Cuban Arts Connection - A Cuban Arts Blog: Mariel artists' contributions are saluted

Friday, December 14, 2012

Mariel artists' contributions are saluted - Published May 12, 2005

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Thu, May. 12, 2005

Mariel artists' contributions are saluted

BY FABIOLA SANTIAGO

Eyes taped shut, lips locked behind bars, a sea of paper boats poised to
rescue.

The scenes unfold inside and around a giant roulette in Voces y ojos del
Mariel (Voices and Eyes of Mariel), a mural being unveiled tonight at
Florida International University and on exhibit through May 26.

The collaborative work of 13 Miami artists from what has become known as the
Mariel Generation, the six-by-eight painting commemorates the 25th
anniversary of the 1980 boatlift that brought 125,000 Cubans to U.S. shores.

The theme -- Cubans yearning for freedom -- is as timely today as it was in
1980, the artists say.

''There is no freedom of speech in Cuba, no freedom to be who you are, and
that the world needs to open its eyes and see,'' says Luis Pardini, one of
the artists also exhibiting a personal piece, Fachada principal de la
iglesia (Principal View of the Church), at the university's The Gallery at
Green Library.

The FIU exhibit features 25 works by artists who arrived on the boatlift or
who came in 1980 via other means and consider themselves part of the Mariel
group. Many of them are regulars in Little Havana's booming arts scene.

''These men and women may not be the most famous of the Mariel artists, but
they have contributed to the cultural arts in Miami,'' says publicist Bibi
Shifrin, who helped coordinate the exhibit with painter Miguel Ordoqui.

In addition to Pardini and Ordoqui, artists who worked on the mural include
Florencio Capestany, José Chiú, Mysorea García, Casimiro González, Félix
González-Sánchez, Pablo Hernández, Gilberto Marino, Jorge Martell, Trinidad
Pino, Manuel Revuelta and Abdiel Acosta.

The acrylic on canvas mural will be put up for auction today, starting at
$30,000, at an invitation-only reception. Half the proceeds will go to FIU's
Cuban Research Institute, Shifrin said, and half to the Cuban American
Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, a nonprofit group that supports the
efforts of rights activists in Cuba.

Many of the artists also are participating in other Mariel exhibits,
including the one at the San Carlos Institute in Key West.

''It's not every day that you mark a quarter of a century,'' says Pardini.
``Throughout all these years we've shown what Mariel really was -- not an
exodus of criminals like many believed but of people desperate to be free.''

Pardini arrived in Key West on May 9, 1980 on a boat with a name he cannot
remember other than ``it was something to do with estrella -- star.''

It was a good omen.

Before retiring to Miami nine years ago, he lived in New York for 16 years
and exhibited in scores of galleries from Chelsea to Soho to the Village,
close to 60 exhibits in all, while he worked at Bloomingdale's as an
interior designer to support himself.

''I never stopped painting for a second,'' the 59-year-old says. ``I came
back to Miami because my family started to all move down here, and, frankly,
I started missing the flame trees and plantains.''

He came to Miami just as the city was at the doorstep of an art boom, and
Cuban Americans, inspired by a similar wave of nostalgia to Pardini's, were
starting their Cuban art collections.

Pardini's roosters and colonial settings, his vibrant oils and acrylics,
spoke to many.