A black book inserted in the wall in such a way that is not possible to access to its content. It is a reference to the lack of free expression, the censorship, the manipulation of information: Silence imposed by power.
CARNAL GAMES
2016
Acrylic paint on silicone, wood and velvet
4 x 30 cm
A pair of dice made from silicone resembling human skin. Instead of the usual dots, moles have been painted on their faces. Thus the skin becomes part of the game, a metaphor that may be interpreted through the lens of romantic relationships.
GAME FIELDS
2015-2024
3 mattresses and acrylic paint . Game field (football), 2015 / Game field (swimming pool), 2024 / Game field (basketball), 2024
135 x 200 x 20 cm each
In the Game Fields series, the juxtaposition of a bed and a sports field opens up multiple interpretations. On the one hand, the work alludes to those who consider intimacy as another strategy for vital triumph. On the other, it reflects those couples who, instead of acting as a team, compete and fight. Furthermore, the bed becomes the stage where erotic games unfold, and also a representation of politics, in which two contending nations share a common territory.
SELFIE
2019-2026
Mobile phones, Selfie sticks
270 x 220 x 10 cm
This installation approaches the phenomenon of contemporary self-portrait from an ironic perspective. Here, an arrangement of mobile phones attached to selfie sticks outlines the artist’s silhouette, giving shape to a technologically mediated self-portrait. The work reflects on both the contemporary urge to record every moment and the paradox of the autonomy these
devices provide: we no longer depend on others to take our picture, yet this independence heightens the isolation of the subject (or the modern tourist). The work further reflects on the subtle aggression and intrusion into public space brought about by these devices when multiplied within the crowd.
SUMMER DREAM (HORIZON IS AN ILLUSION)
2012-2026
13 photographs + video
Various dimensions
The idea arose through George Brecht’s Chart N. 3 (Wedding of Miami and Havana) collage. This is a more human and playful approach to the relationship that USA and Cuba, and specifically Miami and Havana, have sustained for more than a century and a half. By making a correspondence between the sea and a pool, we completely change the projection and the perception of the swimmers. Swimming abandons its common meaning (entertainment, sport) to become an act of re-encounter, of breaking invisible and forced barriers. After all: Horizon is an Illusion.
PATRIA
2023
Patria typewriter, blades
9 x 27 x 30 cm
The typewriter is presented as an allegory of aggressive discourses that throughout history have led to wars on behalf and in defence of the homeland. This work, started by the artist in 2003, is part of a series of intervened typewriters to reclaim written expression as a creative gesture, whilst acknowledging the multiplicity of discourses, styles and personalities.
TRAVELLING LIGHT
2016
Rubber, stainless steel, Yogi Teabag
35 x 170 x 85 cm
The ideal way of travelling in life, as suggested by the sentence printed on the Yogi Teabag included in the work, summarises a philosophy of existence: “Live light, travel light, spread the light, be the light”. This apparently simple sentence condenses a profound aspiration: that of travelling the world without leaving a trace, with the levity of one who comprehends
GLENDA LEÓN
non-permanence. It is an invitation to rid oneself of the superfluous and admit lightness as a state of inner clarity. Living and travelling light means not holding onto the density of desires, but rather advancing with the light irradiating the essential residing within us.
POLITICAL WORLD
2025
Single-channel video 9”44”
The world is becoming ever more polarised to the extent common sense seems to have been lost. In this video, the artist takes ideological extremes (both left and right) to the absurd. Firstly, everything moves to the left. Then, the very same images shift to the right. Moreover, the work suggests that everything is relative: depending on your point of view the direction of the movement may be interpreted in a completely opposite way. On the other hand, the work serves as a warning regarding the AI phenomenon.
“How long is the coast of Great Britain?” was the question posed by Benoit Mandelbrot, one that would ultimately lead to the discovery of fractal theory and its formula. The artist, just as he did, has observed nature and identified similarities between patterns, such as the trace of a butterfly’s flight and the trajectory of a hurricane. This work merely serves as visual evidence that these elements originate from the same energy, albeit expressed through differing proportions. By acknowledging this shared energy, we come to understand that we are part of an interrelated whole, and that by harming one of its parts, we are harming ourselves.
ABOUT THE INVISIBLE SERIES
2026
6 fabrics
Ink on silk
187 x 128 cm
Using scientific data collected during confinement, these lines are presented to us as a revelation. On looking at them from a distance, they seem to be the same landscape, the horizon
of a mountainous area. Yet, as we draw closer, we realise that each one has a different origin. This perception leads to the visual confirmation that everything is interconnected: the energy that shapes a river is the same as that which creates a bolt of lightning. This universal pattern is a recurring motif in the artist’s work, reflecting her constant search to render the invisible visible.
TIME FORMS SERIES
2023
10 pieces
Black Calatorao marble
Variable dimensions
“How long is the coast of Great Britain?” was the question posed by Benoit Mandelbrot, one that would ultimately lead to the discovery of fractal theory and its formula. The artist, just as he did, has observed nature and identified similarities between patterns, such as the outline of an island and a bolt of lightning, the trace of a butterfly’s flight and the trajectory of a hurricane, the veins of the body and rivers, among many other associations that she has already examined in previous works. These works merely serve as visual evidence that these elements originate from the same energy, albeit expressed through differing proportions. By acknowledging this shared energy, we come to understand that we are part of an interrelated whole, and that by harming one of its parts, we are harming ourselves.
(PSEUDO-ACACIA) MIRAGE
2026
Branch, aluminium, LED light
430 x 120 x 60 cm
The Mirages series is conceived closely tied to the notion of self-similarity developed by Benoît Mandelbrot in fractal theory: a mathematical model providing a means of understanding the inexhaustible complexity of nature. The idea that certain patterns repeat, transform and branch out as scale shifts suggests a deeply interconnected whole, and proposes a point of departure for thinking about nature and the way in which we relate to it. In this work, a branch and a bolt of lightning appear as reflections of one another, revealing a similarity that aims at a common origin: the same energy manifested in different ways. It is a suspended almost magical instant where reasoned and irrational reality converge and overlap, giving rise to images that, though unexpected, are entirely familiar and plausible.
GLENDA LEÓN
IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST II LISTEN TO THE FLIGHT LISTEN TO THE MOUNTAINS (GORBEIA)
2026
Guitar strings, pegs, wood, acrylic paint
122 x 200 x 7 cm
The artist has used different musical instrument components to represent shapes from nature, a sentence or an extension of a natural element. These are sound works that may be activated either by the viewer or by a musician, both of whom perform an action that becomes symbolic: we will be listening to and touching the mountains, the birds, the trees.
A metaphor for listening to nature, so urgently needed in these times.
MIRAGE (IDEA LEUCONOE)
2026
Powder compact, butterfly, organza 8 x 16 x 1 cm
This series addresses one of the origins of the problems we are faced with. Instead of focusing on visible catastrophes it focuses on their invisible root: humanity’s disconnection from nature and, as such, from itself. By perceiving the similarity between a branch, a crack in a mirror, and the nerves of butterfly wings, likewise between a bolt of lightning and a tree, the same energy expressed in different ways, moments and scales is perceived. This awareness reminds us that we are part of an interconnected whole, where damaging a single element ultimately amounts to harming ourselves. Hence the work is presented as visual proof that everything is related: the energy that gives rise to a tree is the same that generates a bolt of lightning. This universal pattern reveals the hidden correspondences which sustain the balance of the universe.
INTERPRETED WORLD FOR PIANO
2024
Disklavier pianos, 214 paper templates hung from the ceiling, music score, music stand
Composition: Kiko Faixas
Variable dimensions
In 2006 the artist began researching the names of gods from different religions who created the world. She initially compiled 150 names, but later expanded the number to 214. These names were translated into Braille and converted into musical notes for an automatic piano to play them. The
resulting work presents score sheets with names in Braille hung from the ceiling while the piano plays the melody derived from that translation.
For a long time humans have believed they worshipped something different by venerating a particular god or following a specific religion. There exists a widespread blindness to the fact that divine power is one and the same throughout the universe. It has long been overlooked that only the names and the ways in which they are followed mark their differences.
The act of turning the names of God into sound is a gesture that dissolves words in order to return them to that unnameable essence to which we all belong, and from which beliefs have emerged. A gesture that symbolically seeks to cast off the misguided interpretations the world has endured for centuries. It is a reflection on the growing spiritual blindness that has afflicted humanity and given rise to wars. It is a hymn to the spirit, to the irrational way of apprehending the world.
CELESTIAL BODIES
2017-2026
14 works / 2 Light boxes, 12 canvasses Butterfly wing dust on photographic paper
In Celestial Bodies, the artist uses something as minute as butterfly wing dust to propose a metamorphic journey that raises ontological and epistemological questions. Through an almost scientific act of discovery and deconstruction of a butterfly, explored across different levels of magnification and scale, she creates imaginary landscapes. She is inspired by Kybalion’s second principle “As above, so below; as below, so above” to reflect on nature, its strength and presence as part of this indissoluble whole to which we all belong. The use of butterfly wing dust in her work forms part of a broader line of work through which she questions the representation of reality by traditional means. She also embraces the use of unconventional materials such as her own hair, flowers, feathers, cassette tapes, chewing gum or sand. In this way, the medium becomes the message in a more analogue sense than that expressed by Marshall McLuhan in his writings. The butterfly thus emerges as a symbol of empowerment for that which we mistakenly call “weak”, when in fact it is simply “fragile”; a fragility intensified, in this case, by the destructive impact of the exploitation of natural resources.
GLENDA LEÓN
NIGHT OF FANTASY
2004
Earrings with fake diamonds inserted in the wall
400 x 300 cm
In Cuba, fashion jewellery is called “fantasy”. On a wall painted black, the artist inserts earrings with fake diamonds following a star map, in such a way that it not only reproduces the exact position of the stars but also their size. The work is a reminder of our capacity to build our own world, and above all, of the fact that we ourselves are the world. Magic lies not only in those beautiful elements of nature that captivate us, but also within ourselves and our ability to render them magical.
In Habitat, the bed, an intimate space where we dream and have profound relationships —with ourselves and others—, transforms into a stage to blend in with nature and recall the vital energy Earth offers us. Thus, the work is framed within a biocentric vision that places us as part of an integrated whole, inviting us to a sensorial —rather than rational— approach to nature. It reveals ecological deterioration as a self-inflicted wound, while proposing immersion in the natural world as a path towards spiritual elevation. On the other hand, by representing a fictitious natural world in the intimate space of a bed, it questions the authenticity of the world we build and inhabit. And as such, Habitat serves as a criticism of the increasing artificiality in daily life —food, fragrances, fashion— where prefabricated imitations replace the original and alert us to our capacity of inhabiting comfortable realities yet disconnected from the vital essence.
CONVERSION
2026
Performance
5 religious costumes, iron hooks
Single-channel video of the performance, 11’ 25”
Music: Richie Hawtin (Plastikman)
Choreography: Laura Ramírez Ashbaugh
For a long time humans have believed they worshipped something different by venerating a particular god or following a specific religion. There exists a widespread
blindness to the fact that divine power is one and the same throughout the universe. It has long been overlooked that only the names and the ways in which they are followed mark their differences.
By representing religious figures dancing to the same rhythm, the work seeks to return to that unnameable essence to which we all belong. A gesture that attempts to cast off the interpretations that have conditioned the way we understand the world. It is a response to the loss of spiritual orientation that has led to unnecessary conflicts. It is a song to the soul, to the irrational way of comprehending the world.
Five dancers dressed in robes representative of the five most widely practised religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism) start performing synchronised movements in time to a Richie Hawtin tune. As the movements synchronise they also deconstruct to become that of a club dance. During this process, the clothes gradually become an impediment and they are slowly removed. The more synchronised they become, the closer their demeanour moves towards ecstasy, entering a meditative state in which the ego begins to dissolve.
SUSPENSION
2000
Single-channel video 52”
Contradiction between the magical image of levitation and the reality represented by the sound of footsteps in the background of the city evokes the contradiction between imagination and reality, the ethereal and the earthly, childhood and adult life.
