Artists Registry

RESUME

PAINTER, DRAWER, AND FINE ART PROFESSOR

Artistic Education.

1982-1985 - Matanzas School of Art, Cuba.
1985-1989 - National School of Art (ENA), Havana, Cuba.

Professional Works.

2012 - Working under representation of Agora Art Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A.
2003 - Founded Fine Art Deco, Inc. (Artistic Decoration Company), Miami, U.S.A. (Currently President of FAD).
2001-2002 - Curator for the Project of the Cuban-American Museum of Freedom Art (CAMFA), Miami, U.S.A.
1997-1999 - Member of The Hermanos Saíz, National Artistic Association, Cuba.
1995-1999 - Member of UNEAC, Artists and Writers Cuban National Association, Cuba.
1994-2003 - Member of GRUPO LAM, Independent Artists Group, Cuba.
1991-1994 - Professor at Matanzas School of Art, Cuba.
1989-1991 - Fine art professor at "XX Aniversario" Artistic Association, Jaguey Grande, Matanzas, Cuba.

Solo Exhibitions.

2006 - "Out Of Balance", Ardex Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.A.

2001 - "In Our Tragic World", The Ninth Life Fine Art Gallery, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Two Artists Exhibitions.

2002 - "20 de Mayo Celebration" (100 years since Cuban Independence), Florida International University (FIU) BBC, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
1997 - "Ultima Noticia", Arte, Sol y Mar Art Gallery, Varadero, Cuba, (with Noel Gómez, member of Grupo Lam).
1994 - "Cuando los Angeles Caigan", Arte, Sol y Mar Art Gallery, Varadero, Cuba, (with Reinaldo Sueiras, member of Grupo Lam).

Exhibitions with Grupo Lam (Cuban Independent Artists Group 1995-2004).

2003 - "Real-Surreal", Bollag Galleries, Zurich, Switzerland.
2002 - "Encuentro Cubano", Am Leewasser Fine Art Gallery, Brunnen, Switzerland.
2000 - Cuban Fine Art Show, West-End Gallery, Hollywood, Florida, U.S.A.
1999 - "Mensaje Desde Las Américas", Klein Kasteel (Small Castle) Art Gallery, property of Nooyen Company, Deurne, The Netherlands.
1998 - "La Otra Noticia", Fahrradhalle Art Gallery, Offenbach, Germany.
1996 - "Contextura", International Press Center Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba. 

1996 - "Contextura", International Press Center Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
1996 - Art show dedicated to Cuatro Palmas Hotel Art Gallery opening, Varadero, Cuba.
1996 - "Trabajo Gustoso", Vadado Hall, Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
1995 - "Lam-Para Iluminación Verde", UNEAC Art Gallery, Matanzas, Cuba.
1995 - Art show dedicated to a Cuban-American Encounter, UNEAC (Cuban Writers and Artists National Association) Art Gallery, Matanzas, Cuba.

Selected Group Exhibitions.

2012 - Masters of the Imagination: The Latin American Fine Art Exhibition, Agora Art Gallery, New York, New York, U.S.A.
2010 - Art Exhibition, Trilogy Art Gallery And Studio, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
1999 - Latin-American Art Exhibition, Eastern National Bank Art Gallery (Downtown), Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
1999 - Cuban Landscapes Exhibition, O & Y Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, U.S.A.
1997 - "Varadero Internacional" First Fine Art National Exhibition, UNEAC-Internacional Art Gallery, Varadero, Cuba.
1997 - "Hidden Art of the Revolution", Sintiempo Cultural Center, Toronto, Canada.
1996 - "Art-Eco" (Naturamigos 96), Varadero, Cuba.
1994 - Landscapes Exhibition, FCBC and Matanzas City Art Galleries, Cuba.
1994 - "Ancient Techniques", FCBC (Cuban Cultural Goods Foundation) and Matanzas City, Art Galleries, Cuba.
1994 - Fine Art Professors Exhibition, Matanzas City Art gallery, Cuba.
1994 - "La Jóven Estampa" Graphic Exhibition, Casa de las Américas Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
1994 - "Landscape Project", Matanzas City Art gallery, Cuba.
1993 & 1994 - "Roberto Diago" Yearly Exhibitions, Matanzas City Art Gallery, Cuba.
1990 & 1991 - "El Arte, un Arma de la Revolución" Yearly Exhibitions, Matanzas City Art Gallery, Cuba.
1990 - Fine Art Professors Exhibition, Matanzas City Art Gallery, Cuba.

Private Collections.

Miami / New York, U.S.A.
Madrid / Barcelona, Spain.
Deurne, The Netherlands. 

Frankfurt / Offenbach, Germany.
Roma, Italy.
Matanzas / Havana, Cuba.
Ontario, Canada.
Surich / Brunnen, Zwitzerland.

Publications and Writings.

2012 - Press release by Agora Art Gallery, New York, NY.

Text: “Impressive in scale, Octavio Guinart’s oil on canvas neo-landscapes unite the frankness of Socialist Realism with the Pop-suffused commentary of a seasoned global visionary. Symbols abound along a horizon of geographical optic fusion – nostalgic palms, ancient totems, bucolic cattle, political ephemera and money in cash – all images ripe for the imagination of Cuban-born and educated artist Guinart. Influenced heavily by the work of distinguished Madrilenian philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset, these paintings frame the doublespeak of the socio-politically exiled within a pleasing pastiche of classic and contemporary figuration. Guinart’s studio work shares a dialectical relationship with "Grupo Lam," an independent artists collective in his home country of which he is a cofounder and which is named for the renowned Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam.”

2006 - Art Circuit, Miami, U.S.A. (october edition), featured by Ardex Gallery.
2006 - MAG (Miami Art Guide), Miami, U.S.A. (october edition), featured by Ardex Gallery.
2006 - Catalog words for "OUT OF BALANCE" Solo Exhibition.

Retrospective 1996-2006

Out of Balance, the ten-year retrospective sample of Octavio Guinart's plastic work at Ardex Gallery in Coral Gables, shows the craft of a masterful brush tormented by the tear of exile, and by the anxiety of searching for the promised dreamlike equilibrium in an unknown land, with, completely new, and constantly changing game rules.
The strong image of the painter cannot contain the easy flow of his conversation, or the years of study, peeking through the discrete presence of diverse schools in his paintings. From the Renaissance magic behind "Accounts Payable," to the dramatic melancholy of the XIX century landscape treatment in "WTC (World Trade Center)," the surrealist touch in "A Common History," or the socialist realism dry rigor in "From This Side of the Fence."
Messenger who defies time, Guinart is able to make his canvases ask questions about the stories they tell, always beyond the image in them, like photographic flashes of an anxious moment eager to keep on going. "The Incredible History of the Güira de Macurijes's Cows" and "Tribute to the Cojonudo" are two of those examples.
In the story behind "The Incredible History of the Güira de Macurijes's Cows," in today's Cuba, killing a human being only entails seven years of prison, but killing a cow entails 20 years of jail. Necessity, however, imposes risks and elicits very creative ideas. In Güira de Macurijes, province of Matanzas, Cuba, people tie cows to railroads so that, once dead, they can take some food home, very silently. A cow could say much more than a tyrant. In "Tribute to the Cojonudo," the image of a mutilated, ill, arrogant and decrepit dictator continues deciding on the future of his sad and subjugated people, with just a movement of his finger, much to the like of old Roman emperors. I believe that if Guinart had not had the technical resources so obvious in his works, he could have been an excellent storyteller.
There is another very interesting element in Guinart's art. Naked bodies, extemporal backgrounds and classic subjects have always been plastic resources to escape time, to detach the painter from his/her own period. Guinart, on the other hand, in the style of the insigne Madrilenian, Jose Ortega and Gasset, seems to enjoy all the opposite. "I am I and my circumstance," Ortega and Gasset would say at his moment. Following that train of though, Guinart ties his works tightly to his space and time with names like "The Incredible History of the Güira de Macurijes's Cows," "Accounts Payable," featuring many actual insurance and credit cards, with his own name and identification, or "WTC (World Trade Center)," defense of his brush to a coward attack to the second fatherland. It is a witness of a dramatic moment in American history, a strong reminder, and an alert call for present and future generations.
From the thematic point of view, this retrospective sample is full of the political and economic problems of an exiled. "Project for a Torture Table" is full of symbols and nostalgia, the longing for the perpetually blue tropical skies, with palms in the horizon amidst a suffocating and oppressing socio-political habitat. "From This Side of the Fence," the unbearable evidence of borders with the so-near and ever so-distant fatherland. "Born, Grown and Mutilated," the amputation feeling, so inherent to exile. "Mental Transition of an Immigrant" reflects the anxiety due to the necessary adaptation and the profound, radical change that adapting to a new society entails.
As usual, space constraints the span of comments, but not the transcendence of an artist who has already imposed his strong seal in the scope of the contemporary plastic in spite of his young years. With tens of private and collective exhibitions in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Cuba, the Virgin Islands, Canada and the United States, besides multiple positive reviews in specialized field publications, Octavio Guinart's career will attract many additional accolades in the near future.
Lic. Jose Montes has written art, theatre and ballet critic articles for "El Siglo", Venezuela. He has been an Assistant Professor for Florida International University and Miami-Dade College, has edited poetry and storybooks for publishing houses in Argentina and Mexico, has been part of art competition juries in North and South America, and has produced, written and hosted radio and television programs in Miami.

2002 - Contemporary Artists Dictionary, Miami, U.S.A.
2002 - Iberoamericana Sociocultural Magazine, Miami, U.S.A.

Text: “Since the beginnings of the 90’s Octavio Guinart has been one of the principal exponents of the Cuban art scene. His work portrays people, scenes of every day life documenting for posterity frozen in time, a mute testimony of his beloved Cuba. His real-surrealistic style has allowed him to impact North America, Canada and Europe. His realistic style in the steps of Lam Group has been a substantial asset in the historic value of his work”.


Lic. Norma Aranibar F. Sociologist, Publisher of Iberoamerican International Cultural Magazine.


1998 - Schirn Kunsthalle Press, Offenbach, Germany. 

1997 - Eindhovens Dagblad Press, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Brief Biography.

The artist Octavio Guinart was born in Matanzas City, Cuba, on may 31st, 1970, coming from a peasant family; he lived the first six years of his life in the country, this is the reason for his love of nature and all what it contains, which is frequently expressed in his artworks.
Since very young, graphic expressions caught the artist attention, using simple elements to create and enrich the base of his future works, expanding out during the following six years of elementary education, away from his birth place, but very tight to the environment which saw him to grow up. After completing this education level, he opted and got a scholarship to study at Matanzas Provincial School of Art, starting his first steps as an artist; after three years of art studies, ready and wishing to go on, the young artist got a scholarship to study at The National School of Fine Arts, in Havana, completing in this school four years of artistic learning and so ending his career and graduated in the summer of 1989, as a professional artist and fine arts professor.
Halfway through this year, started to work as a fine arts professor for an artistic association called XX Anniversary, located in the Province of Matanzas, where he worked for a period of two years. Afterwards he started to work as a drawing professor for the same school, in which he discovered for the first time, the fine arts world (Matanzas School of Fine Arts). For two years he passed on the knowledge he had acquired in the past to the new group of students, up to the beginnings of 1994 when the artist decided to become independent, denomination given in the country to those artists who are not working with the government, but legally registered within it.
In the middle of this year, during a project that was carried out in cooperation with other artists, is decided to keep working together in the future as a group, that is how the Independent Artists Group called "Grupo Lam" was born; title taken from the studio's name where the group originally used to work and the name of the worldwide known Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam, but at the end of the same year Grupo Lam, with six members, became an official institution. The idea of working together brought to the artist new experiences from the professional and human point of view.
Since 1997, after a reorganization of Grupo Lam, now with three members, a new period started in the artist life, because of the international spreading of more ambitious projects, bringing his artworks first to North America (Canada) and then to Europe, avoiding in this way, the circle of censure and mental imprisonment, from which was target lately, caused by the sociopolitical content, that his artworks showed every time more emphasized; even only been a detailed representation of the environment around, his work was the shooting weapon against him; but this time of persecuted creator by a dictatorial regime did not last long, ended with the artist migrating to the United States of America in January, 1999.
This new and different situation put a deep mark in the artist life and his work, changed the direction of his sharp artistic creation, after all, up to now several projects have been materialized, among them, one of the most important, the foundation in 2003 of Fine Art Deco, Inc. (Artistic Decoration Company), in South Florida, USA.