Fidel’s present work in painting is in line with the search for the not ordinary experience of painting what has to do with visualization and the (triangular) format of the images he sets on the canvas, in an exercise of distortion which changes perspectives, definition, proportions and appearances. His oeuvre is generally enriched with elements from the field of composition, objects, installations and others, which condition their potential discursive effectiveness.
Here we are not before a search for tepid waters, and much less witnessing epiphanies. These are old aberrations in which many still fall. Here we have, simply, a creator who begins to venture in that area of present praxis, and for that purpose he has chosen, among so many others, the option of saying what is his on time and smiling, if possible, demanding from his hand what it can give, trying to paint and think at the same time.
This type of proposal cannot allow itself escapes from what is happening today in Cuban visual arts. We very clearly see how the work of some creators, almost entirely devoted to the exercise of painting, continues to solidify. They are mostly youngsters who, the most audacious, are looking for the constant development of the qualities and severity the genre demands and people expect from them, because they are the guarantee of conviction and credibility.
With this in mind I have asked Fidel: “Where does the boost that makes you do this type of work come from? What are the causes justifying you?” And he came up with an excellent answer off the top of his head, quoting that giant Monet who, when posed a similar questioning, once said: Motif is entirely secondary for me; what I want to show is what exists between the motif and I. In this demarcated area lies what Jorge Luis Borges called the modest and secret complexity, the most exhausting search. Fidel has told me he understands findings as a sort of impersonal heritage. Seeing it this way, it is entirely legitimate to assert that, for him, commitment and loyalties are the continuous act of searching, always with the humility of someone who does not try to be a discoverer, but, on the contrary, wants to be taken by surprise every couple of minutes.