Mabel Poblet

Narciso, from the series Desapariencia, 2017

Mixed media on PVC, 200 x 120 cm.


  • The photographer mixes artistic languages from pop art to kitsch; an authentic re-appropriation she makes in order to enrich both the visual elements and the meaning of the artworks.
  • Tom Wesselmann asoma en la obra de Mabel Poblet desde la indagación desprejuiciada del artista sobre el cuerpo humano y su representación en el arte contemporáneo. En su obra es apreciable la temática de la mujer desde una perspectiva de género que revaloriza diversas cuestiones asociadas a los estereotipos femeninos socialmente asentados.
  • Versátil creadora cubana que se ha posicionado como una de las más prominentes artistas contemporánea de la Isla.
  • Artista plástica que ha venido desplegando un trabajo sistemático como prueba de la variedad de lenguajes confluyentes en el ámbito del arte cubano contemporáneo.

It Seems as if it won’t Stop Raining Flowers

Her eyes have never taken a look; her head bowed does not allow anything to go through the gateways of the soul. Hers is an exuberant presence always mysterious and introverted. What is hiding underneath those flowers? Who levitates over the clouds? Seductive in her discourse, Mabel Poblet explores the feminine universe with the suspicion of a person that hushes and shouts a truth at the same time. Her reality is that complex, and it is very difficult to find that look that is reflected.

The body is naked; the woman gets lost among the flowers that blind her. And yet, she does not give up; she stands in the floor looking for her image. An uncommon strength emerges from the fleshy lips, from her slender legs. Delicacy and sensuality do not define an identity; this is actually about stressing the des-appearance.

As the director and main character of her scenes, the artist transmutes the codes of photography as they are traditionally understood in order to exploit the expressive possibilities of photo-installation. She mixes artistic languages from pop art to kitsch; an authentic re-appropriation she makes in order to enrich both the visual elements and the meaning of the artworks.

The shrillness of colors pervades the shapes and seduces the eye. Poblet stresses those attributes traditionally associated to feminine sensuality and des-automatizes them in the search for an incitement to reflection. The petals outline the shapes and make us sense an invariable element that makes singular the artistic production of this relevant creator. Cruel beauty that, to our eyes, it seems as if it would not stop raining flowers.

–Claudia Montero