Cernuda Arte

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Flora Fong<br>Día de Fuego y Mar<br>(<i>A Day of Fire and Sea</i>), 2011<br>mixed media on canvas<br>44 1/2 x 49 1/2 inches<br></br>The attraction toward the natural surroundings has become, for Flora Fong, a true specialty within her work. The artist, with her slight stature and delicate demeanor, exhibits the traces of a unique blending of cultures. In this case, her heritage carries considerable proportions of the Orient through the father, a Chinese national who married a Cuban woman.<br></br>Now we ask ourselves, how does this woman perceive the vigorous natural surroundings which characterize the Cuban archipelago, that enchanted island garden so admired by visitors from all over the world? Her very dark, oblique eyes, made as if to grant passage only to what is essential, act as filters of the many details reaching the
boundaries of her pupils. Then, bathed in courage and spirit, with the senses as mediators between that which has been inherited and the results attained through rigorous professional training, a potent mixture occurs, taking shape
in an artistic formula that suddenly appears. This artistic formula emerges – born in a fortuitous fusion of the ecstasy of passion and the moderating power of taste – producing works which have provoked such widespread interest.<br></br>It is not difficult to find in her expression, features situated within the confines of “abstract expressionism”. Vigorous outlines, abundant use of the color black to contain the presence of hues, and the resonance of sentiment.
On the other hand, the themes being forged seem drawn from the catalog of tradition: landscapes, marinas, still lives. The vast expanse of the panorama and a kind of “close up” of plantain trees, sunflowers or tobacco leaves that
remits the viewer to an intimate structure, to a fundamental place, are inseparable aspects of her poetics. However, if we tend to think that static, minute, or overly detailed grasp is what moves the artist, (decidedly, the draw of the
beloved motifs of the mother country), then we are committing a basic error of appreciation. Flora Fong’s paintings pulsate with the vitality of dynamic transition: the subtle breath of a breeze or the violent gusts of a hurricane,
tousled royal palms, the flow of currents. The enticement of a potential return to the seed. The presence of that which is carried by Cubans throughout their lives, and which marks the most profound embers of national identity.<br></br>Alejandro Alonso, <i>excerpt from The Motifs of the Mother Country</i>, Cernuda Arte, April 2001, page 3.

Flora Fong
Día de Fuego y Mar
(A Day of Fire and Sea), 2011
mixed media on canvas
44 1/2 x 49 1/2 inches

The attraction toward the natural surroundings has become, for Flora Fong, a true specialty within her work. The artist, with her slight stature and delicate demeanor, exhibits the traces of a unique blending of cultures. In this case, her heritage carries considerable proportions of the Orient through the father, a Chinese national who married a Cuban woman.

Now we ask ourselves, how does this woman perceive the vigorous natural surroundings which characterize the Cuban archipelago, that enchanted island garden so admired by visitors from all over the world? Her very dark, oblique eyes, made as if to grant passage only to what is essential, act as filters of the many details reaching the boundaries of her pupils. Then, bathed in courage and spirit, with the senses as mediators between that which has been inherited and the results attained through rigorous professional training, a potent mixture occurs, taking shape in an artistic formula that suddenly appears. This artistic formula emerges – born in a fortuitous fusion of the ecstasy of passion and the moderating power of taste – producing works which have provoked such widespread interest.

It is not difficult to find in her expression, features situated within the confines of “abstract expressionism”. Vigorous outlines, abundant use of the color black to contain the presence of hues, and the resonance of sentiment. On the other hand, the themes being forged seem drawn from the catalog of tradition: landscapes, marinas, still lives. The vast expanse of the panorama and a kind of “close up” of plantain trees, sunflowers or tobacco leaves that remits the viewer to an intimate structure, to a fundamental place, are inseparable aspects of her poetics. However, if we tend to think that static, minute, or overly detailed grasp is what moves the artist, (decidedly, the draw of the beloved motifs of the mother country), then we are committing a basic error of appreciation. Flora Fong’s paintings pulsate with the vitality of dynamic transition: the subtle breath of a breeze or the violent gusts of a hurricane, tousled royal palms, the flow of currents. The enticement of a potential return to the seed. The presence of that which is carried by Cubans throughout their lives, and which marks the most profound embers of national identity.

Alejandro Alonso, excerpt from The Motifs of the Mother Country, Cernuda Arte, April 2001, page 3.

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