Honoring the Artist: Cuca Romley

You can always count on cover artist Cuca Romley for stimulating conversation. Similarly, her gallery, The Winter Tree, can always be counted on to show diverse works, often from different parts of the world. Which makes sense since Ms. Romley, who grew up in Spain, has lived in varied places as well, including Paris and New York. While she's been in Sag Harbor for several years, we still wonder how she compares it to other places.

Q: Don't you miss the urban life of New York? It's pretty quiet here, now that winter is coming.

A: I go into New York to charge my batteries; I usually end up spending the entire day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I don't even have time to look up friends. I love all kinds of art which have left an impact, but especially Byzantine, Egyptian and primitive styles. I also love Italian art. I could spend the rest of my life in Venice.

Q: You also spent three months in Haiti several years ago, painting. That's quite different from Italian art, for example.

A: Yes, I always loved Haitian painters, and I had a chance to rent Sheldon Rodman's house when I was there. He was important in promoting local artists.

Q: Would you like to go back, not only to Haiti, but to other places where you lived and worked?

A: You can never go back to nothing. I want to do my painting, to continue to go forward from the past. It's important to do my own work, to do what I want. For example, I wanted to live in Paris, and I did.

Q: It's hard to do it alone.

A: What's hard is working in an office 9-5 every day.

Q: Back to your work, I see similarities in your works that were inspired by Haiti and the ones you have in your current show, "Dialogue with Nature," about Mayan culture.

A: Yes, they are similar in that I love nature, bright color. The Mayan exhibit, organized by the Mayan Art Foundation to help Mayan artists, is an example of Latino America; it's from a different part of the planet.

Q: Yet you're known for your primitive-style paintings of local scenes.

A: Yes, and I love doing those, too. But I don't want to limit myself. I am working on a commission now; it's exciting. You have to keep life exciting. It's my life. It's my choice.

- Marion Wolberg Weiss

Ms. Romley will be having a champagne open house at her gallery, The Winter Tree (124 Main Street, Sag Harbor), on Saturday and Sunday, November 24 & 25, to celebrate the holiday season and her cover on Dan's Papers.

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