THE news is not that two renowned artists are preparing a joint exposition. If that were the case, I would not be motivated to write this brief article, which would be more appropriate for an art critic. What is of interest is that one of these contemporary Cuban painters, Juan Vicente Rodríguez Bonachea, just before his premature death, had among his projects a show of drawings crafted by two hands, with another singular creator, six-year-old Diego Gejo.
The boy’s father, Gabriel Gejo, a friend of the painter, on a recent afternoon, revealed the news to me, showing me the drawings and photos of the pair, which I feel compelled to share.
Discovering himself in the company of the other was one of the most essential events in the lives of the two artists, although each was doing no more than playing in accordance with his own age. For Diego, because if he continues along the artistic path, he will forever bear the stamp of his beginnings with Bonachea.
And for Bonachea, because sharing crayons with the boy was one of the most eloquent expressions of his greatness as an artist and a human being. Diego was four when Bonachea was first inspired to participate in one of the boy’s drawings, in December of 2010.
By the time death surprised the artist at 55 years of age in 2012, the pair had completed several pieces together, in the most natural way art is created, and the elder proposed an exposition. Born March 8, 1957, Juan Vicente Rodríguez Bonachease graduated in 1976 from San Alejandro Academy, in Havana and, during his short but prolific career, seduced the public in Spain, the United States, France, Mexico, Costa Rica, Switzerland, and of course Cuba, with his original pictorial language.
He mounted more than a 100 personal and collective exhibitions, and as an illustrator brought a variety of characters to life in books for children, youth and adults. With indisputable talent, Diego will perhaps be his continuator, In him, Bonachea will continue to be, in the words of poet Alex Fleites, “That perennially dazzled Cuban painter who goes about generously sharing the beauty which inundates him.”
