The story told by Reynier Leyva Novo

El Museo del Ron Havana Club hosts from September 13 until November 9 an exhibition by visual artist Reynier Leyva Novo : The duty to be free. The developer proposes a rereading of the island’s history and figures from the nineteenth century momentous events of our country. The exhibition presents three pieces that highlight materials such as polyester resin, velvet, wood, and the development of digital printing technique on cardboard. Some of them are made up of replicas of revolvers and machetes used by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes , José Martí , Máximo Gómez , Antonio Maceo and José Quintino Bandera Betancourt, heroes of Cuban independence wars of 1868 and 1895, and photography and puzzles that reconstruct historical sites linked to the struggles for emancipation , as the Battle of Mal Tiempo and the combat in Dos Rios.

Novo (Havana, 1983) attended the Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro. His tenure in the Department of Art Practice, directed by Tania Bruguera, was a significant step in its growth as a creator. Also knowledge acquired during his unfinished stay at the Higher Institute of Arts motivated him seeking new conceptual experiences.

The piece The desire to die for others (2012) is composed of weapons of war among which replicas of machetes and guns used by the heroes Jose Marti and Antonio Maceo stand out, among many others. The polyester resin these objects were produced of is an important element in the performance of the work, considering they resemble crystal arms. So the stunning image we have of these war artifacts gets protruding nuances in fragility. The author of The smells of war (2009) draws a suggestive metaphor between the paradigm of martyrdom and the above mentioned objects. The model also includes the heroic human and vulnerable feature.

The exhibition organized by Sachie Hernandez’s own collaboration with Novo, also hosts The order of battle (2013). The piece, of interactive nature, consists of three puzzles that require direct public participation for its formation. The latter can reconstruct the geographical journey into the historical events that occurred related to the exploits of national liberation in the nineteenth century. Attendees at the gallery will be able to intervene in the course of history that is also building its future present and future.

The photograph that closes the exhibition is titled Only the land lasts (2013). The gigantic snapshot, worked with the technique of digital printing on vinyl, includes the landscape in which the “Battle of Mal Tiempo” took place. The uninhabited terrain, in which stands a dense undergrowth and calm, has erased all traces that would indicate the action of combat, only the land endures.

While the closure of the exhibition will be on November 9, on the 7th, at 3:00 pm, they will develop significant events as the discussion group for artists and art historians conducted by the critic and curator Magali Espinosa, dealing with “El retorno de lo neohistórico en el arte cubano” and the presentation of the exhibition catalog.