HAVANA- OTTAWA ARTIST’S DIALOGUE PROJECT

Angel Alonso and I met in February 2002, at his market stall in Havana where he sells his paintings and prints. We exchanged cards, and before long he had managed to send me an e-mail. Cubans struggle with shortages and deprivations that make life profoundly difficult, and communication suffers as they are not permitted to send mail out of the country, and the phone systems are expensive and badly degenerated. Resourcefulness is the only way to get by, and Angel uses his father’s computer to create his digital artworks and communicate with the outside world. We began sending each other scanned images of our work, and became ‘visual correspondants’ this way. Some of the mail I sent to Havana did reach him, but the computer enabled our artistic communication and friendship.

I thought that there was a good idea for a project here; two artists who do painted and digital artwork, two different countries, two different languages, and very different styles of work. Angel’s work is very strong, graphic and masculine, and mine is delicate and feminine.

We settled on WORDS as the theme, myself providing the English and Angel the Spanish. He speaks English already ( and I am learning Spanish ), but we are using the SPIRIT of the words rather than their definitions to guide our imagery. The DIALOGUE between us, in the other’s language forming the trigger for the images. The word appears in the individual painting.

All together the artwork will be like reading a letter, a communication attempt between two artists working in in countries between which exchange is possible only in digital media.

"If we cannot use the mail, we must send the paintings to each other digitally, utilizing the INVISIBLE COMMUNICATION MEDIUM, in which our images "fly through the air".

Below are some e-mails sent to Angel as we decided how to set up our project.

"Dear Angel,
My first object is to create a project starting with YOU and ME, a sort of IMAGE EXCHANGE between the two artists, the two countries, the two languages and the male- female difference too. The way I picture the project (and we will come up with a wonderful name for it!) is like this;

I had an idea that we have a group of WORDS that form the basic subject for the exchange. Half of the words would be English, half Spanish, which we send each other by e-mail. I would interpret the Spanish word (in an imaginary Cuban context) and you would interpret the English / Canadian
image you get from the word.

For example; FIRE / HUMO I let 'humo' dance around in my mind and I see the masculine element, beside being masculine in the language, it is like the word HOMME, man in French, and HUMAN, and even 'humongous', which is a slang word here for huge. Big man-smoke-cigar-genie in the lamp!!
- what do you see for FIRE?

"Hi Angel, Pick some of these words (or maybe all of them)" > BEGINNING > FEAR > HOME > EROTIC > GAME > RETREAT > ATTACK > LOVE > RESIST > DREAM > JOY > CYCLE > WAIT > SHAME > CHANGE > EAT> and some objects too; > TELEPHONE > CUP > HOLE > ROCK > BED> LETTER > > " *Andree

"DearAndree: Laberinto, carisma, devaneo, bolero, capricho, fuente, pedazo, tornado, abrazo Here you have some spanish words, I will begin to work with expresion and open, just to brake the ice, (8x8 inch). I think we should do a lot . This job need a big cuantity of paintings because we are working with words and words are many and have many possibilities. " *Angel

We decided to work on board or paper sheets 8 inches by eight inches, which can easily be scanned. This also gives flexibility in the composition, the artwork could be round or another shape within the square,or be arranged sideways. We plan to produce a large number of paintings, from which we will select the best for display. The paintings all hung together will from a grid-like mural; a huge LETTER in paintings.

We plan to hold an exhibition of our collaborative project in Havana as well as in Ottawa.

The other element of our collaboration will be a digital art piece
with animation which we will create to document our communication project. If possible, an exhibiton catalogue will be created in print and CDROM formats.

See some of the paintings for
HAVANA-OTTAWA ARTIST’S DIALOGUE
that we have created so far