Interview with Artist Salvador Gonzalez Escalona on Location in Cuba

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A Cuban legend
0:00:03
Trailer for an 80 minute documentary about Cuban muralist Salvador Escalona Gonzalez.

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Afro-Cuban
0:00:13
The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of African ancestry, and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community. The term can refer to the combining of African and other cultural elements found in Cuban society such as religion, music, language, the arts, and class culture.

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Barrio
0:00:52
Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood. The word has come into use in English mostly through the large Hispanic populations on both coasts of the United States.

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Tempera
0:01:42
Tempera (also known as egg tempera) is a type of artist's paint and associated art techniques that were known from the classical world, where it appears to have taken over from encaustic and was the main medium used for panel painting and illuminated manuscripts in the Byzantine world and the Middle Ages in Europe, until it was replaced by oil painting in Europe.

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ยก Afro-Cuban Rumba !
0:02:51
Check out some great Rumba footage cut together with history of the Rumba.

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Elias Aseff Alfonso talks about Salvador Gonzalez Escalona
0:03:34
Learn more about the different religious influences from Salvador Gonzalez Escalona's assistant, Elias Aseff Alfonso.

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Syncretism
0:03:45
Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term may refer to attempts to merge and analogize several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an underlying unity allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths.

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Abakua - La Libertad Logica
0:04:01
Abakua dancers (Frankie Martinez company's)are performing a salsa shines'show.

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Cuba by Salvador Gonzalez Escalona
0:05:24
Check out some artwork by Salvador Gonzalez Escalona.

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Cubism
0:05:41
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1908 and 1911 in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, (using synthetic materials in the art) the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919, when the Surrealist movement gained popularity.

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Surrealism
0:05:56
Surrealism[1] is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members.

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Cuban Rumba Party - Jardines de Tropical - Havana, Cuba
0:06:46
"Rumbon Tropical" features the Cuban music and dance group "Rumberos de Cuba" in an intimate party-performance. The setting is a lush outdoor patio garden near the river Almendares in Havana, Cuba.

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Callejon de Hamel: Afro Cuban Traditions
0:08:32
Check out the work Salvador Gonzalez Escalona is talking about.

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Channels: Contemporary ArtCubaSalvador Gonzalez Escalona

IMA Staff visit Cuba with artist William Rasdell in preparation for the Star Studio Exhibition, 'African Roots in Cuban Soil.' In this interview, they talk with artist Salvador Gonzalez Escalona in Callejon de Hamel.

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00:00:02 My name is Salvador Gonzales Escalona, I started this project in 1990.

00:00:13 On April 21, 1990, I started work inspired on Afro-Cuban culture.

00:00:24 At first I never thought this work would grow to it's present size, or acquire this dimension.

00:00:36 I continued this work, at the urging of and encouragement from many people

00:00:46 in this barrio and others from abroad,

00:00:56 whose moral support was important to this project.

00:01:06 And I think this is an important part of the this work.

00:01:17 I labored for months, working with any type of material.

00:01:27 At first it was any type of material from auto paint to acrylic,

00:01:38 from tempera to ink. The most important thing for me was to leave a mark.

00:01:48 To leave a mark in this place with my work or with my painting. This work, which in time will progress as it has until now.

00:01:59 From 1991 and 1992, '93, until '94 were difficult times for this project.

00:02:11 Perhaps it was due to some misunderstandings of spiritual nature,

00:02:23 but the idea was to continue working

00:02:33 and even more important, to bring a didactic message through the murals,

00:02:44 about the nature of this essence- of this cultural legacy of Africa in our country.

00:02:55 For me, this is one of the most important premises of my work. For these murals to acquire didactic value, somewhat informative,

00:03:05 but much more direct information, not the type of academic information, intellectual art.

00:03:15 Rather, I see this project as whole art. Public art for the entire world to see, to have,

00:03:25 At the same time, revitalizing this very important topic that is part of our cultural identity. Topics like religious cults

00:03:36 of African origin that were incorporated in our country and gave rise to the... this so called syncretism.

00:03:45 Syncretism between Saints in the Catholic Church and the Orishas of the Yoruba pantheon.

00:03:55 Also to touch on the pure essence of the Bantu Congoril cult known in our country as the Palo Monte cult. This secret Abakua sect, founded in 1834-1836, that, as an important cultural event, has great significance.

00:04:06 In no other part of the Caribbean do we find a liturgical manifestation of this nature

00:04:15 belonging to the secret Abakua sect. Starting with this mural I was informing and this information was the artistic code that the artist launches

00:04:25 for the general public interpretation.

00:04:37 Not just for a specialist at a gallery. Not for the known gallery expert, the art curator, but to expose the work to all levels of understanding:

00:04:46 That of a child, a carpenter, an attourney, a teacher.

00:04:56 To exhibit this art piece in this form so that each one of us has a personal interpratation of the artwork. This is the way I have worked until today and I don't think this method has failed me.

00:05:06 For those who have posed the question, "How would you describe your artwork?" I think my work is a mixture of abstract, cubist, surrealist and maybe even a little impressionist.

00:05:16 I dont know, there is a little of everything. I don't have a very well defined tendency within any of these influences.

00:05:26 I borrow from all styles, and there is an independent reality.

00:05:37 Cubism, as such, in its essence, is found in these African cultures.

00:05:48 Who can deny Cubist traits in an African mask? Or Cubist, as well as Surrealist

00:05:56 traits in a popular religious artwork?

00:06:06 Then, for me, this is the language expressed throughout my work. No, this work does not have a financial sponsor, or agent,

00:06:16 or institution. This work is funded through the sale of my own art here in my studio.

00:06:26 Through the sale of this work we raise funds to restore, and to have all these walls painted, maintained and in good quality.

00:06:37 Also, in this same place, we carry out our Sunday activities, our Rumba penas.

00:06:49 These events are offered strictly to show our folklore, Rumba, Guaguanco and Afro-Cuban traditions. Our rich Afro-Cuban music.

00:06:59 We do that here every Sunday. We have been doing this for sixteen years.

00:07:09 We also have a children's pena, named Callejon de Colores. Callejon de Colores is a small art workshop for the local kids.

00:07:20 We also have another music activity taking place the last Friday of each month, but this is with traditional Cuban music.

00:07:29 And this cultural pena takes place on the last Friday of each month, from nine in the evening until eleven or twelve midnight.

00:07:40 We are always willing to carry out cultural exchanges with other institutions. We have donated part of our work to institutions like hospitals, schools.

00:07:51 This is how we continue moving this project forward.

00:08:03 I don't think my artwork can, even though I can't discard it, become folk art for tourists. That is not my intention.

00:08:14 Tourists come here because they seek these things; they are interested in visiting, in learning. But I don't create folk art for tourists.

00:08:25 I am not interested in that, not at all. I am interested in promoting this art, promoting it with due dignity and respect. So that Callejon de Jamel, in the future,

00:08:36 why not? A bastion of Afro-Cuban culture.

00:08:44 Correct?