ABOUT MY VISUAL AND MUSICAL ART

Ever since I was a child, I have always been a storyteller. I used to love creating stories and shaping them in my mind. This would often happen when I listened to symphonies or musical pieces by great composers. Perhaps that's why my work has the quality of a story I invented as a child. The difference is that this story has a biographical essence. My work is an empathic text where all the components of discourse and language (painting, music, and video) become a tangible and factual entity. It is an unfolding story, constantly growing, questioning itself, searching, and challenging. It couldn't be any other way because, like life itself, it unfolds in a precise and vital time—my own time.

Therefore, many codes and symbols in my work refer to my childhood and my life experiences. I delve into traumas, fears, and the process of forming an adult identity. In the context of my work, any code or symbol system must be explored by the audience, read by them, and interpreted in their own way. I take characters from history and bring them into my own context, readjusting their meanings and suggesting alternative interpretations.

My body of work aims to respond to philosophical and theological questions and inquiries, which are fundamental in my life and significantly shape my understanding of existence and the world around me. As I mentioned before, Adam and Eve, humanity, fruits, and machinery symbolize or refer to aspects of my life and experiences in Cuba until the age of 36, as well as the processes of adapting to a different culture like that of the United States.

I have chosen to develop my work through the clever use of parables and the resources of tropology. I grew up in the generation of comic books, and pop art played a significant role by bringing comics into the realm of high art. Consequently, in my work, I narrate my story through a parable or fable, aiming to convey the moral lessons derived from my personal and unique experiences. The audience must scrutinize the entire body of work to "discover" the meaning and provide possible structure to the story.

This is why my work can be organized into series, stages, or imaginary eras inspired by the works of Lezama Lima. The pictorial form may vary depending on the desired drama or emphasis. The music I compose for my paintings becomes an independent sonic space. This explains the dialectical relationship between the two; one is a consequence of the other. Considering my art as separate from my music would be a mutilation, as it would lose the intended sound-plastic unity.

Likewise, video is the most favorable medium to experience the symbiosis, synergy, and relationship between my different artistic elements. However, it's crucial to remember that my artistic work reflects what I experienced in my adolescence and childhood while listening to music. When I first encountered Cornelius Cardew's graphic scores, it was a revelation and a turning point that marked a before and after. During my formative years, my art philosophy professor, Juan Enrique Guerrero, encouraged me to expand my creativity by composing music for my paintings. That's when this restlessness began, and it eventually became my working methodology. Nevertheless, I struggled to bring this concept to reality since painting and composing operate on different sensory levels, and there are practical divergences in how they can be perceived. Discovering the music scores of Cornelius Cardew allowed me to bridge that gap between theory and practice. I could finally put it into action and understand the direct relationship between the sound an artist experiences and their vision. As a result, my paintings are the visual expression of my music, and my music creates the sonic space for my paintings.