Glexis Novoa: The Cankama Sutta

Glexis Novoa: The Cankama Sutta

The Cankama Sutta, a site-specific exhibition by the renowned Cuban American Miami artist Glexis Novoa, traces an autobiographical and spiritual journey. A graphite drawing rendered directly on the gallery’s walls pictures a mysterious landscape stretched along a seemingly endless horizon. We follow a faint line clockwise at eye level around the gallery, marveling at detailed renderings of fantastic structures. Some seem familiar, but they stand juxtaposed in strange configurations, and we appear to have landed in a parallel, uncanny reality.

The strange landscape forms a travelogue or narrative that incorporates symbols of Novoa’s personal experiences as an immigrant, his life in Miami, and his travels around the world, as well as his interests in social and political history. The drawing makes reference to the site of the work itself, the Freedom Tower. The building has had a major impact on the artist and its history as a refugee center holds an important place in his heart and life, and those of many Cuban immigrants.

In the exhibition, Novoa’s wall drawing engages in dialogue with a set of sculptures he produced in Havana during 2015, which represent other aspects of his voyage and moments of history that have recently transformed Cuban society. The artist, who keeps studios in both Miami and Havana, credits cities in general, and Havana in particular, with providing inspiration. “My inspiration came from my own experience of the city, beginning in the city of Havana. It’s a very eclectic city and I think the architecture is speaking to you all the time, because of the history, the different styles. Cuba is like a capsule of time—about the previous time and previous society that was there.”

For Novoa, the condition of the immigrant relates to the Cankama Sutta, a Buddhist rule or discourse about walking meditation. This usually takes the form of walking back and forth along a prescribed path while focusing on trivial aspects of daily life, such as eating or health. Above all, the practitioner remains aware of the process of walking, an action analogous to the artist’s nomadic existence. According to Novoa, “a focus on the act of displacement in a balance with the ephemeral” resonates deep within him, suggesting his moving and personal approach to the representation of his biographical and spiritual quest.

The study and practice of Buddhist teachings, originally learned as a child from his mother in Cuba, forms a thread running through Novoa’s life. The influence of the practice of meditation on his personal and professional life deepened during interactions with emigrant communities from Thailand and Sri Lanka. Locally, he has forged strong connections with the venerable monks of Miami’s Wat Buddharangsi, where he was ordained as a novice monk or samanera.

Born in Holguín, Cuba, Glexis Novoa received a B.A. from The National School of Art in Havana. He has worked in painting, performance, and installation, and has become internationally recognized for his site-specific graphite wall drawings. Since the late 1980s, his work has been widely exhibited in the United States and around the world, with solo exhibitions held at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (2016); Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami (2015, 2006); Cheekwood Museum, Nashville (2008); Worcester Art Museum (2003); Locust Projects, Miami (2003); Miami Art Museum (2001); The Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame (2000); and Castillo de la Real Fuerza, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana (1989). Novoa lives and works in Miami and Havana.

Glexis Novoa: The Cankama Sutta is organized by Wanda Texon, Senior Curator of the Museum of Art and Design at MDC.