CAMAGÜEY.- When Magdiel García was studying at the art school in Camagüey, he never thought of wood as the material that would make him a definitive sculptor, or as he jokingly says, an identifiable being even if he does not sign the piece.

At the beginning of October he will present works from his new series called Circo at the Zona Maco 2023 contemporary art fair in Mexico. In dialogue with him, recognized with the Fidelio Ponce de León Distinction, Adelante Digital verified that his sculptures are an extension of Camagüey and himself.

Magdiel keeps the initiation work at home, but it does not belong to him. He gave it to his son. The first sculpture of him looks like anything but him. He always goes through this transition from the most obvious influences to the discovery of his own.

“My references in school were more painters than sculptors, especially the Spanish cubist, Joan Miró. The first sculptor I saw was my teacher Carlos Wambrug. He was carving a huge piece of acana. He impressed me, but we didn't learn that content in school. There was no Internet either.” Thus he tries to establish a guide at the academy, although his great teacher is a carpenter.

Magdiel started in 1992 with a piece of mahogany given by his father. He grew up watching him turn tree parts into tops, boleros, crafts.

—The Garcías have wood in their genes, do they fully master it?

—I'm still discovering it. Many things can be achieved even if it is difficult. Our woods are hard. The process takes a lot of work, from starting, ravaging, giving volume to finishing, but it is a beautiful material, very plastic. I decided to do my work with him. Many people do not make wood sculptures. In Europe and the United States I have hardly seen it.

“I have achieved all of this by showing my works myself. The first trip was to Germany. Someone saw one of my works in a gallery in Varadero where I was selling, they came to Camagüey and invited me to his gallery in the city of Heidelberg. Then they introduced me at a fair. It was super important to see the world. I visited museums, I met artists, I managed to sell, more people saw me. From there more exhibitions emerged. I have a piece in a permanent collection at the entrance to a bank, from the Volksbank in Trossingen.”

He has also been to France, Spain and Switzerland. We talk about the world from a building from 1640. It was the house of the first scribe of the Spanish chapter in the former town of Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe. For a decade it has been Magdiel's studio-gallery. It is located at 26B San Juan de Dios Street.

Great artists such as the Cuban Esterio Segura also visit there. For them he reserves the enclosure above the door that leads to the workshop part. Hammer in hand they drive in an old nail, collected by the host while he was restoring the site, and sign underneath.

—I heard that you are going to Mexico soon, can you tell us?

—I am invited by ADN Galería to the Zona Maco art fair. In the last edition they presented one of my works and they were successful. I'm crazy about getting to know Mexico. I don't know Latin America either, but you have to wait until they invite you. Many Latin clients come here, especially Mexicans and Colombians.

“I will show works from the Circo series. I start a series and I don't know when I'll finish it. I can spend a whole year until one day the circus gets a hand with an umbrella, and that's where Woman with a Parasol begins. In Man with a Cycle I put a dog's head on the last piece, that's how Man with a Dog began. I don't like to repeat anything. Each sculpture is original and I love working in series to exploit the form.”

—His sculptures invite you to a feast of the senses. The viewer's gaze is not enough. He needs his hands. Why?

—I don't have much of a sense of smell, but I do have a lot of sense of touch. I make my sculptures so that they touch each other. I have a completely interactive series. Generally, in an art center you can't touch. For me there has to be a lot of interaction with the public, even if it is not direct. My works come apart, sometimes they are puzzles. They are all related to the human figure, more or less abstract, with serious, critical and humorous touches.

“I have some polychrome series. In Circus I give some color planes, it helps me with expressiveness; but wood always appears as a foundation. “I like the feel of it.”

We walk the route of geometries with our eyes. We find bronze pieces because each series does something with that material. In the gallery area everything is not volumetric and three-dimensional. There are sketches on canvas and cardboard, and even some sort of plans for packaging. Magdiel is also famous for the beauty of its crates: “The majority of sculpture clients are foreigners. One is thinking that the work is leaving Cuba.”

We remain curious. In the patio with water and colorful fish, there is a jar from 1794, one of the oldest in Camagüey. The manufacturer minted it with a bunch of grapes and the text: I am property of Mr. José Recio and Mrs. Ángela Aróstegui.

“When I went to do the workshop, many friends questioned me. I achieved it by saving. It is a privilege to have it in a beautiful area of a heritage city, near a square that fascinates me. Clients go crazy. They can see me working and they say: <<in Europe I don't even know the artist>>”.

Back in the room, we admire the majestic representation of The Family. They have wanted to buy it, but transporting it is difficult.

Magdiel remembers the months of confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Behind closed doors he made the studio a refuge, although since then he has sold almost nothing. “I just restored it. I hope the tourists will return.”

—What happens here on a “normal” day?

—I'm coming early. If I could I would stay the whole day. According to my wife, I like the studio more than the house. Sure, it's my little territory. I love creating because when I work I am enjoying it. That is tremendous luck in life. I am strict, disciplined and tireless. To reach or get closer to the goal, you cannot waste a minute.

—As a collector, what do you like to give yourself?

—I can't buy sculptures because the spaces are already saturated with mine. I have a collection of Camagüey's paintings, works by Antonio Vidal (of the group of seven) and other artists, luckily the prop of my house is high. I also enjoy antiques, orchids, and I even have seven varieties of banana.

We are at the edge of noon. Magdiel says goodbye to us with the always warm expression “may the visit be repeated.” We nod in the certainty that even if we return soon we will find recent work and pleasant conversation. We wrote down the pending dream: “I would like to do enormous works, but I use recycled wood, most of them are beams that do not allow me to have large volumes. I know that one day I will make five and six meter sculptures. “I see my sculptures in those formats.”

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez