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ART<br />
A Talk with<br />
Cuban Sculptor<br />
Alberto Lescay<br />
Interview by Michael Deibert<br />
Photos by Bahare Khodabande<br />
Born in Santiago de Cuba in 1950, 66-year-old sculptor Alberto<br />
Lescay graduated from Cuba’s renowned Escuela Nacional<br />
de Arte (now known as the Instituto Superior de Arte)<br />
in Havana. As part of the first generation of Cuban artists<br />
to grow into adulthood after the 1959 Revolution, Lescay’s<br />
career has, in many ways, mirrored the successes and struggles<br />
of Cuba’s creative community. A leader of the team that created<br />
the iconic monument of Cuban independence hero Antonio<br />
Maceo Grajales (the so-called ‘Bronze Titan’) that dominates<br />
Santiago’s Plaza de la Revolución, Lescay famously<br />
declined the prize money for winning that project. Instead<br />
he asked then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro to help him found<br />
an arts foundation in his native city. That led to the creation<br />
of the Caguayo Fundación para las Artes Monumentales y<br />
Aplicadas, a non-governmental, non-profit cultural institution<br />
consisting of both an exhibition space in Santiago (the<br />
Galería René Valdés Cedeño) and a workshop dedicated to<br />
creating large sculptural projects. During a recent visit to<br />
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba Trade talked with Lescay about<br />
his life, his work, and the rewards and challenges of being a<br />
working artist in Cuba.<br />
Continued on page 89<br />
86 CUBATRADE MARCH 2017
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