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 For Cuba's Sandor Gonzalez, there is no better place to sketch
than several meters below the surface of the sea, surrounded by
iridescent Caribbean fish and fantastical coral forms.
The 42-year-old first won renown at home and abroad for his
predominantly black-and-white, haunting images of imaginary
cityscapes, inspired by a trip to Europe and reflecting the
aggressiveness of modern, urban life.
Then six years ago, he went scuba diving in Cuba and found his
inspiration in the complete opposite: the tranquility found
below water where all forms are natural and not manmade, all
sounds are muffled and the light ripples softly.
While Gonzalez had heard of a biologist painting underwater in
Spain, he decided to experiment for himself until he found a way
of sketching with charcoal or oil paints which unlike pastels or
watercolor would not dissolve.
The Cuban learnt to then soak the canvasses for at least an hour
and rinse them to get rid of the salt and any organic matter,
before hanging them out to dry.
"This started off as a hobby, as a passion," he told Reuters at
Punta Perdiz, his favorite dive spot, sheltered in the Bay of
Pigs, where in 1961 U.S.-backed Cuban exiles landed in a failed
attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.
"But now I really need to come here, immerse myself and create
below water because there is a peace there that you simply
cannot find on dry land."
To do so, he gets fully kitted out in scuba diving gear
including an oxygen tank and yellow flippers, and swims out 60
meters (197 feet) to his easel fixed in the seabed around 6
meters (20 feet) below the surface.
With him, he carries his canvas, and other equipment like a
spatula for the oil paints weighed down with some lead to avoid
it floating to the surface if he lets go.
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The artist said he does not plan beforehand, instead allowing
inspiration to strike as he enters a meditative state in the
crystalline water. But inevitably his submarine work is more about
nature than the cityscape series he continues to develop on land.
Being reliant on a tank limits the time underwater, but Gonzalez is
quick and for this interview sketched in 30 minutes a flying whale,
dragging a house behind it in a sky dotted with clouds. Palm trees
grow off the creature's back.
"I really did not expect to see somebody under water, painting!"
exclaimed Canadian tourist Mike Festeryga, who saw Gonzalez while
diving along the seabed.
The state-run dive center at Punta Perdiz, on Cuba's southern coast,
some 172 km (107 miles) from Havana, said his work was an extra draw
for tourists.
"For tourists, it's really a novelty," said Hector Hernandez, who
has been working as a dive instructor in the area for more than 28
years.
Gonzalez, who makes a living selling work at his studio in Havana
for a median price of $1,000 per canvas, exhibits some of his
submarine work in the Punta Perdiz dive center.
He is now hoping to get state permission to sell the work and
develop the area as a center for underwater art.
"I would like for a department of submarine painting to be created,"
he said. "I don't think anything like that exists yet anywhere in
the world."
(Reporting by Rodrigo Gutierrez; Additional Reporting and writing by
Sarah Marsh; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Lisa Shumaker)
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