Grey Cube Gallery proudly presents the first Modern art show for the month of December 2020. The show encompassed a range of artistic styles and mediums (photography, digital, mixed media, collage, oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, crayon, gouache, graphite, resin and pastel). Each submission has been judged based on the following elements of artistic expression: orginality and quality of art, overall design, creativity, interpretation of the theme, demonstration of artistic ability and usage of medium. Out of all entries, 87 artworks were shortlisted for inclusion in the show. The competition attracted entries from many countries across the world: USA, Canada, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Australia, Russia, Romania, Italy, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland. Enjoy the show and thank you for expressing an interest in our competition.

At the age of five I made a crayon drawing of clothes on a clothes line swinging in the breeze. I believed the drawing was alive. From that moment, art became an escape from the challenges of a difficult childhood; a safe haven that provided a way to move forward and make a positive contribution to the world. In 2009, I spent nine days in the Inyo Mountains of Southern California on a personal vision quest. The climax of that experience was an awe-inspiring vision of the wonder and mystery of nature that drew a through line from my childhood art-making to the adult artist I am today. The act of painting has become a positive outcome from my vision quest experience.

I use art as a means to express my environment. In this way what you see is akin to the emanations from a sound box where the acoustics of sounds, life circumstance and landscape have combined at one moment in time. The subject matter is not the subject. The process is often as important as the result. I have recently included, with my abstract, tactile paintings, more objective work, but the impetus is the same. Just as each person responds differently to music, I expect each viewer will respond differently to what they see.

Growing up in Cuba, music was part of my life. Listening to music and dancing was a way to forget, even if just for a moment, about the necessities of daily life. Although my work has been influenced by artist like Picasso, Boccioni, and Wifredo Lam; Cuban music has always been a constant backdrop to my work. Through the use of rhythm and motion in my work, I want to mirror the experience of freedom found through Cuban music.

I seek to share images with which I has a strong and instinctive personal connection. Images may be simply documentary, invoke a sense of time and place, or resonate as an abstract blend of color, shape or form. Others provoke an indefinable question that does not readily yield answers without further study and reflection. My creative process follows an intuitive yet patterned path, searching for the combination of elements that produces an instinctive but undeniable connection. Most often the images that provoke the strongest connection are those that do not produce an immediate reaction but provoke a response through repeated contact and consideration over time. I have exhibited widely in local, regional, and national exhibitions have won commendations for merit ranging from Honorable Mention to Best in Show. My photographs were also selected to hang in the Michigan Governor’s Mansion as part of a year-long exhibition highlighting State of Michigan artists.