Brief history of the Habano Festival auctions

Luciano Méndez, Spanish collector. Photo: Taken from the EFE agency.
Luciano Méndez, Spanish collector. Photo: Taken from the EFE agency.
The artist from Camagüey Roberto Fabelo has been the man of the auctions in the Habano Festival. Since 2017, works of his authorship in different formats and styles have always been up for bid.
 
First piece, 2017
 
This is the romantic Rhinoceros humidor made of thirty pounds of silver and cedar, a sculpture worked in detail by its author. It combines, in turn, functional value with artistic beauty, from which animals and people emerge, as we are used to in his creative routine, from a cauldron. The piece was purchased for $115,000.
 

                                                        

Second work, 2018
 
The triptych of colour drawings on black cardboard Voluta rosiverde, Voluta pegasus and Nodriza (2017) was sold to a collector in Singapore for $80,000. It is a piece inspired by the world of tobacco by this famous Cuban artist.
 
The initial amount of the triptych was 30,000 dollars, a price almost tripled and that exceeded the expectations of the organizers of the auction. Fabelo's great attraction for collectors is the versatility of his works as a painter, drawer, sculptor and illustrator.
 
Third piece, 2019
 
This time the work at auction was titled Smoke in the Eyes, a crayon painting on craft paper measuring 146 x 97 cm, which was acquired by the renowned Spanish collector Luciano Mendez for a price of $122,500.

                                                      

Fourth work, 2020
 
Nioperro is the title of the piece that was up for bid this Tuesday, February 25, at the Meliá Habana Hotel, where the Spaniard Luciano Méndez repeated. Also participating were the CEO of EBM (Marketing Solutions) Virgilio Cano, as well as the director of the food company Vima, Victor Moro, ambassadors, among other Italian collectors and from different countries.
 
The final price of Nioperro was 170 thousand dollars, a figure offered by a German collector. As is tradition, these funds are used for Cuban public health.