Today we’d like to introduce you to Alaen Ledesma Fernandez.
Alaen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Alaen Ledesma Fernández. I was born and raised on the island of Cuba, in the city of Havana, a professional trained in more than one country; curator, art consultant and cultural promoter. I’ve always been linked to the Arts one way or another. As a teenager, I studied ballet, dance and theater; and later on, I majored in Dance and Classic Ballet from the Cuban Superior Institute of Art. Also, I have a B.A. in Economics from the University of Havana. I devoted to classical dance for more than 16 years. It was my passion and what got me interested for long. As a child, I was a great lover of the Cuban ballet. In a few words, I could say that I’m a born ballet-addict.
I developed my passion for ballet collaterally to my studies in economics, given that my father never supported my interest to become a classical dancer. He argued that it was “a too-short career,” and I think he was also biased by some socio-cultural taboos in Cuba during the ’90s. Despite all this, I never left my artistic vocation behind. I had the great privilege of being trained in the workshops hosted by Cuban National Ballet, directed by the Cuban Prima Ballerina Alicia Alonso, and in 2008, I finally graduated from the Cuban Superior Institute of Art. Even when I was no longer living in Cuba, whenever I got back to the Island, I made sure to take ballet classes every morning.
My environment was always made up of dancers, painters and musicians who are nowadays part of prestigious companies all over the world. Some of them are even artists of great international renown, which makes me feel very proud. I traveled through several countries and continents and I luckily got to know many different people and cultures. I even established in Italy and Argentina for several years.
My so varied experiences gave me the opportunity to meet numerous plastic artists and to build a new vision of Art, which would reshape my life in the years to come. For long, just to mention a few, I worked with painters such as Zaida del Rio, Carlos Guzmán, Alicia Leal and Alicia de la Campa. This is how, in February 2014, I hosted my first exhibition in Cuba as a curator at the 15th International Habano Festival, presenting the incredible work of artist Carlos Guzmán. The exhibition, called Tu Aroma Seductor (Your Seductive Aroma), turned out to be very successful and highly acclaimed by the festival critics. Actually, it made my first entry to the United States possible, thanks to an invitation to participate with artist Carlos Guzman in Artexpo, New York, 2014.
New York changed my view of the world to such an extent that I decided to start a new life in the United States, thus embarking on a new journey with the Arts. Subsequently, I lived for seven months in Manhattan, where I worked on my first American-born art project with businesswoman and colleague Fabiola Goris in Harlem. This time the exhibition was titled “I Dream of Cuba: Reflections on a Cuban Presence” and was presented in July 2014 at Firehouse Manhattan Neighborhood Network. It hosted 6 Cuban artists, a Dominican artist, an American artist, and an African American artist named John Van Means. It was precisely Mr. Van Means, the person who guided me through each of my tours to the museums of New York City, which would fill my soul with desires to do. For Mr. Van Means, I must say, I hold special gratitude.
Manhattan then led me to the city of Miami, where many of my childhood friends and dear relatives live. Mujeres con Alas (Winged Women) would then be my next exhibition at a cultural center in Little Havana called Barrio Workshop, this time presenting two great women of the Cuban arts: Zaida del Río and Alicia Leal. The exhibition was equally acclaimed by specialized critics and set an important stamp on my career as a curator.
Consequently, Mr. Pedro Pablo Peña, director and founder of the Miami Hispanic Art Cultural Center, the quintessential house of the Miami Ballet, invited me to exhibit at his institution on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. This new exhibition was brought to live on August 29, 2015, under the name of Convite a la Danza (An Invite to Dance) and opened my career portfolio to a new variety of artistic projects. This time, however, I wanted to provide an opportunity to young emerging artists with great talent. Somehow, I felt that was a new artistic responsibility I should comply with.
In 2016, I moved to Key West, in Florida, a city I quickly fell in love with. In brief, Key West brought my inner peace back to me. Here I could walk again freely through the streets. I could tour the city on a bike, I could wander barefoot on the sand. It was a feeling that got me closer to my years in Cuba: I just felt home. Shortly after my arrival, I started working for one of the most prestigious galleries of the city and the only one hosting a selected group of Cuban-born plastic artists: “Gallery on Greene.” There I worked for three years and had the opportunity to curate more than 15 different exhibitions of the works of renowned plastic artists from the Florida Keys. Undoubtedly, it was an amazing experience. Gallery on Greene deepened my knowledge of Art and gave me a precise vision of how to manage an art gallery in the United States.
In February 2018, I decided to resume my projects with the Cuban Arts as an independent curator. It was then that I exhibited “Crafting Hands: Passion, Light and Color” at artist@the armory, a historic city building turned into an old armory where famous local artists still have their studios. This was my first independent exhibition in Key West and luckily ended up catching the attention of many residents who already knew my work as a curator.
On the occasion of “Crafting Hands,” the Florida Keys Arts Council invited me to take part in a beautiful project seeking to display art in public city buildings of. This is when an exhibition called Visiones de Cuba (Visions of Cuba) was born, specifically between the months of February and April 2019. Visiones de Cuba gathered the work of more than 50 Cuban artists based in different countries around the world. It was held in the emblematic and historic Gato Cigar Factory, a building built by Cubans in 1871 that brought us together through the great history between our two countries for more than 150 years.
After the success of Visions of Cuba, equally supported by the Arts Council of Key West, I exhibited “90 miles to Havana” between May and July 2019. Thus, for six continuous months, the Cuban art embellished the old walls of the prestigious Gato Cigar Factory, offering everyone the chance to enjoy the work of renowned Cuban artists for free through more than 90 works on display.
Thanks to the great acceptance of these exhibitions, I met Ms. Maria Perez, director of Roberto Russell Galleries at Ocean Sotheby’s Realty. With María, a loving Cuban who quickly stole my heart, I had the opportunity to exhibit Cuban art in Islamorada. Therefore, in September 2019, Roberto Russell Galleries hosted “The Charm of the Florida Keys,” an exhibition that displayed the vivid work of painter Esteban Machado.
Finally, also last year, without even imagining that a lethal virus would attack the human body in 2020, causing so many deaths, I exhibited Corpus. This was an exhibition that gathered the work of five talented Cuban painters and addressed the outer and inner beauty of the human being as a general theme.
At this point, after four long months, I find myself working on new projects and presenting my first collaboration with two American artists who have exhibited their artwork for more than 20 years: Susan Sugar and Cathy Rose. The exhibition this time was named “Dreaming” and will be displayed until July 26 at the Jag Gallery, for which I have been working since its inauguration in January of this year. “Dreaming,” in short, is giving me the immense privilege of working closely with these two great artists, who touch the most sensitive parts of the human soul through their art.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
There are always many obstacles on the path of life. The truth, it was not easy to get here. Life is a constant struggle and the important thing is to learn from each experience. At the end of the road, there is always a light; and every day dawns for another. My biggest obstacle, I could say, has been the English language and being apart from my family. My parents always taught me that with love, work, sacrifice and humbleness, everything could be achieved and that my work would always speak for me.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
I am a curator, an art dealer, an art consultant and a Cuban art promoter. Being a curator is much more than hanging pictures. Very often, our work is not valued or noticed by many. Behind a good exhibition, there is always the hand of a good curator. The curator creates a thesis of the sample, does research, designs the museography and the curatorship itself in order to achieve a successful proposal in all its details. The role of curators has resulted in more interesting exhibitions. Showing an exhibition is not an academic exercise for elite agents, but the work of an intellectual who creates a work of art: “the curatorship.”
When a curatorship is well done, it enhances and honors the work of the participating artists. The quality of a curator is not measured based on academic requirements or the attractiveness of the works presented, but rather on the quality of their proposal. Representing artists and leading their careers is not an easy task. Carrying out an artist’s career is an everyday struggle that never stops.
During all these years, I have focused on giving Cuban art a place in the Florida Keys. Human existence lasts only one trip and is limited to one time: the time that we must live in. What we decide to do depends on us. The travel is done by the traveler. The road has no limits, knows no forms and does not have an owner. We are responsible for our own journey through life. I have a lot to learn, but I also have a lot to give and a lot to do in this, my city of Key West.
What were you like growing up?
I have had many proud moments throughout my life. In recent years, I could say that I was very proud to bring the Nutcracker back to life 2018 at my 46 years old, invited and directed by the icon of the Key West Ballet, Mrs. Joyce Stahl.
I am also proud of all that I have achieved and for being able to make the Cuban arts visible in the Florida Keys, and especially in Key West. I’ll always be grateful to have the support of the Florida Keys Arts Council, the Latin American Art magazine and Ocean Sotheby’s Realty Key West and Islamorada, all of whom have trusted each of my proposals and given me a place in his doing and in his family.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1308 William Street, Key West Florida 33040
- Phone: 3058498515
- Email: latinamericanartkeywest@gmail.com
- Instagram: Alaenelchino
- Facebook: Alaen Ledesma Fernández
- Twitter: Alaen Ledesma Fernández
Image Credit:
Photographs taken by: Debra Ferragamo-Hayes and Roberto Otero
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