Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Isla Llorona for Queen's University

An alumni of Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, NC just donated the below 1978 painting of mine to the University!

"Isla Llorona" Oil and Acrylics on Gessoed Paper. 1978 F. Lennox Campello, 37.5 x 50 inches (framed)
"Isla Llorona"
Oil and Acrylics on Gessoed Paper. 1978 F. Lennox Campello, 37.5 x 50 inches (framed)

This 1978 painting is from my Cuba series, which I did for a class assignment while a student at the School of Art at The University of Washington and brooding, green Seattle.

This series, which I actually started in 1976, before I was even a college student, uses the brutalized island of Cuba to deliver textual and visual messages about the sad fate of the continent's longest running dictatorship.

On this piece, I painted the words "Cachita, si puedes tu con Dios hablar, preguntale por que razon, al Caribe, con mis lagrimas quiere llenar."  

This translates to: The words in Spanish translate to: “Cachita, if you can talk to God, ask Him why with my tears the Caribbean He wants to fill…”

Cachita is the familiar Cuban slang for the Virgin of The Charity of El Cobre, the Patron Saint of Cuba.