My name is Ramon Menocal. I was born in Havana, Cuba.The main purpose of my work was on a earlier time to evoke the essence of “Cubanity”: contemporary aspects of Cuba’s social evolution as well as elements derived from cross-cultural influences such as magic, traditions and spirituality contributed by African and Spanish culture. As expressed by Fernando Ortiz, Cuba's preeminent ethnologist, Cuban identity possesses enduring qualities in which cross-culturalism and syncretism are recurring themes that engender the artistic images reflected in my work. During many years I worked in thematic such a afro-Cuban religions, old buildings layering and other social and cultural issues. As an example about it I remember how through my vast experience restoring murals in Old Havana I discovered the fascinating layered polychromes hidden for centuries inside the walls and facades of the colonial architecture. The baroque ambiance created by deterioration and violence inflicted on them by tropical light prompted me to show this in my series “Homage to Havana”.
As for 1992 when I began living in Europe (Western and Eastern) and later in New York. I broadened my thematic spectrum. I began depict universal themes related to human complexities, such as, psychology, philosophy and religion, while integrating my Cuban identity in the work, reflecting a sense of universality
I usually have depicted both cross-cultural Cuban world and the other themes explained above through “gestural painting” and “surrealist automatism”, both methods derived from Abstract Expressionism, which I consider the most suitable vehicle for the vision I have about how the world and society evolve around me..
As a citizen of the world I perceive the political, social and cultural events of this world and reflect these events through a broad, unencumbered, freedom of expression. I rely on the subtle negotiation between the sources of occurrences and my conscience where ideas, concepts and images are configured.
.I am always questioning the process of creating images, being aware that in Art, the object and its representation can be similar but they are definitely not the same. The "thing" in itself differs from "the thing for us" being the latter an aspect of the first and therefore, the world depicted in my paintings has a highly subjective component.