The exhibition "Arte de ida y vuelta. From Cordoba to Havana" by Cordovan artist Rikardo (Ricardo Gonzalez Mestre) was inaugurated on Thursday, March 3 at the Lombillo Palace.

According to Habana Radio, the exhibition makes it possible to appreciate the city and urban landscapes from the author's viewpoint of two cities: the "Light of the West" and the "Pearl of the Caribbean", both of which have been recognized as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The city of Cordoba, according to this media, has the satisfaction of becoming the first to achieve four distinctions of World Heritage, and on the occasion of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the founding of the town of San Cristobal de La Habana, wanted to make a gift that would encourage the proximity, despite the geographical distance of these cities.

The gift consisted of a compendium that included the main monuments and urban landscapes of both places; thus, the intention was to build a dialogue and develop a comparative exercise.

"Havana and Cordoba are two sister cities, two heritage cities. We are united by many ties; especially for me as an artist, ideological ties. Cuba is a country I love, and Havana is a city that welcomes me, with charming people," he told Habana Radio.

In the form of a book, this precious gift was delivered in 2019. It was entitled De la Ribera al Malecón and edited by the Cordoba City Council, with the support of the former Deputy Mayor, Pedro García.

Then the title was presented at the Palacio del Segundo Cabo, located in the Havana Center and later in Cordoba, with the company and encouragement of Doctor Eusebio Leal Spengler, who at all times stressed the value of twinning in times of crisis and wars.

According to Habana Radio, the Cordoban artist told that the genesis of the exhibition "Art back and forth. From Cordoba to Havana", takes place during his visit in 2019 to the Cuban capital, in the days of the presentation of the book De la Ribera al Malecon.

In this regard he recalled:

"In the times when I was not participating in meetings on the cultural issues that occupied us in those days, I devoted myself to drawing. I am a graphic designer by profession and when I walked around Old Havana I got excited and started to paint. I made sketches of numerous urban landscapes, which were the beginning of the exhibition I am presenting now".

With the sketches in hand, Eusebio Leal Spengler then suggested Rikardo to make an exhibition with those works. This idea was a great challenge for the artist, despite his more than forty years of experience as a graphic designer, but fundamentally an honor. For this reason he accepted the proposal and continued his creative process.

Unfortunately, this dream that germinated with the mutual visits between Cordoba and Havana was postponed due to the pandemic period. Rikardo's creations were supposed to arrive in Havana to be exhibited in April 2020, but all face-to-face activities were suspended during those months. Thus, the project was left unfinished and now, almost two years later, it has materialized thanks to the efforts of the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana (OHCH). On the mounting of the exhibition at the Lombillo Palace he stated:

"The possibility of placing the paintings here comes to be significant for the exhibition. As an author, I feel grateful to exhibit in this space because of what this place means for Cuban culture, for Havana, for the OHCH, and for Eusebio Leal. It is a satisfaction to do it precisely here, in a place that the Historian inhabited".

The technique used in the forty prints that make up the exhibition "Arte de ida y vuelta. From Cordoba to Havana" is digital collage.

Rikardo's beginnings in his profession were marked by hand drawing, working with tempera, cardboard, scissors. Now digital tools offer a wide range of possibilities for artists and this type of compositional work. In this way his creations have gone from sketches on paper to digital media and, as the creator tells us, they have been enriched until they reach the final result:

"I was lucky enough to be a student at the School of Art in Cordoba. There I was a disciple of Antonio Povedano and Ángel López-Obrero. All those techniques that they learned with their teachers at the beginning of the twentieth century were transmitted to us; therefore, it is a heritage that we try to preserve and I show it in digital format".

The eternal Historian of the City could not enjoy in life of the exhibition that this Thursday, March 3, hosts the Palacio de Lombillo. His figure was a key piece in this project, so the opening is now also a tribute to his work, to his eagerness to forge fruitful links, concludes Habana Radio.