Rafael Sanchez uses coffee to create unique color combinations in his paintings. He started experimenting with coffee at a very young age, and today he has turned his improved technique into his own personal, semi Baroque style, recognizable both in his painting and his pottery. "My mother would make coffee every day before going to bed,” Sanchez told OnCuba. “One day, I stuck my fingers into a cup that was laying there with some leftover coffee, and I wiped my fingers on a piece of cardboard. The next day, I saw that the stains were still there, that they hadn’t faded away. That was the beginning of my experimentation with this material. I still keep some of those early drawings." His work includes a large number of paintings, pottery and engravings on cardboard and Dekel canvas. For the latter, Sanchez also makes frames out of wood treated with coffee and dough, which, in addition to the aesthetical effect, also provides the pieces with a distinctive smell. Photo: Osniel Perez Sanchez said that he will always be grateful for the support he had from renowned TV host Rosalia Arnaez and late singer Merceditas Valdes, who sponsored an art workshop called CEMADEARTE...