By C.Daniel Dawson

I was fascinated with Arzuaga’s understanding of the importance of Central African or Kongo traditions in the formation of Cuban culture, especially since it confirmed much of my personal research, and was somewhat independent of the official ideas in Cuba regarding their own heritage. The official line on the island could be called Yoruba-centric with an emphasis on the Orisha and traditions from Nigeria. Already an educated and accomplished painter in his homeland, Arzuaga has continued developing in the United States both as an artist and as an intellectual. Much of this development is because he is an open and active thinker who is continuously engaged with the gallery, museum and music worlds of the Bay Area. The Kongo-Cuba theme in Arzuaga’s work has expanded into deeper and clearer manifestations of his ideas since I first encountered them. In particular, his use of Kikongo terms has become more focused on the intrinsic power of those terms, and on the transformative ability of sound and music in general. The Bakongo people in both Africa and Cuba believe that words can be minkisi, that is, medicines for physical, social and spiritual healing. In addition to the visual and auditory beauty of his artwork, Arzuaga is impregnating it with his curative concerns. In the sense of German philosopher Goethe, he is “intending” an interaction and a result with his art.

New York April 2006