Valery Katsuba | PHOTOGRAPHY LITERATURE VIDEO PERFORMANCE

Valery Katsuba

REALISMO ROMÁNTICO. CUBA

ROMANTIC REALISM. CUBA by Valery Katsuba
is an independent project and part of a larger photographic series: Classical and Contemporary Models. The Cuban project, 15 images, continues the artist's photography sessions conducted in St. Petersburg, Madrid and Mexico City.
In Havana, in 2023, Katsuba photographed students of the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts. At the Grand Theater in the Cuban capital and on the Malecón, he photographed dancers from the Cuban National Ballet. In the courtyard of the University of Havana, at the National Museum of Decorative Arts, and in the squares of Havana, Katsuba photographed artists from the National Circus and athletes.

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS:

1. Valery Katsuba. THE FAREWELL ON THE MALECÓN AT SUNSET. Habana, 2023. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
2. Valery Katsuba. THE FAREWELL ON THE MALECON IN THE SUNLIGHT. Havana. Sizes 55x60; 91x100; 137x150 cm. Ed. 6
3. Valery Katsuba. DRAWING CLASS. Students of the San Alejandro Academy. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
4. Valery Katsuba. THE VOLLEYBALL PLAYER AMONG THE CLASSICAL COLUMNS. Habana, 2023. Sizes 57x60; 95x100; 142x150 cm. Ed. 6
5. Valery Katsuba. LIKE A BLACKSMITH. Habana, 2023. Sizes 60x52; 100x87; 150x130 cm. Ed. 6
6. Valery Katsuba. THE COURTYARD OF IMAGINARY SCULPTURES. Habana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
7. Valery Katsuba.THE GARDEN OF THE ATLANTIS. Habana, 2023. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
8. Valery Katsuba. LIKE VENUS. Havana. Sizes 50x45; 100x90; 150x135 cm. Ed. 6
9. Valery Katsuba. IMAGINARY SCULPTURE (female). The Great Theatre. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
10. Valery Katsuba. IMAGINARY SCULPTURE (male). The Great Theatre. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
11. Valery Katsuba. THE ELEGANCE. THE GREAT THEATER. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
12. Valery Katsuba. THE ATHLETE. THE GREAT THEATER. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
13. Valery Katsuba. LIKE A BIRD. THE GREAT THEATER. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
14. Valery Katsuba. THE VOLLEYBALL PLAYER IN FRONT OF THE JOSÉ MARTÍ STADIUM. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6
15. Valery Katsuba. THE VOLLEYBALL PLAYER IN CALIXTO GARCÍA PARK. Havana. Sizes 60x60; 100x100; 150x150 cm. Ed. 6

REALISMO ROMÁNTICO. CUBA

Valery Katsuba: A ROMANTIC LENSER IN HAVANA By Denys San Jorge (curator)

Valery Katsuba is an artist and photographer who is interested, above all, in the relative immutability of landscapes and architecture. Cuba was another setting that seduced him to create his work.

His visit to Havana allowed him to discover the wonders of this city, its men and women in constant utopia. The artist, who champions the union of the classic and the everyday, contemplates the city with respect from a new perspective, in which his lens speaks in many ways in these Havana works.

We can appreciate in his photographs the relationship his subjects have with the city: observing the line of the Malecón, which borders and caresses this metropolis so deeply rooted in art, human forms posing among Greek pillars, interior courtyards, or traditional and modern public spaces in this capital. Valery's creativity allows him to embrace and pay homage to this city, its people, its island everyday life, and that architectural eclecticism that identifies us and transcends time, giving rise to another Romantic Realism, now in Havana.

Valery knows well that classical tradition unites not only time but also space, and Cuba enchants him and gives him reasons to describe and tell his own stories based on his captures or experiences, which he fictionalizes like a good storyteller.

This Cuban version of his work is perceived as another sequence within his extensive portfolio and becomes a fitting tribute to the island, its architecture, its artistic education, and also its people, ordinary people he immortalizes within his usual photographic iconography, displayed in important museums and galleries on different continents.

With Romantic Realism. Cuba, Valery Katsuba reveals himself to us as an admirer par excellence of our city. Havana may strike him as another of those melodies, like an accordion waltz, like the ones he heard in his native Belarus.

Camera in hand, this artist captures snapshots of professional models, architectural spaces, and ordinary inhabitants surrounding a magical space, bathed in the breeze and salt of an island city, both classic and contemporary. While working, he allows him to reflect on the ideal environment for people in their space and on a state of perfection for the island. His work serves as a bond of brotherhood and peace among human beings in their own contexts.