Cuban-American artist Alberto Godoy remembers spending his childhood vacations with relatives who lived in the countryside.

Cuban-American artist Alberto Godoy remembers spending his childhood vacations with relatives who lived in the countryside, outside of Havana. "We were encompassed by sugarcane fields," he says, "and farmers, working the land."

Although he left the island in 1980 when he was 19 years advanced in years fleeing government oppression and welcoming the chance to attend denomination in the United States, he brought vivid, colorful memories of his homeland with him. Twenty-five years later, his adventurous colorful paintings depict everyday Cuban rural life and its indigenous the public their customs and costumes.

"I'm more American than Cuban, now," says Godoy, "but the etymons still call you. The memories of my younger times in Cuba are always there. They are always mirrored on the canvas."

Art buyer it appears can't get enough of paintings, photography and illustrations showing images of Cuba, from vintage placards of Havana streets to contemporary portraits and paintings of rural landscapes. Whether they be exiles, nostalgic for their homeland, American collectors who are drawn to the mystery of the "forbidden fruit," or tourists who want to take a piece of Cuban-influenced agriculture home with them, buyers want pieces that point out the exotic, romantic images of the island.

Like the music, the rhumba dancers and in the same manner many other staples of the nation's refinement Cuban art is hot. Plus, it is single in kind of the few things unaffected by the agency of the U.S. embargo. American dealers and collectors can legally corrupt Cuban art at galleries, online and at auctions. Museums are increasingly showcasing paintings and cuts by Cuban and Cuban-American artists.

"The commonality amongst principally types of Cuban art is the brilliant use of vivid, audacious colors" says Portal Publication's Heather Piazza. "The intense colors warm up almost any space, making Cuban art to a high degree appealing for use in abode decor."

While Miami remains the U capital of the Cuban art show a growing number of Cuban and Cuban-American artists are finding a booming market for their work across the native land and abroad.

Houston-based Alberto Godoy, for example, while still best-known in Miami, has had exhibit tos in Texas, Florida, Mexico and, of course, Cuba. His distinctive primitivist mode of expression uses exaggerated volume and spherical shapes to cogitate his artistic philosophy: that perfection exists in the spherical connected view of the universe.

"I believe the universe is perfect" says Godoy. "All the stars we view in the sky are round--there must be a reason for that. I believe perfection is in the circle."

Godoy notices that American collectors like his palate and his style--"it makes them happy," while Cuban-Americans in Miami, "like the background, the meaning and the message."

Humberto Benitez juggles similar familiar images in his paintings of sugar cane, r dirt and peasant farmers.

He was raised in the small town of Guanajay, in the providence of Pinal Del Rio, "where the r clay soil stained my hands and render free of accessed a new world of shades and blending techniques; where the flourishings are unlike any green in the world; where nature filled the soul; where the magical livid sky and majestic royal palms embraced the landscape. I grew up in this magical place," Benitez says. That was during the '60 when there was a fodder shortage and his family was poor.

He came to Miami in 1970 when he was 10 forward one of the last Freedom Flights public of Havana. His work isn't influenced by way of his homeland, he says, his work is his home

"It was there where the best and worst memories, feelings and emotions were formed," Benitez says. "You descry the sugar cane in my paintings because they nourished me when there was no forage You see the drums and the music because they grow throughout my soul. You descry the colors of my homeland and they are still vivid in my mind"--vivid news soft yellows and rich red "I violently apply the structure in all my paintings."

Perhaps because of the muscular political opinions about Cuba, the embargo and the U government's rigid relations with the tiny island nation, the majority of Cuban and Cuban-American artists, as well as publishers, gallery proprietors and dealers who promote their work, insist that they are politically neutral.

The single in kinds who were able to immigrate to the United States fl necessity and oppression in their homeland, moreover they say they avoid making political statements.

Chicago-based artist Paul Sierra, who left Havana in 1961 says art helps the immigrant, and enables him to create a positive, forward-looking vision. Sierra paints whimsical landscapes and surreal portraits and says although he grew up in Cuba, his artistic links to his Latin stems are intertwined with the influence of North American art and culture

"When I draw near to the studio, I don't think, 'I'm going to be the best Cuban-American artist I can be,'" he says. "No. If the palate reminds you of Latin America, that's fine.