Cuban painter Yoandy Suárez presents “Islands of Being” at the Casa de Saturninita

 

From this Thursday until February 14, the Casa de Saturninita Art Center is hosting the exhibition 'Islands of Being' by Cuban painter Yoandy Suárez Suárez, born in Matanzas on July 24, 1984.

 

Opened by the second deputy mayor and councillor responsible for the municipal area of ​​Culture and Education, Elena Álamo Vega, the exhibition brings together 12 oil paintings on canvas of medium and large format with enormous appeal. They are pieces that have a striking and pleasant impact on the spectator due to their relevant academic technique, their natural stage appearance, their bold and close compositional figuration on recognisable spaces such as Playa del Faro, the effective and virtuous colourful brushstroke poured out in each stroke, their effective plasticity and, above all, due to the implosive, rigorous and formal scientific work that each of the works contains.

 

In this regard, the author admits that he writes a lot and does a lot of theoretical, conceptual and visual work before facing the canvas, which he arrives at with his homework fully done to pour out the conceived work. “This has allowed me to paint paintings of up to two metres in a single day,” he says.

 

 

 

Yoandy Suárez graduated first from the School of Art Instructures (EIA) and later graduated in Conservation and Restoration of Easel Painting from the Higher Institute of Art in Havana. Some of his permanent murals can be admired in his hometown and also at the Omara Portuondo Cultural Center in the Cuban capital.

 

This is the third exhibition that the painter has held in the south of Gran Canaria since he settled in El Lomo de Los Azules, 14 months ago, where he has his studio. The first was held at the Bohemiams Suites Hotel at the beginning of 2024, and the second, parallel to the one at Casa Saturninita, is being offered at the Broncemar Hotel for the next six months with the same theme and the title 'Memorias de sal'.

 

Revitalizing Sensitivity

 

The artist, who admits that he works with natural light to corroborate the depth and textures of his works, and that he works methodically and scientifically for 8 hours a day to leave nothing to chance, feels a great passion for teaching. In Cuba he was an art instructor and painting professor at the University of Havana, and here he offers classes in person and even online. In fact, his pending goal is to set up his own academy on the Internet and also the challenge of facing a very personal pictorial series about his fears and inner struggles. He believes that the time has come, and that he has reached the personal maturity and the appropriate pictorial technique to express himself without frustration.

 

In this exhibition at Casa Saturninita, the theme offered is “revitalist”. Yoandy, who declares himself “a sensitive man”, recognises that the series “discusses” the possibility that the beaches of southern Gran Canaria, especially the Playa del Faro de Maspalomas, are offering him to “relive” the marine roots of his childhood and youth in the beautiful bay of Matanzas. “This wonderful island also surrounded by a beautiful sea has made me relive all that accumulated experience. In essence, the exhibition speaks of the human being surrounded by the sea as a symbol, of the human being as an island, as a unique and unrepeatable individual but at the same time immersed in a sea of ​​emotions”, he affirms.