Alicia Leal, Untitled, 2002. Oil on canvas. 17.75" x 14.75" #3023.

ALICIA LEAL, born 1957, Sancti Spiritus.  Alicia lives with her husband, painter Juan Moreira in Havana. She graduated from the San Alejandro School of Fine Arts and quickly joined the ranks of young artists who came to prominence in the 1980's. She started painting seriously about 1985 when her daughter was born. Her flat perspective and detailed scenes have a freshness, whimsy and exuberance reminiscent of folk art. A darker tone emerges in her themes drawn from myth and religion and relationships between men and women. She is one of Cuba’s best-known artists and her work has been exhibited world-wide in group and solo shows.Leal's work has a strong feminist message and much of her concern for the role of women in daily life is told through stories of popular fantasy, the legends that accompany the Cuban family from birth to death. Leal mixes these fairy tales with daily life and messages of identity politics. Water is an iconic presence in her work because it symbolizes change, rebirth and cleansing.