Fundación Honoris Causa will honor in Mexico an artist from Cuba

January 11, 2020

The Cuban visual artist Rafael San Juan is grateful today that the Honoris Causa Internacional Foundation, established in Mexico, decided to name him Man of the Year 2019.

The award presentation ceremony will take place in the Legislators hall of the Chamber of Deputies H. Congreso de la Unión, in the Mexican capital, on January 24.

San Juan has specialized in the creation of monumental sculptures that are exhibited in different parts of the world.

In his native Havana, he gained popularity starting in 2015 with the placement of a giant woman's face looking out to sea from the Malecón, at the intersection of that popular coastal avenue with Galiano Street.

Primavera, as he christened the eight-meter-high sculpture, was built with recycled steel in Mexico to be exhibited at the XII Havana Biennial and, after the event, it remained in the Cuban capital as a gift to the Office of the Historian of the City.

The artist studied at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Artes San Alejandro and in the 1990s was a set designer for theatrical works such as Electra by Teatro la Luna; while for Danza Contemporánea de Cuba he created Fabio, La tempestad, and Terriblemente inocente.

"Definitely, the creation of set design helped me to see things in a monumental way and favored my dedication to large-format works," he reflected on one occasion during an interview with Prensa Latina.

San Juan traveled to Mexico in 2002 with the mission of designing Cuba's pavilion at a book fair and there he built his first giant piece: a face of the Apostle José Martí made with books that on the day the event closed were removed one by one to be given as gifts to children.

That was the starting point for the artist who currently has sculptures of feet, hands, and monumental steel faces located in public places in the United States and Mexico, where for example five female faces in the Central Park of Guadalajara each represent a continent.

Woman is a constant in the faces because the artisan sees that gender as a starting point within beauty, whereas for hands he prefers to represent those of a man for the expressiveness of the effect of accumulated work, seen in its hardness.

Primavera, for example, constitutes a tribute to the Cuban woman and in the hair of the female figure converge a bouquet of butterflies, appreciated as the national flower of this archipelago.

According to the official website, the Honoris Causa Internacional Foundation seeks to establish itself as a philanthropic institution with broad social sensitivity.

On previous occasions, the organization has awarded artists from this country such as Buena Vista Social Club diva Omara Portuondo and the current director of the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Viengsay Valdés, among other cultural personalities of the island.