Yes! Hello everyone! We are finally back after much needed rest and family time. Here we share the description of Cuban artist Yoan Capote’s latest exhibition. “Ruido blanco” will be on view at Galleria Continua-San Gimignano (Via del Castello 11, 53037 San Gimignano, Italy). The exhibition opens on Saturday, January 24, 2026, from 3:00pm to 8:00pm.
Description: GALLERIA CONTINUA is pleased to present Ruido Blanco (White Noise), in its exhibition spaces in San Gimignano, a solo show by Yoan Capote, one of the most emblematic figures of the rich and vibrant contemporary Cuban art scene. Internationally acclaimed, the artist currently lives between Cuba and Madrid.
Ruido Blanco invites us to reflect on the alienation and resignation experienced by individuals in contemporary society. The title, which refers to a constant, unvarying sound that blocks our connection to the outside world, serves as a metaphor for the social isolation, political stagnation, and collective introspection currently felt in Cuba.
In contrast, the works in this exhibition aim to awaken our deepest sensibilities and stir our emotions, making us aware of the dullness, demotivation, apathy, and emotional numbness that may be ingrained in our behavior. Each piece represents a silenced cry, a lament drowned out by the white noise surrounding us, a constant drone that keeps us submerged in emotional lethargy. Using highly symbolic materials and collaborative creative processes, these works invite us to explore the complexity of our own emotions, memories, and thoughts, reminding us of the importance of confronting the alienation and estrangement that threaten our humanity.
For the first time, this exhibition presents works from the series Litoral (Shoreline) 2025, landscapes where the horizon almost disappears at the top edge of the painting, and where the artist incorporates sharp reef stones (dogtooth crystals) collected from the Cuban coast. In these seascapes, Capote recreates the perspective of those who have stopped looking toward the horizon, accepting its reef-ridden shore; those who have lost hope for the future and resigned themselves to the present; those who merely wander or try to escape while facing the endless water fading between sharp rocks.
Formally, these works, with their diminished horizon, visually reference Monet’s iconic water lilies. But symbolically, no flowers appear here; where Monet painted delicate water lilies floating on water, Capote affixes heavy, sharp reef stones alongside sea imagery. This ironic artistic choice contrasts Monet’s idyllic scenes with Capote’s portrayal of the drama, hardship, and pain experienced by those confronting their reality and geography.
Ruido Blanco also features works from the well-known series Islas and Purificación. Islas recreates seascapes using oil paint and fishhooks, while Purificación repurposes chains, barbed wire, handcuffs, and other metal debris into new forms that express deconstruction, tension, aggression, and control. The creative process behind these works is documented in a video shown at the gallery, offering powerful insight into their meaning. Additionally, the show includes recent and earlier installations and sculptures, as well as drawings from the series Sentimientos encontrados, based on electrocardiograms collected by the artist from various Cubans, expressing the fragmentation of Cuban society caused by grief and frustration.
Yoan Capote was born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, in 1977. He graduated from the National School of Art in 1995 and from the Higher Institute of Art in Havana in 2001. He currently lives and works between Havana and Madrid.
He has received distinctions such as the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2006), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award (2006) and the Vermont Study Center Fellowship (2002). During the 7th Havana Biennial (2000), he received the UNESCO Prize, together with the DUPP artists’ collective. His work was part of the group exhibition at the Cuban Pavilion of the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), as well as the Gwangju Biennale (2018), Chengdu Biennale (2021) and Biennale of Sydney (2022). A large-scale painting was exhibited in Art Basel Unlimited, 2022.
His work focuses on the examination of behaviors and psychological states (personal or collective), from the most intangible to the most visceral. His work reflects on shared or thematic conflicts where the identity of the individual subject, sometimes ceases to be important in order to be subordinated to a more global and collective reflection. He is interested in themes such as emigration, resistance, manipulation, stress, alienation, all of which are common experiences of contemporary human beings, regardless of their differences in context. Yoan Capote has achieved a recogniseable personal stamp with his well-known paintings done with hooks, from the Island series, which illustrates some of these issues. [. . .]
See full bio at https://www.galleriacontinua.com/artists/yoan-capote-98/biography
For more information and photo of the exhibition, see https://www.galleriacontinua.com/exhibitions/ruido-blanco-505/press-release and https://www.galleriacontinua.com/artists/yoan-capote-98#e
[Shown above (Photo by Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio) YOAN CAPOTE ‘Litoral (nenúfares)’ 2025, (detail), reef stones, plaster, encaustic, nails and fishhooks on jute mounted in wooden panels, 180 x 1200 x 45 cm.]
Yes! Hello everyone! We are finally back after much needed rest and family time. Here we share the description of Cuban artist Yoan Capote’s latest exhibition. “Ruido blanco” will be on view at Galleria Continua-San Gimignano (Via del Castello 11, 53037 San Gimignano, Italy). The exhibition opens on Saturday, January 24, 2026, from 3:00pm to 8:00pm.
