Cuban Art & Living

Welcome World.

People ask all the time, “I thought we couldn’t go to Cuba. How do you get to go, and I don’t?” They are referencing the decades long U.S. economic embargo with Cuba that disallows normal trade and travel with the country.

My first experience with the forbidden island was from the deck of a trimaran at the break of dawn, watching Havana reveal itself as its tall buildings developed slowly out of the sea. That was thrilling. That was 1999, during one of the last, then-legal yacht races from Key West to Havana. And, that’s when I discovered the art of Cuba. I knew I would be back.

I was back the next September with Dawn Schnuck, who would be my partner for the next few years in procuring, exhibiting and selling Cuban art in the U.S.

We arrived in Havana on a specially chartered flight from Miami with foreign service agents that work in the American Interests Section in Havana, and tearful Cuban-Americans carrying medical supplies and clothing to relatives in Cuba. Crisply folded into our passports was written permission to do business in Cuba, from the government of both Cuba and the U.S. Going back to our own revolutionary days, our First Amendment rights include the right to access informational material, including art, found anywhere in the world. But getting a license to go after Cuba’s art is another story; the qualifying rules are stringent and the permitting process is lengthy.

For the next few years, we traveled to towns, cities and rural areas across Cuba, a country nearly the length of Florida, discovering painters with an indomitable spirit. This was just after the “special period” a time of extreme hardship after the Soviet Union pulled out of Cuba. We found painters with a mature artistry that was so very fresh in content and imagery. And most impressive was, whatever the style, subject matter or medium, the execution of the work was stunning. (This goes back to the time when Havana and New York were growing at the same rate and Cuba was the printmaking capital of the world.) And it became clear to us why some of the best art in the world comes from this country. The Cuban artist, trapped in his own land, finds hope through his art.

We exhibited our rotating collection of art in museums, arts buildings and particular art galleries in Florida. But, in 2007 it was time to find a home for the art, a gallery of our own. Unfortunately, at this time, Dawn needed to devote more time to important family priorities, so I’m on my own.

I travel back to the island nation about every three months to replenish and strengthen the collection, doing business under the whirring of a rusty fan with a glass of sweet lemonade, in the homes and workshops of the artists. Purchasing directly from them, we are supporting an emerging Cuban middle-class, and at the same time, building cultural bridges.

And luckily for us, we can enjoy the art that Europe and the rest of the world has been applauding for some time.

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