He painted hummingbirds and tocororos, and naked women about to take flight, and portraits of the Martí most ours… He recreated a world full of meanings, full of poetry. And beautiful… because he was convinced of the usefulness of beauty.
***
In 2019 we visited Ernesto Rancaño in his studio. He was preparing an exhibition focused on more or less everyday objects that he resignified. A small addition, a simple variation, a play with light… and what normally went unnoticed was singled out, he gained new implications.
«I don’t believe that the artist is a god, but in front of his work (and only in front of his work) he has to play at being one. Then you wake up from that dream, and you look around and realize how little he can actually do. But that little bit is something. And you have to deliver it.”
***
Sometimes the color, with the profusion of illustrations from a children’s storybook; and sometimes monochrome and minimalism. From baroque to an exemplary essentiality. But always the delicacy in the line, the delight in the curve, the rooted elegance.
«I am an artist of contrasts, although not everyone notices it. But in my work there are both sides of the coin».
***
The Martí de Rancaño looks at the viewer without fright, with the calm of a man who has fulfilled his duty. Sometimes in his eyes one discovers a certain sadness. Sometimes he sleeps. Sometimes he seems to daydream. «Martí is the soul of the country. And the soul transits».
***
Much is said about the social commitment of the artist. And the first commitment is to create. It is doing work. But an artist is also a citizen. An artist positions himself.
«I am where I think justice is. And I’m not afraid to speak my truth, even if others don’t like it. I’m not interested in being good with God and with the devil, and I know that everyone has their god and has the devil of him. I have mine very clear. I evoke them with my brushes. Now, when Cuba needs me to leave my brushes and take care of other things, I will do it without thinking twice.
***
Cuba never needed him to put down his brushes. Cuba needed (needs) those brushes.
***
«Fidel is more than a man: he is a truth. One will never do him justice with his art. But he tries ».
***
With Alexis Leyva, Kcho, Ernesto Rancaño joined the Marta Machado Brigade that brought art and aid to communities affected by natural disasters in Cuba and Haiti. «Of that experience what marked me the most was the look of the children. It is wonderful to see a child who is dazzled by beauty. And children find beauty where one is no longer able to see it without help.
***
«I am not afraid when it comes to working with the symbols of a nation, of my nation. Because they are my symbols, it is my nation. Disrespecting them would be disrespecting myself. I can’t even conceive of it. Some may not agree with the way I take history, but it is also my history, I am part of it. I do not believe that the artist is an impartial chronicler, who sits on a stone and watches the river run by. I like to dive into the river.
***
He painted hummingbirds because it seemed to him that it was a prodigious animal: «how much force in such a small creature, how much impulse. Once I dreamed that a hummingbird lifted me up in his flight ».
He is gone, on the wings of hummingbirds.
NOTE FROM THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PLASTIC ARTS
This Friday, the renowned plastic artist Ernesto Rancaño passed away in Havana at the age of 53, a victim of cancer.
Graduated in the specialty of Painting and Drawing at the San Alejandro Academy, he is considered one of the most important artists of his generation. His vast work was extended to all types of supports and disciplines, and is part of prestigious collections in Cuba, America and Europe.
He was the creator of a refined visual universe, where elegant formal beauty, exquisite poetry, and overflowing Cubanness stand out.
A convinced Martian, his commitment to the Revolution and just causes was deep-rooted and fruitful.
He participated in the Marta Machado Brigade, led by Alexis Leyva Machado, Kcho, since its foundation in 2008, and helped communities in Cuba and Haiti affected by natural phenomena.
He was a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and the International Association of Plastic Artists. By personal and family decision, his body will be cremated.
His personal exhibition “Under the Protection of the Giver” is currently on display at the Palace of the Revolution, which was inaugurated with the presence of Cuban President Miguel Díaz Canel, who in a tweet expressed that this exhibition was “… a sublime tribute to the apostle, where we find the anguish and the certainties of Marti’s expressions… That is exactly Rancaño’s work”.
