope. National Theater, La Habana, Cuba. Visions of Charity. Museum of the Americas, San Juan, Puerto Rico 2002 ARCO 2002. Madrid, Spain Suite Europa 2002. Itinerant Portfolio developed by the General Directorate of the State Secretariat for International Cooperation and Ibero-America, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Madrid, Spain. Awards 1990 Prize of the Hermanos Saíz Association, Municipal Salon of Visual Arts, Isla de la Juventud. 1991 Prize of the National Salon of Teachers of Artistic Education, Provincial Center of Visual Arts and Design, La Habana. 1995 UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts. Grand Prize Kwangju Biennial, South Korea. 1999 Calder Atelier Residency, Saché, France. 2001 Prize for the Cuban Entry to the IV Caribbean Biennial, Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Martha Machado Brigade The Martha Machado Brigade is headed by visual artist creator Alexis Leyva (Kcho), who is accompanied by nearly 50 artists, including painters, musicians, magicians, clowns, and comedians. The Brigade was born after the passage of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav that devastated Isla de la Juventud and Pinar del Río in 2008, and has remained active, both to help the recovery of Cuban residents and those affected by the terrible earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010 and left more than 300,000 dead. The brigade bears the name of Martha Machado, who was a great cultural promoter and mother of the visual artist.