Habana on Bicycle by Elito Review
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
Two weeks ago, my mother got this cool painting from her childhood friend Elito. The two grew up together, and recently they started talking again. That is the old magic of facebook, bringing old friends together. Anyhow, he offered to give mom one of his paintings as a gift. Since it was my brother's house, mom asked bro to pick the painting. Brother chose one of Elio's largest paintings. It was called Habana on Bicycle. Those who live there understand what it means.
For those not familiar with Cuba, everyone is always ridding on bikes. People only ride bikes because government has the sale of cars deeply regulated. Bikes are the only way of getting around. I think they do not want the proliferation of cars, to keep traffic down. I remember in my old town, lots of bikes waiting for the red light to turn green. There sea of bikes ringing their bells, was always amusing to me. So, this is basically, what this painting is about. There is probably more to tell about it, but only mom knows about it.
Since, she is his friend, she knows more about the painting. Anyhow, recently we had it framed up. This is how the painting looked when it was unrolled. The canvas is totally different from what you find in the states. You can only tell when you see the painting from up close. It has plenty of small details here and there. Some of the paint drips makes me think of blood drops. It is an interesting detail here and there.
I asked mom if he had painted it with his own blood, and she said maybe. This is pretty interesting and the like. There is also an interesting story about his signature. At the time, mom wanted to have her own signature. She asked Elio to design one for her. While designing it, he also made up his own signature. She saw the creation of his signature. It is interesting to actually know a painter who is actually good.
Well, he is famous both within and outside of Cuba. Lots of talented people are rotting away in that place. I too would have been rotting there, but I got lucky. People think the place is changing from within, but it is not. The country always loosens its policies, and then it tightens them to collected the loot. As long as things continue the same, Habana will always be riding bikes. This is just my own perspective on it. Elio's bike paintings are pretty popular. This is mostly why he makes them.
He has made like 4 different versions of this painting. This is just one of those versions. Since he lives in Havana, he always has a plenty to work with. He has one of the best views of the city. This is how it looks like from his studio window. He always paints really big. The paint he uses are acrylics. Acrylics bind easily to any surface. They are the most popular type of paint of today. Needless to say, this is one fine piece of work. Elito truly is the best. If you like his work, go check more of them out at :
https://twitter.com/villatelio
His most recent painting features his eldest daughter. Within the city, he also painted himself and his youngest. All his works are usually pretty cool. There is a nice surrealism aspect about them.
