It is well known that art in any of its manifestations is a challenge to the individual creator and that every true work contains the secrets of an era.
Having had the opportunity to inaugurate this exhibition of the plastic artist Yanela Ruano Fernandez and having talked with her and observed her work, a number of words could be said, without any kind of demagogy, referring to the deep aesthetic values that it contains.
Alluding to the title of one of her series, Another Side of the Artist on Scene, of which Yanela spoke to me, I think that rather than being limited to the architectural elements visible in her work, it appeals to another dimension of her creative poetics and I believe that this is nothing more than a metaphor that alludes to man’s need to elevate himself towards a spirituality that today more than ever is necessary for us. I do not agree with a criterion expressed by Yanela in our conversation in her studio when she said that her painting is a means of escape. We could speak of escape if you as an artist did not have among the coordinates of your work to make you and those around you better. It is my opinion that her paintings are inserted in the line in which imagination is sometimes more powerful than reasoning, and this as we all know, is the great subliminal power that all sentient beings experience when contemplating the work of art.
It is valid for what I have noted in the previous paragraph what, in an essential essay, one of our most notable essayists, Mirta Aguirre says:

“…because of the emotional charge in the aesthetic, art is irreplaceable… There is where reasoning falls into the void, where an unexpected work can cause a blow to sensibility. Where general reflections crash, the concrete vs the sensibility can be decisive. You need a certain degree of sensitivity, a sense of conscience that is necessary for the heart to feel without the ears needing to see. And, in its awe, lets you see the immense power of creative thought that can translate into images.”

It is precisely this world of architectural forms of Yanela Ruano Fernandez that we approach today. Born in Santiago de Cuba, of a father who is also a painter and in a specific context in which a special urban fabric characterizes her city, Yanela has taken advantage of these resources to weave a story in her works that goes beyond the given. That is to say, the facticity of a piece of reality juxtaposed with architectural forms of the Gothic style establishes an expressive duality that leads us to a spiritual reflection and let’s not hesitate to say a religious one as well; that this new style promulgated her aesthetic foundation: the search for a spiritual attainment that points to the most hidden parts of the universe. Here in her work, the elements that make up the creative work of an artist are irrevocably reflected: the physical, the spiritual and the conceptual.
As we inaugurate this exhibition today of the artist Yanela Ruano Fernández; all of us being here in front of her work, we see three obvious slopes: physical work, spiritual energy and concept, which summarize the main argument of all creative production because we already know that Art is an element of spiritual culture and what is decisive are the ideas contained in it. The ideas that emanate from the work of Yanela Ruano Fernández establish the contrast between an earthly state in which we all move and that other dimension represented by the oval forms of Gothic architecture, and whatever philosophical ideas we profess, we all need to work towards: Our elevation as human beings to a level of spirituality that makes us better human beings.
Having said all this, I dare to ask everyone, including myself, is art a useless passion? A very important English writer tells us something that leads us to meditate: Nobody needs anything one is going to write about. People need cheese, cars or dresses…and she continues: Artwork is absolutely superfine, so you can write whatever you like.
I don’t agree with this aestheticist vision of culture. A painting like the one Yanela Ruano gives us today has a mission of clarity, illuminates a piece of our reality, opens a clearing in the forest of confusing experiences and puts clean through the inherent elements of art the ideas that her mind and creative look want to transmit: the desire to lift the burden from the burdened.
Another important painter, Claude Monet, gave us an important lesson: the persistence of the gaze to discover what is interesting. In the thousands of water lilies and painted landscapes he created, there was a purpose, which was to make us see that there was something more than the stable and permanent.
I remain with this vision of painting. And I perceive this vision in Yanela Ruano’s work: the eagerness to build an aesthetic project in which she wants us to see that for her, painting is a vital necessity to express and bring to light the inexhaustible sensitive world that she carries inside.

Ramon Menocal Leon
Havana, August 10, 2007