The Paisaje Interior by Alberto Lescay (+Photos)

The Paisaje Interior (Interior Landscape) by Cuban visual artist Alberto Lescay Merencio opened to the public with his personal exhibition in the temporary hall of the Cuban Art Building, which is part of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana.

This exhibition was created on the occasion of the awarding of the National Prize for Plastic Arts (2021) to Lescay. A more than well-deserved award for an artist who for decades has developed an aesthetic and expressive arsenal that is undoubtedly magnificent.

Alberto Lescay Merencio Photo: Marcos Harold Linares García

He opened the exhibition Paisaje interior with drum beats and Afro-Cuban rhythms, an initiative of musicians who came to Havana from Santiago de Cuba. These songs accompanied the public from the entrance of the museum to the room where the works are exhibited.

In the gallery space, the creative capacity of this great artist was on display: drawings, paintings, sculptures and photographs of sculptures located in different geographical areas of Cuba.

It is impressive to see the skill with which Lescay manages to put his personal stamp on the various supports, so that the visual dialogues that are created between the works are enormous. This is redefined as one of the greatest attractions of the exhibition, since the public can enjoy a visual coherence of the highest quality.

Paisaje Interior is an exhibition that demonstrates the versatility of its creator, bringing together in the same space images of large-format environmental sculptures and small sculptural works that do not lack monumentality precisely because they are small.

A space like that of the National Museum of Fine Arts elevates the work of any artist to the highest level, but the power with which Lescay manages to bring crowds together is undeniable. At times, the gallery seemed too small for such a large audience.

Also present at the opening were the writer and essayist Miguel Barnet, the 2008 and 2017 National Fine Arts Prize winners José Villa Soberón and Eduardo Roca (Choco), the Vice Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas, the 2017 National Theater Prize winner Fátima Patterson, and other personalities.