Cuban Artists Anticipate Flood of Buyers From the U.S.
古巴藝術家等候美國買家
By Victoria Burnett

HAVANA – Kadir López was working in his studio at his elegant home here when the doorbell rang. It was Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
卡迪爾．羅佩茲在他優雅家中的工作室工作，此時門鈴響了。是同為演員的威爾史密斯和他的妻子嘉妲．平克特．史密斯。

“I had no idea they were coming,” said Mr. López, whose work incorporates salvaged American signs and ads that were torn down after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
羅佩茲說：「我不知道他們要來。」羅佩茲的工作涵蓋搶救費岱爾．卡斯楚1959年透過革命上台之後，遭到拆毀的美國招牌和廣告看板。

About an hour and $45,000 later, Mr. Smith had bought “Coca Cola-Galiano,” a 2.4-by-1.2-meter Coca-Cola sign on which Mr. López had superimposed a 1950s photograph of what was once one of the most bustling commercial streets in Havana.
約莫1小時與4萬5000美元之後，史密斯買走了「可口可樂－賈利亞諾」，這是一塊長2.4公尺、寬1.2公尺的招牌。羅佩茲在它上面疊加了一張1950年代的照片，照片內容是街景，而這條街道曾經是哈瓦那市最熱鬧的數條街道之一。

A year later, Mr. López is still happily incredulous.
事隔一年，羅佩茲還是喜不自勝。

“Where else in the world does Will Smith turn up on an artist’s doorstep?” he said.
他說：「全世界還有什麼地方，威爾史密斯會出現在一個藝術家的門口？」

Now more collectors, art connoisseurs and institutions are eagerly gearing up to travel to Cuba after President Obama’s decision to loosen the economic embargo. Here they will find an art scene where artists who have been cut off from supplies and the Internet have at the same time been celebrated by international buyers whose curiosity and determination brought them to Cuba long before talk of a thaw.
歐巴馬總統決定放寬美國對古巴的經濟禁運，現在越來越多的收藏家、藝術鑑賞家和機構已迫不及待，準備前往古巴。在這裡，他們會發現一個藝術景象，藝術家雖然用品供應和網路連結一直遭到切斷，卻同時受到國際買家追捧，早在美古關係可能解凍的說法出現前，好奇心和決心即已驅使他們來到古巴。

Cuban artists – from the most established to those still studying at the Higher Institute of Art – receive visits from institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and from intellectuals who travel to Cuba on “people-to-people” trips that are permitted under the embargo.
古巴的藝術家，從已經鼎鼎有名者到還在高等藝術學院就讀的學生，都會接待來自紐約現代美術館等機構與知識分子階層的訪客。他們是以在禁運下仍許可的「人民對人民」方式成行。

“The phenomenon is very unusual,” said Carlos Garaicoa, a photographer and sculpture who splits his time between Havana and Madrid.
卡洛斯．賈萊科亞說：「這種現象非比尋常。」他是哈瓦那與馬德里兩頭居住的一位攝影家兼雕塑家。

That pipeline of art lovers is about to grow, predicts Alberto Magnan, whose New York gallery Magnan Metz specializes in Cuban art. Mr. Magnan received 25 calls from collectors on December 17, after President Obama announced that the two countries would move to restore diplomatic ties. He is now booked through March with Cuba visits.
艾伯多．馬尼昂預測，循這種管道前來的藝術愛好者一定會增加。他在紐約主持的馬尼昂梅斯畫廊專營古巴藝術。去年12月17日美國總統歐巴馬宣布美古將恢復邦交後，馬尼昂接獲25通電話。現在他前往古巴的行程已排到3月底。

Steve Wilson, a Louisville, Kentucky-based collector with Mr. Magnan in Havana, bought eight pieces, mainly by young artists, with price tags between $1,500 and $15,000 at the Fábrica de Arte Cubano, in a converted factory.
肯塔基州路易斯維爾市的收藏家史蒂夫．威爾遜和馬尼昂在哈瓦那購買了8件藝術品，主要是年輕藝術家之作，價格從1500美元到1萬5000美元不等，全在設於一間由工廠改裝而成內的古巴藝術工房內成交。

Mr. Wilson, a founder of 21c Museum Hotels, which house contemporary artworks, said he hoped the opening would allow him to organize residencies for Cuban artists in the United States and vice versa.
威爾遜是收藏當代藝術的21c博物館飯店的創辦人，他說他希望開放後，他可獲准安排古巴藝術家赴美長住，反之亦然。

Since the 1990s, the Cuban government has given extra freedom to artists, allowing them to travel and keep much of their income.
1990年代開始，古巴政府給予藝術家額外自由，准許四處旅行並保有大部分收入。

Still, a lot of artists are barely known, especially outside Havana, said Sandra Levinson of the Center for Cuban Studies in New York.
儘管如此，紐約古巴研究中心的桑德拉．李文森說，許多古巴藝術家仍鮮為人知，特別是哈瓦那以外地區。

“I think there’s still a lot to be discovered,” said Ms. Levinson, who was in Cuba when the news of the détente broke.
李文森說：「我認為還有很多有待發現。」美、古緊張關係緩和的消息傳出時，李文森人在古巴。

Jonathan S. Blue, a Louisville financier who has a dozen Cuban pieces whose prices ranged from $2,500 to $300,000, said he would return to Cuba for the fifth time. “I think the time between seeing a piece I like and the decision to purchase will be decreased,” he said.
路易斯維爾市金融家強納森．布魯擁有12件古巴藝術品，價格從2500美元至30萬美元不等，他說他將第五次重返古巴。他說：「我認為從看中一件藝術品到決定買下它的時間，將會縮短。」

Mr. Blue’s Cuban works include a vinyl record made of coiled eight-track cassette tape by Glenda León, and two pieces by Alexandre Arrechea, including “Sherry Netherland,” a steel sculpture of the new York apartment hotel.
布魯的古巴作品包括由格倫達．萊昂所作，以螺旋狀八軌磁帶製成的黑膠唱片，以及亞歷山大．阿雷契亞的兩件作品，其中一件是紐約公寓飯店「雪莉荷蘭」的一座鋼雕作品。

When Cuban artists enjoy the attention of foreign art lovers, few islanders have the income to buy art, said Adrián Fernández, 30, who set up a studio in 2003 with fellow artists Frank Mujica, 29, and Alex Hernandez Dueñas, 32.
30歲的阿德里安．費南德茲說，雖然古巴藝術家受到外國藝術愛好者注目，古巴當地卻很少有人收入多到買得起藝術品。費南德茲和29歲的同行藝術家法蘭克．穆希卡，以及32歲的艾歷克斯．赫南德茲．杜埃尼亞斯2013年共同成立了一個工作室。

After received free nine-year art education, they are now example of the contradictions facing artists: The three, whose works sell for between $500 and $8,000, are represented by a Belgian gallery Verbeeck-Van Dyck, and each has a solo show there this year. Their studio is in a house in an upscale neighborhood – they got a deal from a divorcing couple, though they wouldn’t say how much they paid. But they have to bring everything they need, from track lighting to canvasses, from abroad. And, Mr. Fernández confessed, “We are all still living with our parents.”
在接受過9年免費藝術教育後，他們面對的矛盾代表著現在許多藝術家共同的經驗。作品售價500美元到8000美元不等的3人，由比利時畫廊「沃比克-凡戴克」任經紀，三人今年在比利時都有個展。他們的工作室是在高檔社區的一棟房子內，他們以划算的價格從一對要離婚的夫婦處取得這房子，但不願透露金額。不過，他們所需的一切，從軌道照明燈具到畫布，都得從國外帶進來。費南德茲坦承，「我們都仍和父母住在一起」。

One thing that will change if the number of collectors rises, Ms. Levinson said: The artists will become less accessible. “They can’t spend all their time meeting foreigners” who drop in, she said. “They have to be able to find time to work.”
收藏者數量增加時，有件事定會改變。李文森說，人們將較不容易見到藝術家。她說：「他們不能把所有時間花在會見（意外來訪的）外國人上。他們必須有時間創作。」

原文參照：                                                                    
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/30/arts/cubas-art-scene-awaits-a-travel-boom.html

2015-02-03聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 王麗娟譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版上