Yesterday afternoon, essayist and art critic Hamlet Fernández presented renowned Cuban painter and printmaker Rafael Zarza with several copies of Rafael Zarza: The Full Artistic Bullfight, a volume devoted to the study of the artist’s extensive creative career.

This bilingual publication is the first editorial project jointly produced by The Annex Gallery, Rosenkrantz Editions, and r10studio. The book originated in an essay first published in 2024, which was subsequently revised and expanded by the author and accompanied by dozens of images documenting more than five decades of painting, printmaking, illustration, and design. Its content and final edition were reviewed and approved by Zarza himself.

Throughout the volume, Fernández examines the principal conceptual and visual threads running through an artistic practice distinguished by satire, social criticism, and the recurring image of the bull as a metaphor for struggle, power, and the human condition. The publication also underscores Zarza’s significance as one of the most distinctive and influential figures in contemporary Cuban art. In 2020, he was awarded Cuba’s National Prize for Visual Arts.

The presentation of these copies marks the culmination of a close collaboration among the artist, the author, and the editorial team. It also reaffirms the commitment of the participating institutions to documenting and promoting the work of major artists whose contributions continue to merit broader critical and editorial recognition.