Lo Feo de este mundo I [The Ugliness of this World I], from Homage to Quevedo

The bloated, ugly, often distorted figures in Cuevas’s prints reference the caricature-like subjects of the Spanish baroque satirist Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1645). Both artists’ work is sharply critical of humankind, but Cuevas exaggerates further Quevedo’s negative view with his bleak, humorless pictures. Though each print is crowded with multiple figures, they remain isolated from one another. Each figure occupies his or her own space, and they do not appear to speak to each other. The interaction that does take place is limited to men leering at nude, often distressed women. The occasional inclusion of short written texts seems ironic. The goal of writing is usually to communicate, but the atmosphere of these works is one of frustrated disconnection and lack of communication.