Step just a few miles outside Havana and you’ll find Jaimanitas, a seaside village full of fishermen, farmers and other working-class citizens. But this is no ordinary fishing village. Visitors come from far and wide to witness this unique, living village of art and to meet the artist himself, José Fuster.
Jaimanitas wasn’t always a masterpiece, a tourist destination, or even a particularly notable community. Thirty years ago, it was a rundown fishing village like any other in Cuba. The quality of life was low and the scenery was glum at best. Then José Fuster, a local artist, started reviving the spirit of Jaimanitas, one structure at a time. He started with his own workshop, bedecking the exterior and interior alike with his surrealist creations, including a life-sized chess set in the yard. Once he spruced up his own workshop, fascinated neighbors started offering him their own homes to decorate. Nicknamed “Fusterlandia,” Jaimanitas now holds over 80 houses covered in Fuster’s murals. Due to his work at home and abroad, Fuster has become known as the paramount artist of Cuba.
José Rodríguez Fuster was born in 1946 in Caibarién, a fishing village on the 
north coast of Cuba. Fuster began his career at 14 years old as a teacher with Cuba’s National Literacy Campaign in the Sierra Maestra. At 17, he attended Cuba’s first school for art instructors, Escuela Nacional de Instructores de Arte. As his career progressed, Fuster visited Europe to see the works of Gaudí, Picasso and Brâncuși. His travels and his homeland inspired his own unique artistic style, which combines the mosaic elements of Gaudí with the surrealistic style of Picasso’s naïve phase and the influences of Cuban culture, seen through his frequent portrayal of iconography inspired by Santería, rural animals, Che Guevara, and the Cuban flag. Fuster spends his supplemental income on artwork and repairs for his neighbor’s homes, putting most of his money back into the community he loves.
Today, when you visit Jaimanitas, you will see a community revolutionized and revitalized by José Fuster’s art. You might even see Fuster himself, hanging around his workshop, painting tiles for less wealthy art lovers, or climbing a ladder to beautify a neighbor’s home. Often casually dressed and covered in paint, it might be hard to believe that this is the grand artist known throughout the world. But Fuster considers himself a “man of the sea” and is modest about his work. That’s why he spends every day giving back to Jaimanitas, the home he loves.
Experience Fuster’s work first-hand. Havana Highlights is waiting for you.