“What I’m trying to do is play with history. I like to explain things in an ironic way. Ironic and sarcastic is me,” says Jorge Rodriguez Diez, also known as R10. At 47, Diez calls himself “one of the older members of the New Generation” of Cuban artist-designers. He is well known for his provocative posters, catalog designs, and increasingly for his works on canvas.

Reappropriating old nostalgic images is his specialty. “The internet is not too important to me,’ he explains. “I enjoy looking in old magazines to find a treasure. I try to extract the energy from an image and then find a new environment, perhaps an opposing form, to create an energy sandwich.” His newest series “That’s What Friends Are For,” about changing US-Cuba relations, débuted at a Barcelona gallery in late 2016.