Ramón Menocal is a visual artist by training and education. He studied drawing and painting at the prestigious art school, Academia de San Alejandro, in Havana, Cuba, and went on to complete his studies at the University of Havana earning a Master’s Degree in Art History. He worked at the National Center of Restoration and Museums in Havana, Cuba, where he restored murals and paintings for the city. A few years later, he was awarded a full scholarship to study Mural Painting Restoration in Madrid, Spain, in El Museo Reina Sofía. There, he had the privilege of working on the preservation of paintings at La Hermita de San Antonio de La Florida in Madrid that hosts some of Goya’s greatest frescoes. Upon his return to Cuba, he was an active art restorer for the facades and buildings at the Old Havana Quarters, a World Heritage Site.
He lived both in Eastern and Western Europe before moving to the US, where he resided first in New York and, later on, in Washington, D.C. He has combined his work as a free lance Art Restorer, and Visual Painter with the teaching of Art and Spanish in various institutions.
National Center of Restoration, Conservation, and Museums, Havana, Cuba
Restorer and Visual Artist
Restore murals and paintings in:
Historical Vintage Buildings in Havana
Aldama Palace ( Institute of History)
Salon Marti in the National Palace ( Academy of Sciences)
Theater of La Caridad ( Santa Clara Province)
Façade of La Casa de las Hermanas Cárdenas ( Old Square – Old Havana)
Façade of La Casa Lombillo ( San Ignacio 364) (Old Square – Old Havana)
Catalogue all types of murals and paintings in the Historical Centers of Cuba
National Center of Conservation, Restoration, and Museums. Havana. Cuba.
Courses on:
– Criteria for restoring contemporary art works. 1995
– Auxiliary Supports in treating mural paintings. 1994
– Application of new methodologies for the restoration of oil and bi-dimensional painting. 1989
– Diagnosis and treatment of stone and metal works.1989
Freelance Art Restorer in New York City
Restore murals in churches and public buildings
PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES
February 29th, 2012 -Elliott School of International Affairs. George Washington University
Seminar and Discussion: José Martí, Cuba’s national Hero: His works and legacy
October 2012 – Department of Romance Languages. University of Mary Washington. Virginia
Latino Identities
February 2010 – Anne Arundel Community College. Maryland
Afro-latinos in the USA.
May 10th, 1996 – National Center of Conservation, Restoration, and Museum Logy, Havana, Cuba
Presentation of the new findings related to the mural paintings in the Convento de Santa Clara, Cloister II
September 21-24, 1983 – Cuban Commission for the Historical Heritage, Havana, Cuba
Seminar course on: “Inventorying Cultural Heritage”
National Center of Conservation, Restoration, and Museums. Havana, Cuba
– International Seminar on restoring art pieces in tropical climates (April 8th-9th, 1993)
– Latin American Cultural Roots (Art, Spanish Language and Literature) – 1993
– Patterns of Design in Contemporary Art – 1994
– Research of Polychromes in Historical Colonial Buildings – 1994
AWARDS & MERITS
Ministry of Culture, Cuba
1991-Award of excellence
For the research and restoration of the Cloister of Convento de Santa Clara, and the public buildings of the Old Square in Old Havana
1995 – National Museum Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
A fellowship on: “Restoration techniques in Contemporary Art”
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities
– Artist Fellowship Program Award 2009
– Teacher Mini-grant-Artist Residency. 2006
“The magic of cross-cultural paintings” ( Watkins Elementary School)
2002 – Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, Graduate Center CUNY
Some of my paintings are part of their permanent exhibit and collection
2003 – Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, CUNY
Some of my paintings are part of their permanent collection
2006 – City Hall Art Collection (The John A. Wilson Building). Washington, D.C.
Some of my paintings are part of their permanent collection
2009 – DC Commission on Art and Humanities. Washington, D.C.
Artist Fellowship
Art Bank Collection: “ Images of Washington”
COLLECTIONS
Public Collections
Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, Graduate Center CUNY. New York
Queensborough Community College Art Gallery CUNY. New York
City Hall Art Collection (The John A. Wilson Building) in Washington D.C.
Private Collections
My works of art have been acquired by private collectors across the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, South and Central America, and Europe, both Eastern and Western, Cuba, and the Caribbean.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Since 2008 – Menocal/Art/Studio Exhibitions
December 2012 – Rumba Café. Washington, D.C. “Ángeles de Cuba”
September – October 2012 – University of Mary Washington, Virginia. “Latino Identities”
2006 – Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C. “Inner Worlds”
2005 – Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Washington, D.C. “Signos para Cuba”
2001 – Queensborough Community College Art Gallery. New York. “Bajo el umbral de la conciencia”
2000 – The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York. Symposium on Cuban Culture and History. “Transculturaciones, Ajiacos, Poéticas mezcladas”
1999 – Skoto Gallery, New York. “Spain, Africa…Cuba: Before the Presence of the Immense”
1995 – Mitsubishi Motors, Prague, Czech Republic. “ Cubanidad – Cubanity”
1995 – Vida Gallery, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. “ Selected Works”
1995 – U Knihomola Gallery, P, Czech Republic. “Cuban Identity”
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
February 12th, 2015 – Pepco Edison Place Gallery. Washington, D.C. “ Light of the Ancestors”.
February 2010 – Anne Arundel Community College. Maryland. “ Afro-latinos in the USA”
November 2010 – Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Washington, D.C. “Cuban Counterpoint”
November 2007. Exxon Mobil Headquarters Building. Fairfax County. Virginia. “Hispanic Heritage Month”
2006 – The John A. Wilson Building., City Hall Art Collection, Washington D.C.
2005 – International Visions-The Gallery, Washington, D.C. “ International Small Works Competition”
2004 – Gallery M, New York, “ Black Circus”
2004 – Jadite Gallery, New York. “Los avecindados”
2003 – Healing Arts Gallery, New York. “ Los infinitos rostros de Dios”
2002 – Monique Goldstrom Gallery, New York. “ Selected works”
2001 – Mexican Cultural Institute, New York. “Apariencia Desnuda”
2001 – Skoto Gallery, New York. “Presence”
2001 – Institute of Yoruba Cultural Studies, New York. “A Celebration of Orúnmilá”
2000 – Painting and Sculpture from Cuba to Harlem, Gallery M. “Painting the Americas”
2000 – Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, New York. “New Yorkers”
2000 – Skoto Gallery, New York. “Selections”
2000 – Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York. “End Papers: 1890-1900 and 1990-2000”
1999 – Skoto Gallery, New York. “Monographies”
1998 – St. John’s University Gallery, New York. “Latin American Art in the 90s”
1998 – D’Zora House in association with the New York Public Library. “Spiritual Images”
1997 – Colombian Consulate Art Gallery, New York. “Share the spirit of angels”
1997 – Multi Cultural Club, Hunter College, New York
1995 – Barceló Hotel Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic. “Latin American Art”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books where my artistic work has been studied or referred to:
Johanna Halford-McLeod: “ Six degrees of Abstraction”. City Hall Art Collection Catalog, New York, 2006.
David Furchgott: “ A Converging Global Palette”. City Hall Art Collection Catalog, New York, 2006.
Madeleine del Toro: “ Cultural Diversity Expressed Abstracts”. Latino Long Island, 2002.
Hugo Iriart: “ Appearance Stripped Based”. Mexican Cultural Institute Catalog, 2001.
Elissa Blount: “ Multimedia Rumba”. Practicum, 2001.
Judy Collischan: “ Time drawing on”. Neuberger Museum of Art Catalog, 2000.
Mark Daniel Cohen: “ End papers”. Review 2000.
Mauricio Font: “ Cuban Counterpoints”. Cuba Project – The Graduate Center. New York. 2000.
Arthur V. Claps: “ Exploration of Latin American Art”. St John’s Today. 1998.
Eduardo Marceles: “ Latin American Art”. El Puente Latino, 1990.
PRESS RELEASES
http://www.pepco.com/library/templates/Interior.aspx?Pageid=6442454157&id=6442456642
http://www.123soho.com/artists/featured/f_artist_index_artist.phtml?artnum=artidv00106&initial=M
http://aavad.com/artistbibliog.cfm?id=18267
http://www.inter-visions.com/International_Small_Works_Competition.asp
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Angeles-de-Cuba.html?soid=1102578454577&aid=2mhd11ONJCk
http://www.qgazette.com/news/2001-11-21/Community_Calendar/001.html
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/25/2/25_02bric.html
http://www.havananewyork.com/ads/qbava_gallery_5_10/
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/CubaNews/conversations/topics/115247
http://news.fredericksburg.com/entertainment/2012/09/12/calendar-september-13-20/