Rafael Zarza is the 2020 National Prize for Plastic Arts

December 2, 2020

Rafael Ángel Zarza González, one of the most important exponents of graphic art in our country, whose relevance, perseverance and creative restlessness constitute an example and inspiration for new generations, was recognized this Tuesday with the 2020 National Prize for Plastic Arts.

The news was announced at midday today by Lesbia Vent Dumois, also a National Prize winner for Plastic Arts and jury president, who stated that the award was given to Zarza unanimously, in recognition of his trajectory as an artist, "very consistent with graphic work." Zarza, she said, has transformed his own themes, enriching them over the years.

The jury president also referred to the formal and conceptual contributions of this artist in matters of representation, questioning and personal recreation of Cuban social and cultural reality, offering details related to Zarza's trajectory. Lesbia emphasized the versatility and broad scope of Zarza's work, which includes, in addition to lithography and printmaking in general, painting, illustrations, drawings, installations, posters and album covers.

She highlighted the intense social work carried out by Zarza, born in Havana in 1944, and recalled the pedagogical work performed by this creator in Angola where he fulfilled an internationalist mission.

With the awarding of this honor, Zarza and a genre, printmaking, which has not been very favored within the national prizes, are recognized, added the also president of the Association of Plastic Artists of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac).

Founding Member of the Experimental Workshop of Graphic Arts of Havana, Rafael Zarza has received prizes such as the Mahadahonda (Uneac); the Portinari Prize for Lithography of the Havana Exhibition (Casa de las Américas); the special prize of the XV Anniversary National Salon of the Uneac; and the Honor Prize of the Plakat Editorial of the International Poster Contest for Peace, Security and Collaboration.

His works are in collections of Cuban institutions such as Casa de las Américas, the Association of Plastic Artists of the Uneac, the Experimental Workshop of Graphic Arts of Havana and the National Museum of Fine Arts.

The jury also included José Manuel Fors, National Prize for Plastic Arts 2016, Tony Piñera, journalist and art critic, and curators and art critic Tania Parson and Dannys Montes de Oca.