Storm Cloud

Mario Torroella is a unique figure within the vast Cuban diaspora. In addition to being an accomplished artist, he is also a successful retired architect based in the greater Boston area of Massachusetts. His family has been intricately linked to Cuban history on and off the island, including being close to the founder of Ybor City, and having ancestors who were Cuban governors and ambassadors, lending a unique richness in cultural perspective to Torroella.\nOver the course of a more than six decade career, Torroella has developed his own discernible visual language of symbols and techniques inspired by numerous sources. Two of his most pronounced early influences that have evolved yet remain evident are those of Joan Miró and African art, which plays a key role in Cuban art and culture due to the slave trade. His works often use color, texture, and loose forms to evoke feelings beyond specific imagery.\nTorroella has exhibited his work across Switzerland, France, Spain, and the United States and his work has been featured in several books and magazines. His prominent collectors included famed architect Josep Lluís Sert, the Bacardi Family, and Marta Permuy. His work is also found in the permanent collection of Harvard University, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Velez-Malaga, and the Fundacion Maria Zambrano in Andalucia, Spain.\nThis piece is one of his abstract works, though, as is typical of most of his oeuvre, it contains layers of meaning. While at first glance it might seem to be a work of total abstraction, the blue curved outline suggests the titular cloud, while the green outline suggests a pillar. Within the context of Torroella’s body of work, pillars are often stand-in symbols for religious altars, particularly those of the Afrocuban tradition. Therefore, to read into and “decode” the layers of what we see abstractly conveyed in this piece, a cloud hovers above an altar surrounded by burgundy tones. The colors represent and reinforce a connection to the African Yoruba deity Oya, the goddess of storms, weather, power, change and transformation.\nTorroella uses his distinctive style and image to paint with an intuitive “cultural osmosis” (as he puts it) whereby over decades of development, narratives and sub-narratives unconsciously present themselves and weave into one another with a unifying theme of Cuba, whether in abstraction or realism. This piece uses Miroesque minimalist forms, colors, and abstraction to convey an Afrocuban subject matter in his unique style and textural flourishes. Lastly, this piece is also notable for being featured on the cover of the magazine Ars Atelier City (issue 6, Fall 2012).