Passion for mosaic art

The origins of the mosaic go back many centuries, perhaps to the time of Alexander the Great. But the story I now tell is more recent and goes back to the hall of a house in Bauta, the name of a town and municipality of the Province of Artemis, where the protagonist of this interview resides, the artist of the plastic Rael Rodríguez Capote.
Without any protocol – friends do not need it – but with a cup of coffee through – which the interviewing friend almost demands – Rael agrees to answer several questions that I kept for a few months in my work schedule, without at that time finding space to put them in front of this outstanding exponent of mosaic art.
There are no tape recorders or a water order through a friendly interview that takes us a whole morning. Everything flows ad libitum, as the famous Latin phrase says; “at pleasure, at will”, as we would say in very clear Spanish. That’s better. There was a coffee, there’ll probably be another one, and the rush was somewhere else. Then he has the word, the whole word, the baptized artist.

When does your vocation for painting begin?
“I think it started from the time I opened my eyes to the world. In elementary school I spent a lot of time turning chalk into small sculptures that I later gave to my classmates. As I always got good grades, my teacher, Ana Margarita Pila, allowed me certain freedoms that I did not allow the other students.
“One of my uncles, Juan Esperón, was then an important designer and always helped me lean towards the plastic arts. Juan was given the design of the image of renowned perfumes such as Alicia Alonso, Mariposa and Tobacco”.

Besides painting, what other aspects of the visual arts have you ventured into?
“I have dabbled in sculpture and ambience, engraving, craftsmanship. For fifteen years I worked, daily and very hard, in the Center of Local Industries of Bauta. There I learned how to design coffee makers, furniture, shoes, maracas, clothes, padlocks… and I also learned the art of cabinetmaking. This kind of daily challenge helped me a lot to mature as a creator.
“At that time I attended, at PABEXPO, every edition of the International Fair of Furniture, Ambience and Style (FIMPE). It was a more complete and demanding event than today, because then the evaluation was especially rigorous to be able to access that space.”

What was your first experience on mosaic grounds?
“Many years ago I saw on television a documentary about how mosaics were made, in a rustic way, in Spain. I was really shocked by those works. I tried to make them in marble, but it was very complicated. Finally I made the first, a landscape in the house of a cousin, daughter of John, based on ceramics, glass, semiprecious stone, alabaster and marble.”

You have worked very often on the art of religious connotations. A matter of taste, faith, or greater opportunities? What do you find special in this kind of art?
“I always make it clear and with great pride that I am Catholic. Therefore, when I work religious art, I do so not by thinking of benefits or fame, but of my duties to the Catholic Church and the pleasure of serving God and her with pleasure.
“My experiences in this regard began in my own village, when Father Jorge Luis Pérez Soto, priest of the church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced, who had already seen a mosaic of me in the Municipal House of Culture, invited me to join the restoration of this church, which would be accompanied by a mosaic of St. Joseph on one of its exterior walls , for by reopening it it would be called Our Lady of Mercy and St. Joseph.
“I suggested that it be better for the Holy Family, for enclosing this a more comprehensive concept. It was a work two and a half meters high by two meters wide, and was inaugurated by S.E.R. Jaime Ortega Alamino, now Cardinal Emeritus, on March 4, 2011.
“Touched at the sight of this piece, Archbishop Carlos Manuel de Céspedes invited me to restore the glazed mosaic of René Portocarrero, existing in the Catholic church of Playa Baracoa. This project was finally realized after the death of Archbishop Carlos Manuel, who had been given a dish on the day of the inauguration showing the gazebo of Bauta and the church of Nuestra Señora de la Merced”.
But then you were just at the beginning of your collaboration with the Catholic Church.
“It was not really the beginning, for I have always collaborated with the Catholic Church; but it was the beginning of making more connotation works. At that time, the new headquarters of the Conference of Catholic Bishops was being manufactured, in El Vedado, and Archbishop Juan de Dios, who already knew my work, asked me to make three mosaics for this site: one with priest Felix Varela, one with St Paul and the third with St. Peter, all in a format 2.5 meters high by 2 meters wide.
“In that period, I had begun to make a mosaic of Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus for the altar of the church of St. Anthony of the Baths, which was finally concluded together with the seat, the ammbon and the fourteen stations of the Via Crucis. Also in this temple we were able to work on the decoration of interior arches, columns and ceilings; and we made a mosaic of The Last Supper for the church of Goira de Melena, at the request of his parish priest.”

Whenever you can mention the name of your collaborators…
“Yes, they are young talents of the plastic arts who have been committed to learning this complicated technique. The first were Harold Alvarez and Jeffrey Sandoval, and now Andy Hernández, graduates of the Eduardo Abela Provincial School of Art. With them I worked in the Félix Varela for the Conference of Bishops, in works for the altar, the headquarters and the Via Crucis of the church of San Antonio de los Baños and in the Holy Spirit for the church of Santa Teresita, in Santiago de Cuba. In the concrete of this last project it would be impossible not to mention the support of Emilio Cueto, a great personal friend and a deep scholar of Cuban culture”.

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You gave one of your works to Pope Benedict XVI and another to Pope Francis during the visit of these Pontiffs to Cuba. How did you live these unique experiences?
“These were two extraordinary experiences: in the first, with Pope Benedict XVI, I gave them to me boldly and, on my own, I began to develop a triptych with the image of our Lady of Charity of Copper, in order to give it to him during his visit to Cuba. Then they said to me, ‘Don’t waste your time, you’re going to get frustrated, nobody’s going to give him your work.’ But I didn’t give up. When I went to see Father Vladimir Aguilar, he thought that I was wearing another type of work, but when he saw Our Lady he was astonished. I thank him for all the management to give it to the Holy Father, who still keeps it, as I have been assured.
“When Pope Francis’ visit was to occur, I was called by Father Jorge Luis Pérez Soto, on behalf of the organizers of the visit, to involve me in the restoration of the Cathedral of Havana. This experience was touching, because I saw up close how the masters of the Vatican mosaic work. They mounted a glazed mosaic of two angels on the altarpiece and allowed me to work with them.
“At that moment, I became en engaged in the realization of a Byzantine-style cross, finally chosen to represent young Cubans at the meeting of young Catholics, which would be held in our country, and blessed by Pope Francis.
“In order to give it especially to Pope Francis, I was engaged during my evening rest hours, in the realization of a St. Joseph with a loaded and asleep child, under his protection. When I told Father Jorge Luis about my intentions, he said, ‘Go ahead, don’t stop!’ In about a fortnight I did it and it was given to the Holy Father in the Apostolic Nunciature.
“After blessing the cross, when Pope Francis was leaving, S.E.R. Cardinal Jaime Ortega took me to greet him personally and told him that I was the author of the cross he had just blessed.
“The Pope gave me his blessing and I thanked him for his special closeness to the Cuban people. I asked him to take great care of himself and then he pointed to heaven before saying, ‘He’s the one who takes care of me.’ He put his hand on my head as if I were a child and that light-hearted gesture was kept in my heart and in my memory as the gesture of a simple, close father.”

Living in Bauta, that is, outside the capital, and working the mosaic, have not been given the noses when it comes to recognizing the value of your work?
“It hasn’t affected me at all. The important thing is not whether you live in the capital or in a country town, but the value of your work and your willingness to work. Living in Bauta, being part of its cultural institutions and its creators fills me with extraordinary pride. To God and to my people, spiritual refuge of the Origins group, I thank Him for all that I am. and I hope to be.” Ω