2024-05-04 10:02:46
Photos: Pepín the Worker
Text: Karla Castillo
The so-called “theater of great events”, as the capital’s Karl Marx Center is known, hosted a humorous show that served as a vehicle for the official presentation of the 2020 National Humor Award to the Cuban illustrator, painter, caricaturist and cartoonist Arístides Hernández ( Ares), and the enigmatic artist Juana Bacallao.
The cast of the 2020 National Humor Award presentation show was made up of various groups and artists who know how to easily win the smiles of the public. Thus, they paraded along the stages of Karl Marx: Pagola La Paga, Rigoberto Ferrera, Alejandro García (Virulo), Omar Franco (Ruperto), Kike Quiñones, Cirita Santana, Carmita Ruiz, Aurora Basnuevo, Mario Limonta, Venecia Feria and Andrea Doimeadiós.
Ares and Bacallao were chosen from a list of nominees also made up of Ulises Toirac, Francisco Blanco (Blanquito), Ángel García Mesa (Antolín), Mario Aguirre, Cirita Santana, Carmita Ruiz, Eduardo del Llano, Jorge Losada.
Kike Quiñones, director of the Humor Promotion Center, explained in a press conference, on the occasion of the show and the announcement of the awards, that both Juana and Ares were selected, due to their work “always sprinkled with humor,” and that This recognition of each one was not in the sense of sharing a prize, but rather recognizing each one of them individually.
The jury for this 2020 edition of the award was chaired by Quiñones, and included Omar Franco, Víctor Pagola, Maikel Cerralvo, Luis Alexis Pérez Mora (Nawito) and Eider Luis Pérez, on the artistic board.
Also formed part, the national humor awards Pedro Méndez and Osvaldo Doimeadiós; Kingdom Size Fonseca; Francisco Gonzalez Lopez, president of the Performing Arts Association; Rafael Perez Melo, vice president of the National Council for the Performing Arts; Carlos Fundora and Alexis Ayala.
Ares has a natural talent for humor, which at the request of his professional training as a psychiatrist, has allowed him to develop a career as a caricaturist, illustrator and painter. He is known for the publication of his work in newspapers and magazines specialized in that sector, which is graphic humor. In addition, he has given conferences and courses in other countries.
Meanwhile, Juana has an artistic journey that is difficult to explain in one or two paragraphs. An emblematic figure of Cuban cabaret, she suffered many setbacks due to racism and her peculiar artistic development on stage.
Considered tawdry and vulgar years before the triumph of the Cuban revolution, she is now an icon of the country’s popular culture, and named as the black Goddess of Cuban cabarets.
She is a true show woman who, in addition to the 2020 National Humor Award, has been awarded the Distinction for National Culture, as well as the Alejo Carpentier Medal, and the Gold Record, in Canada.