Fear Has Seized the Artistic Community of Pinar del Rio

Fear Has Seized the Artistic Community of Pinar del Rio / 14ymedio, Juan
Carlos Fernandez
Posted on October 23, 2014

14ymedio, Juan Carlos Fernandez,Pinar del Río, 25 September 2014 — The
artists' guild in Pinar del Rio is living in distressing times because
of the cancellation of the exposition by Pedro Pablo Oliva, "Utopias and
Dissidences." Talking about the most famous of the Pinareno painters has
turned into a sad argument by Tyrians and Trojans, some in favor, almost
in whispers, and others not so much, also in a quite low tone. But what
the whisperers have in common is that they are living a fear that is
corroding them and brings up the miseries and limitations that we humans
all suffer, but that situations like this multiply.

The way in which the machinery of creating enemies can be efficient and
dissuasive then becomes the model, the perception of real danger has
been the offering of a local artistic community that shows its
solidarity by emulating Nicodemus: they do not want to be seen or heard.
They have given to the victim their absence and silence. They have been
simple spectators, once again, of the crime of exclusion and
disqualification. Listeners at a trial in which they themselves have
been condemned although they may only have attended as the public.

The inquisitors of Pedro Pablo Oliva have known how to stimulate in the
neurological systems of many Pinareno creators the amygdala situated in
the temporal lobe which fires that feeling that we call fear. Although a
scant minority has risked and has stood out in spite of also admitting
its fears. These last have revived the artistic brotherhood in Pinar;
some few carry the decorum of many; someone said one day, those few have
meant a breath of hope in the middle of so much impoverishing hate
against someone who only has sown love and has been consistent with
himself. That is the price of honesty.

The others, the majority, are captivated by reforms that award airplane
trips and trips for compensation that rot the soul and ruin the brush.

On the other hand, the common people possess an intuitive intelligence,
flavorful and uninhibited and tell you to your face what they think.
Overall, they do not plan to fly or exhibit in halls of the elite.
Without any ambiguity that take sides with Pedro Pablo, both as a person
and an artist, and lament the fear of his fellow painters, according to
rumors.

That's why I think that, although what has happened has been a sovereign
injustice, it has served to put on the table who is company for
cocktails, galleries and inaugurations and who accompanies you on the
road overcoming their fears and discarding the complicity of silence and
pretense.

It has been painful for Pedro Pablo, his family, work team and all of us
who love him as a friend and national treasure, but instructive.
Although it may seem utopian, I think that the night we are living today
will not have the last word. It only serves as the anteroom for the
light of day.

Translated by MLK

Source: Fear Has Seized the Artistic Community of Pinar del Rio /
14ymedio, Juan Carlos Fernandez | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/fear-has-seized-the-artistic-community-of-pinar-del-rio-14ymedio-juan-carlos-fernandez/