Ciro Quintana
About the Artist
Ciro Quintana (b. Havana, Cuba) lives and works in Miami, FL. The founder of Puré Group, Quintana is one of the most iconic Cuban artists of the 80’s generation (the so-called Cuban Renaissance). Throughout his career, his work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Cuba, the United States, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Finland, Switzerland, Russia, France, Germany, Spain, among other countries. His work is part of major collections such as Ludwig Forum for International Kunst Collection (Aachen, Germany), National Museum of Fine Art, Cuba, Pori Taiden Museum,(Finland), Lowe Art Museum (Miami), Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art (Dominican Rep).
Artist Statement
“The Art of making art about art and life; a chronicler of my time.”
From the very beginning my work was a “search for a system“ into which I could fit everything with a language apt to express what I wanted to say, while including the viewer in the whole process. This may sound like a statement by any artist but, in my case, becomes quite a specific statement. I use the comic strip, the art history legacy, pulp art, scenes from old movies, pop culture icons, parody and traditional realistic representations - all of which become an instrument to blind and trap the viewers into the travel of the narrative of the language of the painting. My paintings on canvas, drawings, collages, and installations are understandable and present a sort of hypnosis by images, reality, and an unattainable fiction. They are forever controlled by images; through my art one experiences a pretext for the spectacular (re)production of effects, images, and signs.
My paintings emphasize the effect of theatrical representation, artifice, parody, and unreality - wishing as an artist that my work becomes to the viewer like a feather bed that you fall into. My works are like characters in my life: they have a personality just as real as characters in a novel or a movie. The work provides an open stage where the public, the artist, the form, the story and the concept coincide in a battle for survival having the purpose of creating a work where the viewer won't forget and walk away, a place where he feels invited to travel in the narrative of the work.