Jorge Camacho

Jorge Camacho( b Havana, 5 Jan 1934). . A self-taught artist, he forsook law studies in 1952 to dedicate himself to painting and held his first individual exhibition in the Galeria Cubana in Havana in 1955. In 1959 he settled in Paris, where he became an important figure in the circle of Latin American immigrant artists. In 1961 he met Andre Breton and joined what was left of the Surrealist group.

An established Cuban artist he belongs to what is called the Third Generation of Cuban painters, who like other artists of his generation, developed ideas of the abstract that would impact the world. His art is influenced by painters such as Tamayo, Miro, Bacon, Tanguy and, of course, Wifredo Lam, who played a large part in his childhood.. In 1967 he returned to Cuba to work at el Salon de Mayo. During his stay in Cuba he met Reinaldo Arenas and launched a solo exhibition. Driven by a spirit always thirsty for knowledge, he began studying alchemy upon his return to Europe. This experience would later be reflected in his work, along with his study of birds, music and literature.

Jorge Camacho, with perfect treatment of line and color, develops paintings that nurture the profound elements rooted in his unconscious, a sum of traditions and distinctive Latin American cultural rituals and traits.

With a precise use of line and color Jorge Camacho creates paintings that address Latin American traditions and cultures. He uses bony figures and totem pole-like structures to represent the elements of mystery and symbolism involved in Latin American rituals.

"Instinctively and inexplicably, in 1951 I decided to be a painter. I never studied art; I adamantly refused to enter the School of Fine Arts. By the end of the 40's my friend, the poet Carlos M. Luis, and I were very well versed in contemporary painting, especially in surrealism. It was he who first introduced me to the paintings of Klee, Miró, Tanguy and De Chirico. In 1953 I went to México; I lived there for a year, and met the great José Luis Cuevas. My first major influence was the Wifredo Lam exhibit at the University of Havana in 1955. As a young man I was also influenced by the work of Tamayo, Miró, Bacon and Tanguy. Basically, what is important is that these influences be positive, that they generate a new and personal language. When I returned to Havana, I had my first one-man show at the Cuban Gallery in 1954. Painters like Felipe Orlando, José Ignacio Bermúdez, René Portocarrero and the critic José Gómez Sicre lent me support with their friendship and encouragement. In a sense, they were my first "teachers". In 1960, I exhibited in Paris for the first time, at the R. Cordier Gallery. My meeting with Andre Breton in 1961 tied me to the Surrealist Movement. Surrealism is, without a doubt, the most important poetic creation of the XX century, because it is a world open to enchantment. As for the present? A series of works inspired by the magical and hermetic circle of the Shaman, that medicine man ever present in the life of all primitive societies. As to the future? A perennial openness to new horizons."