By Patrice Boyes, Co-Editor

HAVANA, CUBA, May 9, 2023 – Born in Havana, Lisandra Ramirez Bernal, 37, fuses the memories held by objects emigrating Cuban families have left behind for the past 70+ years with her contemporary sculptures to prompt discourse about politics, history, fashion and society. Maintaining a connection to the 1950s and early 1960s fascinates and motivates Ramirez Bernal whether she is working with fabric, bronze, porcelain teacups, resin, Plexiglas or paint.

Emigration of Cuban families since 1960 is a recurring theme in her work, as seen in a fabric sculpture of an octopus made from recycled clothing. In her view, combining past and present objects gives the observer a glimpse of the future. In the period immediately following Castro’s revolution in 1960, many families left their things and fled to the United States, providing a rich source of material and memories, she noted. In an exhibit titled, “Memories,” Ramirez Bernal situated her resin sculptures of cats and dogs plus fabric sculptures of flowers amid the finery left by the former owners of a Parisian-designed 1920s-era mansion that is now the Museo de Artes Decorativas in Havana.

Known for her iconic, recurring Japanese cat, Ramirez Bernal’s largest cat sculpture measures a hefty 3 meters x 250 meters in height and is in a private collection in Greece. She molded the cat in Cuba and finished it in Greece. Her cats typically gaze upward, recalling an era before decades of enmity between the U.S. and Cuba. Inset mirrors in the eyes connect humans to the sculpture, she said.

Ramirez Bernal is circumspect about the support women artists receive in Cuba, and one can understand her reasons. She did offer that early in her career, her work was recognizably feminine due to the subject matter and materials. She now believes that it is important to offer a woman’s unique perspective on history, particularly the family and society, in her bolder recent work.
In 2016, she created an assemblage of 100 Plexiglas airplanes, adorned with images of Cuban and American celebrities, juxtaposed to 1950s-60s era fashion models (only a few remain and are on display in her home). The massive installation was included in the “(ART)XIOMAS: Cuba Ahora: The Next Generation” at the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. She sought to depict the relationship of Cuba and the U.S. and the changes over time.

In Havana, this author encountered an installation of Ramirez Bernal’s characteristic work inside a World Heritage UNESCO site – the state-owned Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski across the street from Cuba’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Sponsored by the Swiss government, her pop-art expressions in these pieces are inviting and simultaneously challenging to the eye.

Ramirez Bernal graduated from San Alejandro Art Academy in Havana in 2007 and the prestigious Superior Art Institute of Havana (ISA) in 2012. She then studied bronze casting techniques in Spain and continued with coursework at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has had solo exhibitions in Havana, and group exhibitions in Miami and Key West, Florida; Laguna Beach, California; London; South Korea; Mexico City; Milan; Tisch School of the Arts; and, numerous venues in Havana, Cuba. Her work is in private collections, and in the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth. She is married to Cuban artist and printmaker Osmeivy Ortega Pacheco and together they are raising their 8-yr-old son, Oscar.

Pinkwater Gallery, founded in September 2019 by artist Anne Sanger, is an exciting addition to the Upstate New York art scene. Along with co-director Helena Palazzi, the gallery is committed to spotlighting the voices of contemporary women artists. This stance has proved so popular that this Kingston-based gallery was recently voted ‘Best Art Gallery’ in the Hudson Valley / Catskills / Berkshires by the readers of Chronogram.

Helena joined Anne as co-director of the gallery in the spring of 2023, and the pair have big plans for programming this year as well as an exciting new project on the horizon in 2024. The gallery is pleased to present a show by its current collective of women artists, MIND’S EYE: THE ABSTRACT BEYOND PERCEPTION, opening July 29 and on view through September 10. This show includes new work by Susanna Ronner, Nancy O’Hara, Monique Robidoux, Chi Yun, Joan Ffolliott, Suzanne Sanger, Meredith Rosiér, Helena Palazzi, and Anne Sanger. In addition, a recent open call for abstract art by women from around New York State resulted in 90 submissions for the upcoming MAPPING THE ABSTRACT show, which opens on September 16 and will be on view through 10/28/23. A two-woman show of new work by Pinkwater Gallery co-directors Anne Sanger and Helena Palazzi will take place in November, followed by an exhibition of works by artists & makers in the Hudson Valley and Catskills geared towards holiday gift-giving.

Pinkwater Gallery is known for its welcoming environment, and encourages visitors to come in and contemplate, explore, and perhaps fall in love with something and take it home. Our space is thoughtfully designed to immerse folks in the stories, emotions, and narratives behind each piece. With a firm belief in the transformative power of art, we continue to strive for new heights in artistic curation and community engagement.

Current and past shows can be seen and available work purchased on www.pinkwatergallery.com . Follow us on Instagram @pinkwatergallery to learn about upcoming events, current exhibitions, as well as open calls (Pinkwater Gallery does not accept unsolicited submissions of work).