Retrato
Mixed media on paper
28 x 34 cm
Not For Sale
José Martí, National Hero of Cuba, is a paradigmatic figure who has been part of Pedro Pablo Oliva's poetics since the beginning of his career. However, the artist's focus is not on the heroism or the greatness of the thought and work that inscribe Martí in political history, but on his idealised intimacy. Martí is then the introspective, melancholic hero, immersed in emotions and strictly personal and secret desires, who pauses his political destiny and allows him, at times, to dream, love, enjoy art or write verses, an expectant and fearful hero of life itself, despite his courage and willingness to give it up for a collective idea and cause. It is not surprising to find him through Oliva in love scenes, family scenes or as a unique entity, solid and ethereal at the same time, overflowing with tenderness.