Category: Around the World
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The Big Fish
The Big Fish also called The Salmon of Knowledge is a printed ceramic mosaic sculpture by John Kindness. The 33-foot long statue was constructed in 1999 and installed on Donegall Quay in Belfast, near the Lagan Lookout and Custom House. The Big Fish’s image regularly appears on tourism material related to Belfast and Northern Ireland.…
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Spirit of Belfast
Cornmarket Arthur Square The Spirit of Belfast was unveiled in September 2009, this large-scale steel structure sits in the Cornmarket, where a bandstand once stood. The four interlocking rings sit in the heart of the city center’s pedestrianized shopping area and are said to have been designed to reflect Belfast’s shipbuilding and linen industries. Created…
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Madhubani Paintings of Patna
These Madhubani paintings are going up all over Patna, Bihar. The project is aimed at beautifying the walls in the hopes that people don’t spit or urinate out in the open, on the walls. “Vulnerable points have been selected for the painting. However, work will continue on most of the walls. ” according to Patna Municipal…
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The Joker’s Chair
Joker’s Chair – Dermot Morgan Memorial (2002) By Catherine Greene The Joker’s Chair was erected in the memory of the Irish writer, actor, satirist and comic Dermot Morgan (1952-1998), The inscription which accompanies this piece reads; ….and all the rest is laughter liberating laughter to be remembered Catherine Greene was born in Galway and studied…
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Éire by Jerome Connor
Merrion Square Dublin, Ireland Éire by Jerome Connor Jerome Connor (February 1874 – August 1943) was born in Coumduff, Annascaul, Ireland. He was the sixth and youngest son of Patrick and Margaret Connor. The family moved to Holyoake, Massachusetts in the 1890s. Jerome ran away from home and settled in New York. After trying many…
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88 Slag Buddhas
The 88 Buddha statuettes are a reference to the 88 temples of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. They are made of slag that was illegally dumped on neighborhing Teshima Island, which is also part of their story. From 1978 to 1990, Teshima Island was used as a dump site for paper making residue, sadly they were actually…
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Pumpkins on Naoshima
This pumpkin sits on a pier on the island of Naoshima. The first art project for the Benesse art site was Open Air ’94 Out of Bounds, organized as an outdoor exhibition space in 1994. Out of Bounds referred to the crossing of borders in hope that Naoshima be linked to the rest of the…
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Clara Porset
Nespresso is running an ad for Cuban Coffee. On Sunday June 26, 2016, they took out a full page ad using Hemingway’s home in Havana as the perfect backdrop. There in the photo were two exquisite Clara Porset chairs. I thought it time to talk about her. Clara María del Carmen Magdalena Porset y Dumás…
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Casa de Velazquez
Parque Cespedes Santiago de Cuba Diego Valazquez was the first governor of Cuba. He was a cruel despot by all accounts, but his home, built in 1515 still stands as the oldest colonial-era house on the island. The home is of the Mudéjar style (or Hispanic-Moorish). This style is characterized by its balconies, carved ceilings…
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Parque del Ajedrez or Chess Park
Santo Tomás and Enramada Streets Santiago de Cuba This small corner park was designed by American architect Walter Betancourt. Betancourt was born in 1932 in New York, son of Cuban parents that had escaped to Florida during the Cuban War for Independence. As a child of Cubans, Betancourt vacationed often in Cuba. After graduating with a…
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The Knot
Santiago de Cuba In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium, an homage to an artist and teacher who authored works as important as the Cuba’s Abel Santamaria Monument. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures…
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Clouds in the Mountains
Santiago de Cuba In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium, an homage to an artist and teacher who authored works as important as the Cuba’s Abel Santamaria Monument. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures…
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Rain in the Mountains
Santiago de Cuba In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium, an homage to an artist and teacher who authored works as important as the Cuba’s Abel Santamaria Monument. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures…
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S. T. by Mario Trenard
In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium, an homage to an artist and teacher who authored works as important as the Cuba’s Abel Santamaria Monument. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures and Monuments, the…
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Jose Maria Heredia – One of Cuba’s Great Poets
Traffic Circle at Avenue Manduley and Calle 11 Santiago de Cuba According to Cuba Facts Jose Marie Heredia y Heredia was born in Santiago de Cuba on December 31 1803, and lived a short thirty-five years, spending most of his adult life in exile. In 1818 he enrolled in the University of Havana as a law…
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Jose Marti by Alberto Lescay
Santiago de Cuba José Julián Martí Pérez (January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) is a Cuban national hero. Martí is considered one of the great turn-of-the-century Latin American intellectuals. His written works consist of a series of poems, essays, letters, lectures, a novel, and even a children’s magazine. He wrote for numerous Latin American…
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Hatuey
Baracoa, Cuba Hatuey is one of the most important people in Cuban history, originally from Hispaniola, he fled with many other natives to warn the people of Caobana of the treachery of the oncoming onslaught of the Spanish. Sadly the Caobanans did not believe him and few joined him in his fight against the Spanish.…
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Rosa La Bayamesa
Holquín, Cuba This statue is of Rosa Maria Castellanos,(1834-1907) created by Santiago de Cuba sculptor Antonio Lescay. Rosa La Bayamesa was a 36 year old daughter of slaves, a nurse and organizer of field hospitals during the Ten Years’ War, which was the beginning of the attempt for Cuba to escape Spanish rule. Bayamesa refers to the…
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El Pelu
Baracoa, Cuba This is El Pelú sculpted by Ramon Dominque Gainza. El Pelú was a native of Coruña, Spain named Francisco Rodríguez. There is very little known about him other than at some point in his life he ended up in Baracoa, Cuba. He apparently wandered the streets preaching until sometime around 1896 when his…
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Monumento al Cimmarón
The Monumento al Cimarrón, by Alberto Lescay, or Monument to the Runaway Slave is in the Cuban town of El Cobre. El Cobre is home to the cathedral that houses Cuba’s patron Saint the Virgin on Caridad. Lescay has said “I feel the spirit of that work in others and I think I’ve found a…
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Iris Jazz Club
Music: breathing of statues. Perhaps Silence of paintings. You language where all language ends. You time standing vertically On the motion of mortal hearts. by poet Rainer Maria Rilke IRIS Jazz Club is a cultural complex located in front of in the city of Santiago de Cuba. The space, originally a cafeteria, was turned into…
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Germinal*
Eulises Niebla born in 1963 in Matanzas Cuba, studied at the Escuela Provincial de arte in Matanzas, Cuba from 1975-1979, He then went on to the Escuela Nacional de Arte (ENA) Havana from 1980-1984 and then to the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA). in Havana from 1984-1989 A contemporary Cuban artist Niebla works with industrial materials to create geometric…
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Outer Harmony
In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures and Monuments, the symposium seeks to promote sculpting in marble and metals. Armonía Exterior was a result of the 2013 Symposium,…
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Arco
In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures and Monuments, the symposium seeks to promote sculpting in marble and metals. Arco was a result of the 2013 Symposium, the pieces…
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Nature
This piece, titled Nature, is by Juan Quintanilla. In December of 2010, the city of Santiago de Cuba held its first Rene Valdes Cedeño Public Sculpture Symposium. Sponsored by the Caguayo Foundation and the Advisory Council for the Development of Public Sculptures and Monuments, the symposium seeks to promote sculpting in marble and metals. Nature was…
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Antonio Maceo
This piece, titled Antonio Maceo sits in Revolution Square in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. Created by Alberto Lescay, a Santiago born artist, it was installed in 1991. This monument is dedicated to the 19th century war hero, General Antonio Maceo. Saw-toothed “machetes” rise from the grass and surround a large sculpture of the General on horseback.…
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Os Redeiros
This striking and strong sculpture is by Ramon Conde and stands on the Gran Via in Vigo Spain. Titled Os Redeiros it is of seven nude fisherman straining to pull in a net. The city of Vigo is a major fishing port in Spain. Ramón Conde was born in Ourense Spain December 18, 1951, the…
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Camilo Cienfuegos
Revolution Plaza Havana, Cuba On the Ministry of Ministry of Communications building is another line sculpture by Enrique Avila Gonzales. This one is of a lesser known revolutionary hero, Camilo Cienfuegos, shown here with his signature cowboy hat. The sculpture was erected in 2009. The words “Vas bien, Fidel” (You’re doing fine, Fidel) on the…
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Che Guevara, Korda and Gonzales
Plaza de Revolucion Havana, Cuba Plaza de la Revolución “Revolution Square” is one of the 13 largest outdoor plazas in the world. The square is notable as being where many political rallies take place and Fidel Castro and other political figures address Cubans. Fidel Castro has addressed more than a million Cubans on many occasions, such as…
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El Caballero de Paris
This is one of my favorite public sculptures in Havana, and as you can see how the patina has been worn off, I am not the only one that has a fondness for this character. El Caballero de París was José Maria López Lledín (1920s-1977), was a well-known street person in Havana, Cuba in the…