'Bienvenidos a Yuma' for Cuban art exhibit

More than 80 pieces of artwork are traveling from Miami to teach Yuma about the culture, people and history of an infamous island.

Art featured in the exhibit "Cafe Cubano" will bring with them the voices, passions and stories of artists who fled Cuba or were born into Cuban families living in Florida.

Organizers say the exhibit at the Yuma Art Center promises to give Yuma a unique view into the heart of Cuba.

"In any event, this will all be a very different body for work for the people of Yuma to experience. It's like taking a trip or journey to Cuba, but from a U.S. point of departure," said artist George Rodez. "As curator and participating artist, I would say that this experience will be where Cuban salsa meets western Mexican salsa."

"Cafe Cubano" opens Friday, Jan. 8, at the Yuma Art Center, 254 S. Main St. A free public reception will be held that day from 5 to 7 p.m., attended by handful of featured artists traveling from Miami.

The exhibit will remain on display through Feb. 20.

"Cafe Cubano" is not on tour, but instead is being packaged just for Yuma. The exhibit came about thanks to a friendship between Rodez and Carolyn Bennett, director of Yuma Fine Arts Association. Bennett once owned an art gallery in Miami's Design District.

"The main reason we created this exhibit in the first place," Rodez said, "was to create awareness of the Cuban culture to people who may not have access to this type of artwork under normal circumstances."

"Cafe Cubano" will offer up 85 pieces of art by 10 artists. The artists live in Miami, with the exception of Adrian Morales Rodriguez, who currently lives in Barcelona, Spain. The artist was forced to leave Cuba, according to Rodez, because his art was considered counter-revolutionary.

"While some of them use art as a way of staying in tune with their heritage and Cuban culture, some actually use art as a way of connecting with a Cuba that they never had a chance to know," Rodez explained.

"Some of these artists were born right here in the United States after their parents left Cuba years ago ...while others use art as a way to heal from the unpleasant experiences they lived while in Cuba - a sort of exorcism."

One featured artist, who goes by the name MANO, came to the U.S. through "Operation Peter Pan." The operation involved Cuban parents turning over their children to the archdiocese of Miami, not knowing if they would ever see their sons and daughters again.

The media displayed in "Cafe Cubano" will range from canvas painting to collage making.

"Some even consist of sewing techniques like that of the works of Aurora Molina who then adds resin to some of her pieces, which are later blowtorched to simulate a sense of decay like that of the current situation in Cuba," Rodez said.

He added that while the featured artists receive inspiration from many sources, their connection to Cuba almost always stands at the forefront.

"While we are all very grateful for what this great country (the U.S.) has done for us, we all have a common goal and dream and that is to keep Cuba alive in our memories and also in that of our children's thoughts.

"Our hope is that Cuba may one day be the free and independent Cuba it once was in the long and distant past, before it became the lost island of ruins. We never give up on this dream."