Almost every day Orlando Almanza takes a break from painting, grabs a chai, and wanders through his neighborhood art supply store. The abundance of paint, brushes and canvas still thrills him, two years after moving to Portland from Havana, Cuba. “It may be hard for people to understand,” he says, “but where I come from there is none of this stuff!”
Almanza was born in Amancio Rodriguez Las Tunas, a small rural town in the eastern part of Cuba, nearly 400 miles from Havana. Growing up, “there was no TV, no radio, no cell phones,” so Almanza spent his time swimming in the river and sitting by his grandfather’s side, listening to elaborate Cuban myths and stories.
When he moved to Havana for art school in 2009, he tried to leave his rural past behind and blend into the urban art scene. His professors showed him the work of the great European masters, “and as …