We arrived at the paradise of Manuel Mendive. There is the teacher, sitting on his swing. A patriarch dressed completely in white, contemplating the landscape that immobilizes and calms.
Smile, hug us, thank you. She speaks quietly as she answers questions from her visitors. She was born on December 15, 1944 in Havana, but has lived for more than twenty years on the hill of Las Peregrinas, Tapaste. Little by little, she says, she shaped this place from which she no longer wants to leave.
«Here I live alone with the stars, my dead and Obbatalá. I feel good, calm. Sometimes I paint right here, in the open air», he tells us.
Mendive graduated from the San Alejandro Academy in 1963 and a year later presented his first individual exhibition. Since then his work has toured some of the most important artistic centers in the world. In November of this year, for example, at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in the Vatican, the exhibition “Life is beautiful” was presented.
Adore the saints brought from Africa by those savagely enslaved men and women. It is a family heirloom and has remained true to that tradition, to those origins, exploring the magical dimension of man.
Those who have carefully studied his work highlight that in the early years, the artist sought the mystery of creation through the orishas of the Yoruba-Lucumí pantheon. In the 70’s he began to represent everyday scenes and thus broadened his gaze but marked a style that distinguished him internationally.
Mendive represents that Cubanness that some want to hide, looking for excuses not to see the beauty of blackness.
Mendive is resistance. That is why it has been, for a long time, among the essentials of Cuban plastic arts.
Among so many recognitions and decorations that he has received, it is worth highlighting the Adam Montparnasse Prize at the Salón de Mai exhibition in Paris, the National Plastic Arts Prize of Cuba and the Knight Order of Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of Culture. In 2009 she received the Medal of the Five Continents from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
What state is your creation in?
The central theme is always life, which is beautiful. The landscape that I love; here I have it, as you see. The vegetation, the animals and the fact that people are happy motivates me a lot. With much or little, but may we be happy. What I do not like is sadness: not for me, not for anyone.
Do you have any “ritual” when painting? Listen to music?
(Series). I love music: Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart… the masters. But I can’t paint you with a cajón rumba. I like it, but not to motivate myself. I prefer the silence that is enchanting and I find it in this place. Right now he was here, sitting, looking at the palm trees, the clouds, the birds, meditating… Always with the presence of the orishas.
This past year has been one of many losses…
It is the law of life, it touches all of us. That is why you have to see it with different eyes and understand that it is so.
Maestro, what do you wish for the Cubans?
The best. Open arms and that God, Obbatalá, all the orishas that exist from all cultures, help us to have health, strength, patience and tranquility.
