The joyous gift of memory's colors.

• Author: Schofield, Virginia
• Position: Cuban artist Jorge Garcia-Meitin Zamorano

Zamorano is a young Cuban artist who paints older women in loose-fitting, colorful house-dresses who could very well be anyone's grandmothers: women carrying shopping bags full of mangoes, or resting by a fruit stand. They are serene and reassuring. But when he paints children, he often portrays them as melancholy and pensive, with deep-set, almond-shaped eyes and seemingly burdened by an adult worry. Their expressions speak of loss and nostalgia despite the cheerful, tropical surroundings.

His name is Jorge Garcia-Meitin Zamorano, and he signs his works "Zamorano" in honor of his maternal grandfather, Carlos Zamorano Simmonds, who was known in Colombian bohemian circles as "El Loco Zamorano," a man whom his grandson describes as a lover of art, music, and people, and generous to a fault.

"My other grandfather was Cuban - Andres Garcia-Meitin - and he too was a strong influence in my formation. He lived with us in Puerto Rico, where I grew up. I remember coming home from school every afternoon and lighting his strong-smelling cigar, I remember sitting in the backyard with him and listening to his stories. I was a year old when I left Cuba, and therefore what I know of that country I love are the stories passed down by my grandparents during those afternoons when we sat around looking at old photograph albums, they reminiscing and me absorbing and learning about Cuba. Then, I grew up in Puerto Rico, which is so similar to Cuba - the fauna, the flora, the people, the traditions - and also, we were surrounded by Cubans."

It was his Colombian mother, however, who was his strongest supporter when at an early age Zamorano showed an interest in art. "It is curious that in our Latino society, men are not encouraged to pursue artistic careers, on the contrary. Yet, it is male artists who have received more recognition than women artists. When a man says he is an artist, he is taken more seriously than a woman, but it is difficult in the beginning. In the beginning, the young man who says he wants to be an artist is discouraged.

"I grew up in a macho society," he continues, "where serious pursuit of art was considered frivolous, unmanly. All of the men in the family encouraged me to think of going into business, commerce. They often reminded me that someday I would be judged by my ability to provide for my family. Perhaps this is why I got a degree in marketing from Loyola University, but my secret love was always art. Even in high school I was a...