Painter Nelson Dominguez Opens Cuba’s First Rural Art Gallery in Cienfuegos

Nelson Domínguez, winner of the 2009 National Plastic Arts Prize. (Juventud Rebelde)

14ymedio biggerEFE, via 14ymedio, Havana, 16 February 2018 — As of Thursday, Cuban has its first rural art gallery, opened in the mountain community of Cumanayagua in Cienfuegos province, the fruit of a project of Nelson Domínguez, painter, sculptor, ceramists and engraver, and, winner of the 2009 National Plastic Arts Prize.

The new art gallery in the El Jobero community, designed to exhibit and market artworks and to serve as a place to celebrate events, is installed in the building that houses the theater group Los Elementos, according to the state-run Cuban News Agency.

The purpose of this initiative is “artistic and communal” and is intended to raise the aesthetic awareness and engagement in art of local residents. To this end, attached to the gallery will be a ceramic workshop, in addition to the exhibition hall, explained Dominguez.

“Working with the mountain people is exhilarating, as is enjoying the genius of the children of this community,” said the artist, who is confident that the exhibition space “will influence how art is approached in the future, due to the the beauty and comfort of this place, which is conducive to creation.”

Estudio Galería Molino Rojo, the name of the cultural institution, is part of Galerias Rurales, one of the most ambitious projects promoted by Domínguez with the aim of creating creative spaces in rural areas with a perspective towards economic development.

Domínguez said that two other rural galleries will be located in similar areas, one of them in the town of Baire, in the province of Santiago de Cuba, and the other in the town of Minas de Matahambre, in Pinar del Rio province.

This community cultural space joins other projects that the artist has undertaken involving painting, jewelry and sewing, also dedicated to stimulating the popular collection and creation of ceramic murals to donate to hospitals on the island.

The gallery is part of the Jobero Verde cultural project, installed on the 80 acres of a rural farm, where a library, a computer room and an amphitheater, attached to the side of a hill next to a river, have been built. The amphitheater is the main stage of the theater group Los Elementos.

Nelson Domínguez (1947) is a native of the rural area, having grown up in the mountains of the eastern Sierra Maestra. He graduated from the National Art School of Havana, and has participated in more than a hundred personal and collective exhibitions.

His works appear in institutions in Cuba and in public and private collections in countries such as Japan, the United States, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Sweden.

 ____________________________

The 14ymedio team is committed to serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for joining us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time by becoming a member of 14ymedio. Together we can continue to transform journalism in Cuba.