‘Fusterlandia': Cuban fishing town turned mosaic wonderland
West of the capital Havana, Jaimanitas's buildings, homes, walls and bus stops have all become displays for the 79-year-old's artistic vision. 'I found the formats of canvas, ceramics, to be too small,' he told AFP. Fuster said he pays for the mosaic materials from sales of his art, some of which he exhibits at his famous former house - now a gallery for his paintings, sculptures and ceramics. 'I had no idea I could create so much. It became a sort of contagion,' laughed Fuster, who gets around on an electric mobility scooter. Fuster is a creator of so-called 'naive' art, which entails an almost child-like use of basic shapes and bright colors.
Sometimes dubbed the 'Caribbean Picasso' or 'Cuban Gaudi,' he said he was mainly inspired the giant collection of outdoor works created by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi in his home city of Targu Jiu. Fuster uses palm trees, roosters and rural people as prototypes for his artwork, interspersed with popular sayings and excerpts of poetry.
Tourists ride in a classic American car during a tour to see the artwork of Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Tourists visit an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Tourists visit an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Tourists visit an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Tourists ride in front of an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Residents walk past an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
A woman looks on at her balcony decorated with artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas .
A view of an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Tourists talk during a tour to see the artwork of Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Tourists pose for a picture in front of an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Cuban artist Jose Fuster rides in an electric motorcycle along a street of the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
A woman walks past an artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
Two dogs rest in front of artwork by Cuban artist Jose Fuster depicting late Cuba's leader Fidel Castro (left) and late Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in the seaside village of Jaimanitas.
There are many big, red hearts, pink elephants and repeated allusions to the Cuban revolution of 1959. Jaimanitas 'was a small, obscure village, there was no help or anything,' said Jorge Gonzalez, a 79-year-old who told AFP he lives in a 'work of art.' Fuster, he said, 'took charge of this and everything emerged with a lot of joy, a lot of love.'
Gonzalez's own house, formerly just a wooden structure, is now cemented and covered in mosaics. And a few years ago - during the brief diplomatic detente between the United States and Cuba under former president Barack Obama - the town was witness to stars such as Madonna and Sean Penn ambling down the streets of 'Fusterlandia.' 'I didn't spend money on advertising. It happened on its own,' said Fuster of the attention the town has drawn. With his former home now a gallery and museum, he is building, and decorating, a new house for himself closer to the beach. — AFP
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Civil rights activists have noted signs of eugenics regaining a foothold through the far right's promotion of the "great replacement theory,' a racist ideology that alleges a conspiracy to diminish the influence of white people. Shalini Shankar, a cultural and linguistic anthropologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said she had problems with American Eagle's "genes' versus "jeans' because it exacerbates a limited concept of beauty. "American Eagle, I guess, wants to rebrand itself for a particular kind of white privileged American,' Shankar said. "And that is the kind of aspirational image they want to circulate for people who want to wear their denim.' Many critics compared the American Eagle ad to a misstep by Pepsi in 2017, when it released a TV ad that showed model Kendall Jenner offer a can of soda to a police officer while ostensibly stepping away from a photo shoot to join a crowd of protesters. Viewers mocked the spot for appearing to trivialize protests of police killings of Black people. Pepsi apologized and pulled the ad. The demonstrations that followed the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis pushed many U.S. companies to make their advertising better reflect consumers of all races. Some marketers say they've observed another shift since President Donald Trump returned to office and moved to abolish all federal DEI programs and policies. Jazmin Burrell, founder of brand consulting agency Lizzie Della Creative Strategies, said she's noticed while shopping with her cousin more ads and signs that prominently feature white models. "I can see us going back to a world where diversity is not really the standard expectation in advertising,' Burrell said. American Eagle has been praised for diverse marketing in the past, including creating a denim hijab in 2017 and offering its Aerie lingerie brand in a wide range of sizes. A year ago, the company released a limited edition denim collection with tennis star Coco Gauff. The retailer has an ongoing diversity, equity and inclusion program that is primarily geared toward employees. Two days before announcing the Sweeney campaign, American Eagle named the latest recipients of its scholarship award for employees who are driving anti-racism, equality and social justice initiatives. Marketing experts offer mixed opinions on whether the attention surrounding "good jeans' will be good for business. "They were probably thinking that this is going to be their moment," Myles Worthington, the founder and CEO of marketing and creative agency WORTHI. "But this is doing the opposite and deeply distorting their brand." Melissa Murphy, a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, said she liked certain parts of the campaign but hoped it would be expanded to showcase people besides Sweeney for the "sake of the brand.' Other experts say the buzz is good even if it's not uniformly positive.
