Jorge Luis Santos Cuban, b. 1973
"Jorge Luis Santos is unquestionably one of the most important Cuban abstract painters of the past two decades..." - Elsa Vega Dopico
Jorge Santos (b. Quivicán, Cuba, 1973) creates visceral, abstract works on a monumental scale. Throughout his long and celebrated career, he has continued to experiment in material (acrylic, oil, mixed media, found objects, iron, and wood), in form (painting, sculpture, and installation) and in his process - using a brush taped to a long pole, a palette knife, his hands, and the sole of his shoe as tools. Jorge Santos has exhibited his work extensively in solo and group exhibitions at institutions, galleries, and art fairs internationally since 1994. His work has been written about and discussed by prominent Cuban scholars and critics (including Rafael Acosta de Arriba, Elivia Rosa Castro, Nelson Herrera Ysla, Elsa Vega Dopico, and José Manuel Noceda, amongst others). His works are represented in the collections of major institutions (Perez Art Museum Miami, Museum of Cuban Art Vienna).
Throughout his career, Jorge Santos has proved himself something of an anomaly; within Cuba’s predominantly figurative art landscape, he developed an early and enduring commitment to abstraction.
Working on multiple pieces simultaneously--arranged sometimes on the floor, other times on the wall-- Santos wields paint like an extension of himself. It is common to find shoe prints, handmade gestures, and stains alongside brush strokes in his works.
He lives and works in Miami, Florida