“When we look at Rocío García’s painting, we are in the presence of a work of absolute uniqueness, as befits art. From the very beginning of her career, in the midst of the Cuban art boom of the 1980s—a period brimming with artistic actions, local postmodernism, and post-conceptual trends—she has remained a champion of painting.

And she burst onto the Cuban art scene with her spectacular use of pure colors. With canvases depicting boundless spaces. With mind-blowing atmospheres plucked from distant universes. With characters such as geishas, masked figures, tyrants, and smugglers. With an unmistakable visual style.

As if these unique qualities were not enough, he explored these themes in series of paintings, creating visual narratives akin to cinema, drawing on the full dynamism of his impressive scenes and sequences. (…)

Rocío presents us with (…) a retelling of the classic story of Judith and Holofernes. From ancient painting and the Old Masters, through Donatello, Cranach, Caravaggio, Goya, and Klimt, this biblical theme has portrayed women from different perspectives: as seductresses, victors, avengers, and champions of justice… What we didn’t imagine is that, right in the middle of 2024, the painter would play freely with that stale tradition, turning Judith into a supposed coquette, while Holofernes is reduced to a caricature of the Ruler, even before he is beheaded.

As in all her work, we catch a glimpse of the scales that weigh good against evil; of the spectacle of power spreading its fearsome tentacles over life and death, over love and politics. Or relentlessly delving into the heteronyms of eroticism, and provoking violence and injustice everywhere. The artist pulls the strings, shifts powers, and reverses the commands on the stages of a fictional portrayal of reality, with a heavy dose of Delirium Tremens.”

                                                                                                      -Corina Matamoros

Excerpt from the curatorial text for the solo exhibition Delirium Tremens (National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, November 2024 – January 2025)