(Alexis Leyva Machado) (b. Nueva Gerona, Isla de Juventud, Cuba, 1970). Kcho studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Havana. The Cuban government censored many artists in the late 1980s as a result of work that criticized the regime in ways that the press could not. This censorship, combined with the crises that arose in Cuba as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union, as well as a growing international interest in Cuban art, has caused many Cuban artists to emigrate. Kcho deals with the theme of emigration (balseros) in his work, along with his contemporaries Sandra Ramos (b. 1969) and Tania Bruguera (b. 1968). He has enjoyed a great deal of international recognition including exhibits in Los Angeles, New York, Spain, Milan and Havana.
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