Paintings by Cesar Santos (38 Pics)

Cesar Santos is a Cuban-born American painter. He is best known for images that transmit the impression of paintings of the past, but are also imbued with contemporary, fresh concepts and his own philosophy. His work shows a wide range of influences, including sources as diverse as the Renaissance, Nineteenth Century academic work, and contemporary society. His artistic energy drives him to arrange elusive figures and objects in conceptual designs, yet rendering them in a believable and convincing way.

Santos was born in Santa Clara, Cuba, and grew up in Miami, where he studied conceptual art at the New World College. Later he traveled to Italy in search of a sound training in the art of painting; settling in Florence, Santos began training at the Angel Academy of Art under Michael John Angel, a student of Pietro Annigoni. Upon graduation, Santos returned to Miami where he built a successful career illustrating unconventional ideas and images in complex compositions. He brings both worlds, theoretical and naturalistic, into communion: taking objects out of their natural context to create a new environment for them, a new reality or world for us. More recently, he has undertaken a series of suggestive and theatrical figure paintings whose style raises questions, causing one to probe the imagery present for the inherent meaning. He has had solo shows and group exhibitions in Europe, Latin America and North America as well as exhibited at the Villa Bardini Museum in Florence, Italy and The Frost Art Museum in Miami, FL.