Cuban artist sketches under the sea among fish and coral reef

19/6/2019 6:28

        Some artists like to
        go on a countryside retreat to foster their creative process.
        
        For Cuba's Sandor Gonzalez, there is no better place to
        sketch than several meters below the surface of the sea,
        surrounded by iridescent Caribbean fish and fantastical coral
        forms.
        
        The 42-year-old first won renown at home and abroad for his
        predominantly black-and-white, haunting images of imaginary
        cityscapes, inspired by a trip to Europe and reflecting the
        aggressiveness of modern, urban life.
        
        Then six years ago, he went scuba diving in Cuba and found
        his inspiration in the complete opposite: the tranquility found
        below water where all forms are natural and not manmade, all
        sounds are muffled and the light ripples softly.
        
        While Gonzalez had heard of a biologist painting underwater
        in Spain, he decided to experiment for himself until he found a
        way of sketching with charcoal or oil paints which unlike
        pastels or watercolor would not dissolve.
        
        The Cuban learnt to then soak the canvasses for at least an
        hour and rinse them to get rid of the salt and any organic
        matter, before hanging them out to dry.
        
        "This started off as a hobby, as a passion," he told Reuters
        at Punta Perdiz, his favorite dive spot, sheltered in the Bay of
        Pigs, where in 1961 U.S.-backed Cuban exiles landed in a failed
        attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.
        
        "But now I really need to come here, immerse myself and
        create below water because there is a peace there that you
        simply cannot find on dry land."
        
        To do so, he gets fully kitted out in scuba diving gear
        including an oxygen tank and yellow flippers, and swims out 60
        meters (197 feet) to his easel fixed in the seabed around 6
        meters (20 feet) below the surface.
        
        With him, he carries his canvas, and other equipment like a
        spatula for the oil paints weighed down with some lead to avoid
        it floating to the surface if he lets go.
        
        The artist said he does not plan beforehand, instead
        allowing inspiration to strike as he enters a meditative state
        in the crystalline water. But inevitably his submarine work is
        more about nature than the cityscape series he continues to
        develop on land.
        
        Being reliant on a tank limits the time underwater, but
        Gonzalez is quick and for this interview sketched in 30 minutes
        a flying whale, dragging a house behind it in a sky dotted with
        clouds. Palm trees grow off the creature's back.
        
        "I really did not expect to see somebody under water,
        painting!" exclaimed Canadian tourist Mike Festeryga, who saw
        Gonzalez while diving along the seabed.
        
        The state-run dive center at Punta Perdiz, on Cuba's
        southern coast, some 172 km (107 miles) from Havana, said his
        work was an extra draw for tourists.
        
        "For tourists, it's really a novelty," said Hector
        Hernandez, who has been working as a dive instructor in the area
        for more than 28 years.
        
        Gonzalez, who makes a living selling work at his studio in
        Havana for a median price of $1,000 per canvas, exhibits some of
        his submarine work in the Punta Perdiz dive center.
        
        He is now hoping to get state permission to sell the work
        and develop the area as a center for underwater art.
        
        "I would like for a department of submarine painting to be
        created," he said. "I don't think anything like that exists yet
        anywhere in the world."