Noel Aquino in conversation with Oscar Garcia
Born and raised in Varadero, Cuba, Noel Aquino was selected to study at the Matanzas School of Art, training with several nationally and internationally recognized Cuban artists. Fueled by a non-conformist attitude and an adventurous spirit, he eventually left Cuba for the United States. Aquino has participated in numerous solo and group exhibits in Florida, Michigan and the Washington D.C. area. His works are part of private collections in the US, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. His painting “Totem” can be seen on the front cover of the great weather for MEDIA anthology, Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea.
Oscar Garcia: The transition you experienced between living in Cuba and the US seems to have further rooted your surreal and ethereal sense. How do you feel this transition has changed your artistic landscape?
Noel Aquino: Well, while on my journey to the US I had an intense spiritual experience that changed me and I know impacted my art as it did my life. Then, of course, once I arrived I had access to more information, museums, books, and such.
As my horizons broadened, I also found the path of my art took silence along as an accomplice. You see, I was not allowed to return to Cuba for eighteen years and during that time I didn’t see my family. Due to the cost and difficulties involved with calling Cuba, I communicated with them infrequently. So I suppose that going into myself and creating was both my pleasure and escape. I really don’t know what the trajectory of my work would have been if I had stayed in Cuba. There are plenty of truly amazing artists there but I feel as if I may not have grown as much as an artist. Honestly, there really is no way to know—however I realize I am always searching for other paths in which to create.
Oscar Garcia: From what I understand, your paintings are planned not from a sketch, but within yourself and with a certain place in mind. Would you say that you integrate the environment and your thoughts?
Noel Aquino: I try to make art without programming. I believe in the automatism in my execution and in the mystical spirit. I am part of all of it. Yet, at the same time, I am aware on some level of my environment and I connect to that as well. For example, “Totem” has sand from the beach near my home in it. I didn’t set out to do that when I was making the painting, it is just something I did and think it adds greatly to the piece.
Oscar Garcia: I believe you have stated that you consider your work as pure surrealism. If this is so, how does this translate to modern art of the 21st century?
Noel Aquino: What is pure surrealism? All my works are surreal. Nothing is real. The form, the compositions—everything is unreal in my works. They have no translation, they just look for an understanding.
Oscar Garcia: I find a strong narrative in many of your paintings, both coherent and incoherent. Do you personally have any particular narratives you would like to share with our readers?
Noel Aquino: Nothing is coherent or incoherent in surrealism. To me, art is an expression not a trade. Making art, thinking about how to please certain tastes, is an obstacle to transcendence as an artist. I make art to satisfy my creative spirit. I always look for new horizons, I am very restless I never enter into conformity or ease.
Oscar Garcia: When you saw your painting “Totem” used as the cover image for a book, did that change your perception of your creation at all? And if so, how?
Noel Aquino: No, not really. “Totem” as a piece is part of a significant period of my work. What is interesting, however, is I was pleasantly surprised when I found out the name of the book was Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea. Many of my works have elements of the sea or sea life in them. As I said, there is sand in “Totem” from the beach near my home. I also had my spiritual experience I referenced before while adrift in the ocean, and I have always lived near the sea.
I do also want to say that I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have my painting on the cover of this wonderful book. One thousand and two thanks to everyone involved for that!
Born into a family from Cajamarca in the northwest mountainous region of Peru, and immersed in the culture of the Incan civilization, sculptor Oscar Garcia received a BFA and MFA from the Fine Arts School of Lima. His public commissions can be seen in and around Lima, and in private collections in New York. He currently teaches the Sculpting in Wax class at the Art Students League of New York.
Birds Fall Silent in the Mechanical Sea is an exhilarating collection of contemporary poetry and short fiction from established and emerging writers across the United States and beyond. The anthology also contains an interview with musician/artist Walter Steding.
"These annual anthologies and other work by great weather for MEDIA are an admirable contribution to arts and culture."- The Compulsive Reader
Submissions for our next anthology open October 15 2020