Cesar Santos

Following a sell-out show in Milan in 2023, Robilant+Voena is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Cuban-American artist Cesar Santos. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the United States since moving beyond figuration in 2022, and presents his unique and intuitive aesthetic approach to abstraction. The exhibition features over twenty of the artist’s signature paintings that show his mastery of form, harmony and colour.

Showing across four rooms of R+V’s new gallery space, the pieces range in media and scale, from ink and charcoal drawings and acrylic on paper, to ambitious works in oil stretching over 2m in height.

The title Manuscripts refers to the improvisation that begins each painting, emphasising the raw and organic nature of Santos’ practice, as well as signaling that each artwork can be ‘read’ by viewers to ascertain its unique significance.

Across the exhibition, the works – several of which explore the formal properties of impasto – demonstrate the artist’s organic approach to painting, creating discrete ecosystems which emerge as he paints, often building layers over several days. These paintings offer a distillation of Santos’ innate and spontaneous relationship with the world.

Cesar Santos is a Cuban-American artist, born in Santa Clara, Cuba and brought up in Miami, Florida. He studied at the New World School of the Arts in Florida, followed by a period training in Florence. Subsequently, Santos moved to New York City, immersing himself in the vibrant art scene. While in New York, he received first prize in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s photography competition, ‘It’s Time We Met’.

Santos work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia, including at the Museum of Art and Design, Miami; Palazzo Cipolla, Rome; the Villa Bardini Museum, Florence; National Gallery, Costa Rica; and the Beijing World Art Museum, China. His work features in the collections of significant institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sicily, the Museo de Arte Contemporanea e del Novecento, Pistoia, and the Museum of Art and Design, Miami.