Cuban Art Craft Novels "sold" in US
Rich Winkel
** Topic: Cuban Art Craft Novels "sold" in US **
** Written 8:55 AM Jun 25, 1999 by jcl...@pop.pegasus.com.au in cdp:reg.carib **
from: jcl...@peg.apc.org
subject: Cuban Art, Craft, Novels sold in US
® Copyright GRANMA INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EDITION. La Havana. Cuba
Mendive praises opening for Cuban arts in U.S.
BY CARLOS BATISTA
HAVANA (AFP).- Manuel Mendive, painter of Afro-Cuban [MANUEL
MENDIVE] deities, animals and plants, praised the opening in
the United States for Cuban visual arts and expressed his joy that
his first personal show in that country was so well received. "The
opening that exists here is tremendous," Mendive said with his big
smile and the deliberate manner befitting a babalawo, or Cuban
Santerça priest.
Eleven years ago, one of his paintings, El pavo real (The Peacock)
was purchased in an auction at the Cuban Museum of Art and Culture in
Miami and burned in the street by anti-Castro elements. This April
and May, Mendive presented an exhibition of 20 works in the
Gary Nader Fine Art Gallery in Miami, where 500-600 people attended
the opening.
Among the public, according to Mendive, there were Cuban artists
resident in the United States and U.S.citizens, but also believers in
Santerça and many other people. He added that outside the gallery,
some Cuban exiles protested "for no reason," but inside, "in a blink
of the eye, all the works were grabbed by collectors. "I see myself
as the door opener for the flag of Cuban arts in Florida," he noted,
recalling past difficulties in mounting an exhibition like that.
Mendive was born in Havana's Luyan barrio on December 15, 1944, to
a working-class family that practiced the religion brought to the
island by their Yoruba forebears. In 1963 he graduated from the San
Alejandro Art Academy and since then has accumulated an impressive
portfolio of personal showings throughout the world. He is considered
one the great Cuban contemporary visual artists.
The U.S. press focused on the destination of the income from the
painting sales, which was deposited in a Spanish bank account, due to
the rigorous limitations resulting from the U.S. embargo of the
island. "The thing is that the money has to reach me, so that I can
live and continue to harvest triumphs for my country," stated the
painter, who clarified that he would use the money for his expenses,
particularly to buy paint, which is very expensive.
After his stay in Miami, Mendive opened another show in Washington,
where he also debuted in the Kennedy Center with three of his living
works: La comida (The Meal), El hombre y la naturaleza (Humans and
Nature) and El hombre y sus ancestros (Humans and their
Ancestors). The representations are painted on dancing human figures,
through which the painter gives life to his characters, painting all
of their bodies in great detail. In the United States, they wore
minimal swimsuits underneath the paint, but when he puts on such a
show in Cuba, the dancers wear nothing but paint.
"They treated us with great love and respect," the artist
commented, explaining the laborious nature of this kind of show. In
Washington, he painted the bodies for 11 consecutive hours before the
show opened. These shows have been acclaimed in various parts of the
world, including Asia, and Mendive generally touches on the same
themes: life, death and his gods, all from a highly Cuban
perspective."
***************
® Copyright GRANMA INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EDITION. La Havana. Cuba
Crafts at the threshold of the 21st century
BY MIREYA CASTA“EDA (Granma International staff writer)
THE 7th International Crafts Fair (FIART '99) couldn't avoid the
impact of the imminent new century and that fact is reflected in its
broad commercial and cultural program - February 14 through 21 -
which was presented with pride by Angel Arcos, president of the Cuban
Cultural Foundation (FCBC). The very theme adopted by this last
encounter of the present century that provides the title for Arcos'
general information: Crafts at the Threshold of the 21st Century,
additionally the theme of a special conference led by a high-ranking
UNESCO official.
Speaking at a press conference in the Comodoro hotel, Arcos
highlighted other conferences, such as one to be given by Spaniard
Pedro Martçnez Maza on Perspectives of Latin American Crafts in
Europe, and that of Guatemalan Santos Rosal on the characteristics of
this manifestation which has been so well developed in Central
America. The fair's program is well on the way to its fundamental
commercial objective with 30 stands - in the PABEXPO exhibition area
- from 18 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile,
Colombia, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.
The FCBC president affirmed that this extensive representation
(almost triple that of earlier editions) has its raison d'ätre in
Cuba's presence at 14 important international fairs last year,
including those of Tenerife, Canary Islands; Colombia; Guadalajara
and Tlaquepaque, these two attended by many international buyers;
Mexico; and, for the first time, in Burkina Faso, Africa's most
important fair.
In response to a Granma International inquiry as to the commercial
results of that presence, Arcos said that, for the foundation,
covering the costs is seen as a profit, and this was achieved, but it
also provided an opportunity to undertake a market study in relation
to future directions and what to leave on one side. He added that, in
terms of international sales, the star craft products have been, in
first place, cigar humidors, which are in high demand and for
which contracts have been signed to acquire hinges and dials to bring
them up to competitive international standards; next, papier-mÇchâ
pieces, with their special effects of color and originality (low-cost
and purchased for presents and souvenirs); followed by ceramics and
precious metal jewelry.
In relation to other innovations at the fair, Arcos highlighted the
presence of three companies which, in the last two years, have been
fundamental in relation to material supplies for Cuban crafts: PEBEO
(ceramics) of France, MARMEDIA of Italy and ALQUIMIA (acrilics and
paintings) of Venezuela.
Buyers and the general public can also visit eight national
stands (including CUBARTESANIA, ARTEX, QUITRIN and the Isle of
Youth's Center of Applied Arts), 20 belonging to the FCBC itself
(with their galleries and stores, from 10 of the country's 14
provinces), seven from the Association of Craftspeople), and 10 for
independent artists (like Mercy Nodarse in clothing, the Fr meta
Family and their papier-mÇchâ work, or the Jardçn Angelica and its
ornamental plants.)
The inauguration of FIART '99 will see the launch of the first
catalogue of Cuban crafts, with over 100 pages and approximately 200
visual images, and thus a valuable marketing instrument. A second
catalogue is also to be presented, in this case exhibiting Cuba's
principal humidor artists. One of FIART's characteristics is to
encourage the best artists, objects and stands with awards, the most
important being the prize conceded by the UNESCO Regional Office,
alongside others given by UNESCO's Cuban Office, ACCA, BrasCuba and
the City Historian's Office.
The FIART '99 prize jury is headed by the outstanding Cuban artist
Lesbia Vent Dumois, accompanied by ceramics artist Julia Gonzfllez,
designer Adolfo Pârez and specialists Denis Moreno and Carmen G mez.
English Edition
********************
® Copyright GRANMA INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL EDITION. La Havana. Cuba
Cuban novel boom BY OMAR PERDOMO (Special for Granma International)
DURING a good many years, and for various reasons, the number of
Cuban novels in publishing house catatogs was extremely limited. The
decrease in national production in this genre - an average of 15
novels were published annually throughout the 1980s - was doubtlessly
a result of economic conditions, which led to a shortage of paper and
a predominance of publications in "plaquette" form, unsuitable for
longer works of literature. Another factor involved was the
disappearance of contests that formerly served, to a greater or
lesser extent, to encourage the writing of novels.
Fortunately, over recent times there has been a notable resurgence in
the novel genre among our writers, in terms of both well-established
figures and younger authors. This is due in part, of course, to the
worldwide growth in the popularity of novels among readers, although
it has also been influenced by the policy of reviving or creating
contests that have promoted a veritable explosion of novel writing in
the 90s (particularly since 1994), one that has even been reflected
outside of Cuba. Some prime examples are El polvo y el oro (Dust and
Gold) by Julio Travieso, Mflscara (Mask) by Leonardo Padura, Tuyo es
el reino (Thine is the Kingdom) by Abilio Estâvez, Rumba Palace by
Miguel Mejides, and novels by Guillermo Vidal, Jorge Luis Hernflndez,
Antonio Rodrçguez Salvador, Alexis Dçaz Pimienta and David Mitrani.
To offer a reflection of what some have called a "Cuban boom" in
novel writing, the Editorial Letras Cubanas publishing house created
a collection specifically entitled La Novela (The Novel) in 1996,
with the goal of printing works that constitute a contribution to the
genre but have not formerly been published. So far, 12 novels have
been launched as part of this collection, in paperback format with a
print run of 2000 copies. The first was El polvo y el oro, winner of
the Cuban Critics Prize in 1996; it was followed by La parte oscura
(The Dark Part) by Francisco de Orfla, winner of the
National Literature Prize in 1993, and El asedio (The Siege) by Noel
Navarro, winner of the 1992 Asturias Prize.
The other novels published as part of the collection are La
aventurera infancia de la soledad (The Adventurous Childhood of
Solitude) by Rafael Bençtez; El publicano (The Publican) by Agustçn
de Rojas; Santa Lujuria (Holy Lust) by Marta Rojas; El hilo del
ovillo (The Thread of the Skein) by Miguel Collazo; Una lecci n de
anatomça (An Anatomy Lesson) by Arturo Arango; A medianoche llegan
los muertos (The Dead Come at Midnight) by Eliseo Altunaga; Vida,
pasi n y suerte (Life, Passion and Destiny) by F. Mond; Capricho
habanero (Havana Caprice) by Alberto Garrandâs; and
Obstflculo (Obstacle) by Eduardo del Llano.
The La Novela catalog will be further expanded during the coming year
with Ni±a Tula by Mary Cruz (which recreates an almost unknown period
in the life of Cuban poet Gertrudis G mez de Avellaneda, her
childhood and adolescence); Maniobras (Maneuvers) by Reinaldo Montero
(encompassing various intertwining plotlines, linked by various
personalities from late-20th-century Cuba); and Encicloferia
(Encyclofair) by Luis Rogelio Nogueras (a unique portrait of an era,
namely the 70s and 80s in Cuba).
The list is completed - for the moment - by Inferno, by Jesîs David
Curbelo (a stylistically baroque novel); Al final de la senda (At the
End of the Trail) by Josâ Miguel Sflnchez (in which a universe at war
gives a young man the chance to channel his energies as a galactic
warrior); La sublime embriaguez del poder (The Sublime Intoxication
of Power) by Rodolfo Alpçzar (a parody of novels about Latin American
dictatorships); Foto de familia (Family Picture) by Luis Cabrera
Delgado (experiences and memories recounted by a voice speaking from
a photograph); La estrella bocarriba (The Star on its Back) by Raîl
Aguiar (an irreverent yet affecting portrait of the nocturnal world);
and La fiebre del atîn (Tuna Fever) by Andrâs Casanova (an intimate
psychological exploration of an individual paralyzed by his reflexive
attitude towards the world around him)." JC
** End of text from cdp:reg.carib **
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