The Big Dilemma
A Retrospection in Two Parts, From Two Countries
What follows is a Leavings post about choice that I crafted on the eve of election day. Inspired by an earlier museum visit, it is a meditation on the choices not made and what we can learn from those decisions. Unsure whether the post warranted sharing, I set it aside until now.
It took a trip to Havana and a visit to the Galleria Continua there, where I saw the “El Buen Pastor—The Good Shepherd” (pictured above) for me to decide to go ahead and hit the “publish” button.
Cast from a mix of resin and fiber glass, this lifelike sculpture by the Cuban artist Gabriel Cisneros, depicts an ordinary man contemplating his choices. Something about the disassembled way Cisneros treated his subject—placing his head and torso in opposition to seven identical pairs of legs—felt so relatable and validating.
It’s no small thing—the act of choosing one way over another. I applaud Cisneros, who is known for celebrating ordinary people in moments of self-reflection, for substantiating that point with his art.
I might have missed the exhibit were it not for a chance encounter with Diana Sainz, a former Cuban diplomat-turned-hotelier, who suggested I check it out. [Diana and her husband, Andrea Gallina, are the proprietors of Paseo 206, a boutique hotel housed inside a restored 1930’s mansion in Havana’s under-appreciated Vedado neighborhood. Situated on a tree-lined street that’s seen better days, this gem of a 10-room hotel is filled with excellent local art. Stop by for breakfast, as I did, and you’ll be able to glimpse work by artists previously featured at the Galleria Continua. “I always tell people to go there,” Diana told me, describing the gallery as a wonderful space to see local art.
Tucked inside a quiet alley in Havana’s China Town neighborhood, Galleria Continua is housed inside a former movie theater. Stripped down to its bare bones, the space allows the art on display to speak to one another in ways that might not be possible in a more conventional gallery.
I didn’t fully appreciate this perspective until I was home and had time to study my photos of the exhibit. On the wall behind Cisneros’s shepherd is an installation by Anish Kapoor, titled “Cuando Estoy Gestando-When I am Pregnant.”
Sitting in my office now, thinking of all that is “born” of the choices we make, I’m struck by the symmetry of these two works.
Why I missed this before, I’m not sure. Perhaps it was being in Havana, a struggling city filled with abandoned buildings and crumbled street corners that speak to earlier choices. No matter. But I’m seeing it now and I’m thinking about it still.
To read my election eve Leavings post about choice and learn more about the Berlin exhibit that inspired it please click here.
