Maria Brito

“Alongside the particular details of my existence, my work is an exploration of the intrinsically universal elements that each aspect of my being represents, these being gender, family, national and ethnic identity, religion, and beyond religion, the unexplained realities that lie beyond life in the certainty of death.” —Mar簿聶翻a Brito

 

One of the most revered members of “the Miami Generation,” a group of Cuban-born artists who emigrated to the United States and were raised with bicultural influences, Mar簿聶翻a Brito is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist best known for her elaborately constructed room-like works that embody narratives of loss and displacement, most often addressing difficult chapters in the Cuban exile experience. Brito also draws on personal iconography to create challenging works that are at once deeply autobiographical and reflect a profound fluency with the history of Western art.

 

In this new volume in the landmark A Ver series and the first major book on Brito’s career to date, Juan A. Martinez examines the unique interplay of the personal and the universal in this Miami-based artist’s diverse mixed-media works.

 

Juan A. Martinez is professor and chair of art and art history at Florida International University in Miami. He is the author of Cuban Art and National Identity: The Vanguardia Painters, 1927–1950.