"Through my vast experience restoring murals in Old
Havana I discovered the fascinating layered polychromies hidden for centuries
inside the walls and facades of the colonial architecture. The baroque ambiance
created by deterioration and violence inflicted on them by tropical light
prompted me to show this in my series "Homage to Havana."
The main purpose of my work is to evoke the essence of "Cubanity"; contemporary
aspects of Cuba's social evolution as well as elements derived from cross-cultural
influences such as magic, traditions and spirituality contributed by African
and Spanish culture. As expressed by Fernando Ortiz, Cuba's preeminent
ethnologist, Cuban identity possesses enduring qualities in which cross-culturalism
and syncretism are recurring themes that engender the artistic images reflected
in my work.
I depict this cross-cultural world through "gestural painting" and "surrealist
automatism", both methods derived from Abstract Expressionism, which I consider
the most suitable vehicles to represent the idiosyncrasy of my Caribbean background.
Having lived in Europe (Western and Eastern) and New York has broadened
my thematic spectrum. I now depict universal themes related to human
complexities, such as psychology, philosophy and religion, while integrating
my Cuban identity in the work, reflecting a sense of universality.
As a citizen of the world I perceive the political, social and cultural
events of this world and reflect these events through a broad, unencumbered
freedom of expression. I rely on the subtle negotiation between the
sources of occurrences and my conscience where ideas, concepts and images
are configured.
I am always questioning the process of creating images, being aware that
in art, the object and its representation can be similar but they are definitely
not the same. The "thing" in itself differs from "the thing for us"
being the latter an aspect of the first and therefore, the world depicted
in my paintings has a highly subjective content."
