SPIRIT OF HAVANA
SEPSEPTEMBER 2017SSESEPSSEPSEPSEPPTEMTETTEMTTEMTEMTEEEMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMBERBERBERBERBERBERERERERERRRRRRRRRR 2220222222222222220222220222202020000000017171171717177777777 575757575757575577SPIRIT OF HAVANAAAAAAA
Rafael Perez Alonso’s face is intent, his curly
dark hair falling forward as he guides a fine
crayon over a rectangular slab of limestone.
One deft stroke follows another until a picture
emerges. He is drawing a shark with the face
of a vintage car – its bumper-and-grille mouth
gives the impression of comical yet ferocious-
looking teeth.
The sketch is the first stage in lithographic
print-making, the complex process of creating
art with solid stone. Once Rafael has put on
his finishing touches, fellow artist Max
Delgado Corteguera paints the limestone with
a layer of gum arabic and spreads it with ink,
ready to be covered with paper and hand-
wound through a press like a mangle. The
resulting prints capture all the style and lines
of the original car-shark drawing, but each has
small imperfections caused by the patterns of
the gum, and each is unique. When all of the
prints are done, the artists wipe the limestone
clean, ready to be used for a new creation.
Lithography is dying out across the world,
perhaps because of its complexity and the
skills required to master it, but here in Havana
artists create lithographs with fierce devotion
and a sense of national pride.
The artform was first brought to Cuba from
Europe in the 19th century, to create bespoke
labels for the country’s finest cigars. A
number of those original stones have been
handed down the generations and are still in
use today, including the one recently daubed
with Rafael’s car-shark. Its setting is hardly
historic, however: the lithography press
stands in the middle of one of Havana’s most
dynamic modern art studios, La Lavandería.
The name is literal – this huge white-walled
space under a corrugated-iron roof was once
an industrial laundry. It is part workshop,
part gallery, and filled with playful works,
from a giant purple gun and a billiard table
shaped like the Americas, to a couch made
of barbed wire and decorated with cushionsinspired by the Cuban and American flags.
As Rafael and his fellow artists work, the
radio blares with Puerto Rican rap music.
‘People ask, why do you use this technique
of 200 years ago?’ Max says, gently scrubbing
down the limestone. ‘And I say, I am working
with the energy of this stone that’s two million
years old. It’s part of the history of my country,
and I am part of a continuum.’
‘Can you imagine how many hands have
worked on this stone?’ Rafael asks him. ‘How
many artists?’ They grin at each other and pat
the stone dry. It’s now ready for a new vision,
and the process starts all over again.
O La Lavandería is on Calle 54 in the Playa district and
open daily. Visitors can wander the gallery and buy art
prints from £15; email [email protected] or
call 00 53 7 2096737 for details.CHRISTA LARWOOD fell entirely in love with
Havana, despite the city keeping her up every
night with its constant salsa music.Artists Rafael Perez Alonso
and Max Delgado Corteguera
in La Lavandería workshop.
RIGHT Their car-shark printSPIRIT OF HAVANA
SEPTEMBER 2017 57