Eduardo Abela intervenes in the opening of his exhibition as part of the events associated with the 23rd. International Biennial of Graphic Humor. Author: UNEAC

By origin, he is identified with the most famous representative of the national art. Abela celebrate the visual component of our country with a very peculiar seal. The works of grandfather, father and son come together in themes such as humor, languages ​​such as painting, and motifs such as the Cuban way of life.

Eduardo Abela Torras arrived preordained. He demonstrates creativity that knows no formal boundaries and does not neglect any technique. “I dilute,” he usually says, explaining this impermanent journey from one visual universe to another, this constant movement of a work that knows no formal boundaries.

In her latest exhibition, open to the public in the Sala Villena of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, Abela appears to us as a constant pioneer: “I always want to experiment and, as an artist, take risks in new media. After this exhibition, I decided to discover the possibilities of digital art. At the same time, I do not cease to admit that I am more concerned about the growth as a person and the daily improvement of myself as a person than as an artist.

Thanks to Garage sale Installed by Abela in Uneac, we go through important stages of his creative life, in a kind of chronological revisionism: “Sometimes I get the feeling that I did nothing. Stopping and repeating helps me think that yes, that I have brought something related to the common thread, which is always humor. And in the end, I realize that I have achieved my own way of doing things, so complex when you work with an aesthetic that can go from Renaissance through pop to the most modern.

“This exhibition was born when I was invited to participate in what I started with – at the Biennale of Humor. I said to myself: to return to the roots, to the biennale, but already in its 23rd edition. I decided to look around a friend’s house for a few things that I always ask you to keep for me so that I don’t get rid of them. So I put them together and thought about what name to give them, because hindsight is too overused. How fashionable it is to check houses and put up for sale what is not used … ”.

– You decided to shake off the dust from the past …

– Yes, and take out what has been accumulated for a long time in order to compose a new speech. I made two choices, and then when I ran into the space I had, I managed to tie the speech together. So born from voice of the people header Garage sale because it’s like a store where a little bit of everything is recycled and put on display.

“I really enjoy walking down the street and listening to Cubans with their wonderful sense of humor. We give clever names and call things terms that make me laugh a lot. I take a lot from there, from that mocking spirit, from the choteo.

– The exhibition is also a kind of collage of all the styles and ways of doing things that you used in your work… so different.

— I studied graphics and became a cartoonist. That’s where it all started. Later, I approached engraving, and engraving itself led me to painting, bypassing the academy. I’ve found ways to do it and I really enjoy mixing techniques, support… they each have their own language. And, at the end of the day, I’m in no man’s land, like in limbo, because I’m doing humor, but I’m not a classic cartoonist; but there are people who tell me: yes, you are not a painter at all.

– When visiting the exhibition, the first thing that strikes us is “The Man Who Loved the Alligator”, inspired by José Martí. The apostle appears with a beautiful alligator in his arms – of course, with Cuba – and is touched by the tenderness of the image, the abundant use of color and a certain graceful, desacralizing touch. Do you agree that the classical school of painting dominates and catches the eye in your work?

— I like modern art, but I think that the matrix is ​​in the altarpiece of Caravaggio, in the paintings of the Renaissance and Gothic, in the unforgettable works of Rembrandt. Even if you work with pixels, you need to go back, because when none of these technologies existed, there were masters like Velasquez who solved visualization with glaze and pattern. I try to get closer to the process of creation, to how the artist conceived the work. This gives you a lot of resources and crafts to work on later. To deny the classics and their skill is very unreasonable.

How much importance do you attach to drawing?

– The drawing is a tree trunk, so my dad told me. If you draw badly, you will never become a good artist, engraver, sculptor… Today they say that you don’t need to draw, because there are computers and programs. Total mistake.

“Actually, drawing was my Achilles heel because I finished school, but my teachers can attest to what a bad student I am. I realized that I needed to start practicing, painting and painting… until I got it right. Drawing is the main tool of the visual artist.

– When your grandfather, the great artist and cartoonist Eduardo Abela, died, you were barely two years old. Why did you decide to “fight” with him, if, in the end, his great influence is visible?

— Abela, grandfather, created a work of great ingenuity and imagination, which for a child is like an illustration to a story. Its world of small birds, animals… this is the beauty that has always attracted me. As I got older, I became aware of this attraction.
and I drew… but then I asked myself: how will I draw if my name is the same as Eduardo Abela? It was a love-hate relationship, and I promised myself that it would be something else. But now most of all I like the picture of my grandfather … “.

It goes through your heart…

-Transparent! I finish something and say to myself: no, no, this is very similar to my grandfather. Because I’m going to him. At this point, I don’t know if my grandfather is making fun of such strong resistance on my part. And I already see the work of my grandfather and understand how the process of writing it went through in stages. They even brought me works so that I could recognize their authorship, and I explain with all the arguments that this is not his, because I know him very well, his calligraphy, his lines ….

As time goes by, you appreciate it more and more…

“And over time, I understand more and more how big he was.

Has humor come to you because of that wink from the past that it makes you, perhaps thanks to its famous cartoon character that created an era in the Republican period called “El Bobo”?

I often say that people are born with this sense of humor. I am quick and witty. I’m brainstorming, and while people are saying something, I’m already making up a joke from what I hear. Even when I’m stressed, I think of a joke and relax. It is impossible to calculate the scale of humor that can change a society or a state of mind.

— How do you explain this constant presence of everyday life in your work?

— I eat a lot of what I hear on the street, and it happens that some of my works lose their relevance due to the speed of everyday life. I use a lot of disassembly, desacralization of the classics, bringing it to the popular. Ever since I was a child, I have tried to take the epic charge out of an image and demystify it.

— Let’s talk about the processing and abundance of color in your work, which can come from the intense black color of the line…

“It comes from the engraving.

– Even the most lively and sublime of all associated with the Caribbean, Cuban …

– With tropical … this is what we are Caribbean islands, bright lighting here. If I lived in Alaska, I would definitely draw a little more gray. Now, fortunately, youth has returned to color. The fact is that the soul of the artist must be very sad in order to draw like that. There are people who paint with the prima palette, the primary colors… I take everything, yellow, roasted ocher, red… and add a lot of color to it. The color corresponds to my active and joyful soul.

— Is it true that Cuba has a different color and has its own visuality from the point of view of painting?

“I have seen blue skies in other places, but when you see these cities from above, you see fog, fog. Here the sun is very strong, almost aggressive, it burns out the houses and illuminates the sky and the seas of this region, which immediately recognize the Caribbean. Where I paint, there is a lot of light; and natural light because I don’t use lamps. I have certain vices like painting with mirrors as I once passed one of the canvases in front of one of them and I was attracted by the decomposition of the figure… I don’t know if it’s because I have some kind of visual problem with symmetry. mon-
I met people who studied in Russia, and they assured me that what I discovered by chance is used in the academies of this country.

– On the way of admiring the academician and the classic of painting, we can single out the figurative around José Marti as a constant. Is he the most attractive person among Cuban celebrities for you?

I don’t like creating myths for people. Marty was a real man, with so much sensitivity and vision that they go with him, so he shouldn’t be put on the altar. You must see him as a man of flesh and blood. I fell in love with my grandfather’s Marty who is in the Casa de las Americas. Every time I draw him, this Marty pops up in my head because I think he was the first person I ever saw in my life. And the fact that my grandfather’s Marty has sincerity, nobility in his expression, he is precious. This is a man who wrote to the Impressionists, nature, his country… everything. Marty was good, I see him beautiful and so unique that he should not be considered a saint.

– Cuba is another recurring theme in your work. Sometimes its outlines show through, we find them in the colors, in the popular sayings you use… but what is Cuba for Abela?

I am going to another place and should be back in less than a month. Cuba is my girlfriend, my mother, my partner. I experience great pleasure when I walk the streets, look at people, listen to what they say, and contemplate the real life that I do not see when I am in other places. I am in love with my country and its people.

Source: Juventud Rebelde