Inaugurate Expo Manuel is a Manual

In homage to the 80th birthday of the artist from Matanzas Manuel Hernández, the personal exhibition of graphic humor Manuel is a manual was inaugurated, at Galería 23 y 12, in Havana.

The exhibition, which will be available to the public until May, includes more than 15 cartoons taken from the Cuban media with which the creator from the western province of Matanzas collaborated for decades.

I don’t really like tributes, but I appreciate them because they are recognition of the work one has done over the years; It is like a dream, looking back and seeing some of the drawings I did, seeing that I have gone through, worked and used my life in order to grow and help others grow, declared the Cuban cartoonist during the opening of the exhibition.

Humor has an indisputable role in the history of culture and the formation of national consciousness and Manuel is one of the great exponents of graphic humor of all time, affirmed the Cuban Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso.

The event is part of the initiatives of the XXIII International Biennial of Graphic Humorism 2023, and was sponsored by the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets, the Ministry of Culture, the National Council of Plastic Arts, the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (Uneac ), the Union of Cuban Journalists and the gallery.

There is double cause for celebration today for our honoree: 40 years of exhibiting graphic humor in this room and 80 years of his fruitful life, in which his drawings and the balloons of his texts enjoy a surprising freshness and relevance, acknowledged the also editorial cartoonist for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde, Adán Iglesias, president of the Uneac Graphic Humor section.

Manuel Hernández’s work is mainly linked to caricature, painting and ceramics.

He is the José Martí National Journalism Prize (2001) and the National Humor Prize (2006) and has participated in group shows and Humor Halls in Belgium, Germany, France, Venezuela, Bulgaria and nine other countries.

During his prolific career he collaborated with Cuban national media such as Bohemia magazine, and the newspapers Granma, Juventud Rebelde, Girón, Dedeté and Palante. (ALH)

Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon