5th Abstract Art Workshop

The 5th Abstract Art Workshop, traditionally held in Las Tunas, honors Pedro de Oraá, 2015 National Plastic Arts Award, who gave prestige to some of these meetings in the Balcony of Eastern Cuba and passed away in 2020.

5th Abstract Art WorkshopLas Tunas, Cuba.- Roberto Reyes, leader of La Cruzada (abstract art) project and who commands the event, told 26: "Being next to an artist of this caliber, one felt fulfilled. He left his mark here, he painted and exhibited with us; we won't forget his legacy."

Reyes proudly recalls the two times Oraá was in "the land of Vicente García" and how he participated in exhibitions of La Cruzada in provinces like Holguín since this movement has left its footprints in Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Havana, and other places.

"Between Pedro and I, a great friendship was born, which extended to our families, to his wife Sonia and my wife Eva. We always followed him. When he died he told me that he was writing a book in which he included, among other things, his encounter with La Cruzada. Today his spouse is continuing that work", added Roberto.

5th Abstract Art WorkshopThe local artist said that now, due to the circumstances of the pandemic, the exhibitions that make up the program are held with little public and online. This Friday, for example, at the Provincial Committee of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac, in Spanish), the collective exhibition "Lo Abstracto en lo Abstracto" (The Abstract in the Abstract) opens, with the participation of works by creators from Havana, Artemisa, Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, and Las Tunas.

"We also have in the area known as 'El Paso del Marañón', in the Santo Domingo neighborhood (District 144), the community project 'Lo Abstracto en el Barrio' (The abstract in the neighborhood), where 20 houses are turned into galleries. Only this time we will not take people there because of the epidemiological situation", said our fellow countryman.

This May 20, La Cruzada will reach its 17th birthday with the certainty of promoting art that bets on the decoding of messages and forms, precisely in the year in which Oraá will celebrate its 90th calendar year. The meeting thus becomes a nice tribute to one of the greatest cultivators of that pictorial expression in Cuba.

5th Abstract Art Workshop