Rigoberto Mena (b. Artemisa, Cuba, 1961) was born in Artemisa, Cuba in 1961. Through the eyes of an abstract expressionist, he draws inspiration from his home's urban landscapes and the spirit of the people and the city. The Cuban Abstract movement started through a group called Los Once or The Eleven.
Mena utilizes color and gesture to give immense feeling in more abstract pieces calling to human emotion. The interactions of people that create unexplainable feelings, in turn, create abstract works that can be fully understood. That is what his titles comment on. "The public often asks about the title of my work or what the work means and I always say that it's not descriptive, that I work with emotions. You may start with an idea, but it is impossible to express abstract things that people can fully understand. I'm talking about the realm of inner emotions rather than the field of rationality." He goes on to say abstraction has its own language. His time with artist JoAnn Rothschild on workshops in Cuba greatly influenced his views on the expressive power of paint and art's ability to cross language barriers. With the expansion of technology crossing those barriers for other things, people wonder how one can still paint in such a time. Mena states that it can indeed be done.
In 2011 Mena was selected to be part of the permanent collection of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Cuba, after the inauguration of his exhibition "Hablando en Lenguas". His artwork is also shown in the collection of the Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles (MOLAA), USA, Consejo Nacional de las Artes Plasticas, La Habana, Cuba, and Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wifredo Lam, La Habana, Cuba.
Exhibitions:
- National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba
- Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles (MOLAA), USA
- Consejo Nacional de las Artes Plasticas, Havana, Cuba
- Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Winfredo Lam, Havana, Cuba