2024-02-20 00:15:12
Foto: Faith Liz Photography | Flickr
Text: Editorial Cuba Noticias 360
“My work is an absolute reflection of who I am,†Zaida del Rio, the painter, ceramist, engraver, recently recognized with the 2023 National Prize for Plastic Arts, has been heard saying on more than one occasion. muralist, poet and writer, artist who always with his best smile seems to want to dominate the world.
This controversial and restless Cuban woman, casually oblivious to the criticism that could diminish her and willing to respond to intelligent suggestions from friends or specialists, does not hide her rural roots (they have also nourished her vast work, especially when she recreates nature), rooted since her birth on June 3, 1954, in the central province of Villa Clara.
“I always think about painting, I think I will paint until the last moments of my life, but until the last moment of my life I will also be having fun and enjoying everything I can. One of my favorite books of poems, “Women Who Run with the Wolves,” says: We can do without everything except joy. I’m not saying that I don’t get angry, and that I get depressed like everyone else, but I always look for happiness.
Thus, for this constellation of stars that guide and illuminate it, the National Council of Plastic Arts (CNAP) awarded the 2023 National Prize for Plastic Arts to Zaida del Río, the institution reported in its X account.
Zaida del Río was unanimously chosen by a jury made up of the National Fine Arts Awards Flora Fong (2022) and José Villa Soberón (2008), the scenic designer and professor Nieves Laferté, the visual artist José Omar Torres and the critic Silvia Llanes, reported the CNAP on its Facebook profile.
The text stated that the work of 24 artists nominated by 47 institutions from all over the country was taken into account for the election.
The recently recognized National Prize for Plastic Arts stands out as a painter, engraver, draftsman, illustrator, scenic designer, sculptor, ceramist, performer, teacher, poet and musical performer for more than five days. ©cadas to Cuban Art, added the aforementioned institution, belonging to the Ministry of Culture of the island.
This Award highlighted the note, recognizes the artist for her sensitivity and artistic expression, present in multiple collections such as the National Museum of Fine Arts Cuba, the National Council of Plastic Arts, Casa de las Américas, among others. .
A solid work, with a characteristic seal, worthy of multiple awards with great international projection, an undisputed reference of Contemporary Cuban Art, he concluded.
Zaida del RÃo, the Cuban painter of the well-known bird women, assures that the National Prize for Plastic Arts has come to her at “the best moment of her career,†when she is “an artist confident in what she does. and with perspectives for the future,” he told the EFE agency following this award.
Likewise, he commented that after the award of the prize, he will continue giving rein to his work, which has broken patterns in the Cuban visual arts and exalted the female figure.
Although she has achieved the award after being proposed for more than fifteen years, she assures that it was “a pleasant surprise in every way.”
“We in Cuba are considered artists on par with men, but there is always something different,†she points out. She appreciates, however, that in the last two years “the myth of women was broken†—in 2022 the prize was won by the painter Flora Fong—and she believes that now she “now she really played
Given his evident inclination for the visual arts, he began his studies at the Provincial School of Art of Cienfuegos in 1960. In 1971, he entered the National School of Art, in Havana, until 1974. There he received classes from prestigious artists such as Tomás Sánchez, Luis Miguel Valdés, Nelson Domínguez, Ernesto García Peña, López Oliva, among many others.
From 1982 to 1987, he studied at the Higher Institute of Art. He also graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Paris.
Specialists recognize several periods in Zaida’s painting. In the beginning it was the countryside, then the horses came, then the circus, the bird women. Then came the triptychs on the Afro-Cuban religion, later the peacocks and finally the cosmic dance moved by oriental culture.
His vast artistic work exhibits the illustration of magazines, records, books and mural decorations in Cuba and abroad.
Among his most significant awards are the one for drawing at the National Fine Arts Salon, UNEAC 79; Lithography Prize, Engraving Meeting 83 and 84, as well as Painting, Tenri Biennial, Japan, in 1997.
Those who wish to get closer to Zaida’s work can go to the Museum of Fine Arts of Havana where some of the artist’s works are treasured.