 Although he emigrated to the U.S. with his family at the age of eight, his colorfully vivid work places great emphasis on bringing out the rich cultural heritage of his native land.Although not technically a naive artist, Manuel Mendive is perhaps the single most important exponent of contemporary Afro-Cubanismo in the visual arts.Born in 1944 into a Santería-practicing family, he graduated from the prestigious Academia de Artes Plásticas San Alejandro in Havana in 1962 with honors in sculpture and painting.