Last year, I re-read The Old Man and the Sea. The first time I read Hemingway’s Cuban novel was at school, a long long time ago. By the time Hemingway (re)crossed my path, I had gone without a creative spark long enough that I felt in truth, as if it had leaked from my fingers and evaporated. Things happen how they happen. Shortly after the read, the second ‘coincidence’ was my coming across (again) some images by artist Roel Caboverde Llacer from Baracoa, Cuba. His rural fishing and sugar harvest scenes painted in a neocubist style fascinated me. With his images, and Hemingway’s words bubbling in my head, I began a series featuring red fish. Having never caught anything larger in my life, I paint what I know, and I know I have caught red fish, snapper, grunt, grouper, a cavalli, and an eel.
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| Red Fish triptych after the Old Man and the Sea |
The economy of understated style in Caboverde’s images and Hemingway’s words kick-started that missing spark, inspiring new visual and written content based on my childhood memories and recurring themes of daily life in an island environment.
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| Red Fish triptych (2) first 2 panels |
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| Red Fish triptych (2) last panel |
Santiago has gone 84 days without catching a fish. On the 85th, he catches a marlin. Three days later, it is the marlin that conquers him. My third ‘coincidence’ is just around the corner.