Cesar Santos is a Cuban-American artist whose signature abstract paintings are expressive evocations of his inner spirit, creating works that recall Old Master paintings yet are simultaneously unfathomable. His paintings are composed of lyrical, intangible forms that appear to shift and coalesce across the picture plane.

In creating these works, the artist begins by approaching the blank canvas with broad impulsive brushstrokes, filling large areas with paint in monochrome shades; after this initial spontaneous stage, Santos refines the work using his intuition and artistic experience, giving order and coherence to the component parts. Each work is as much a surprise to the artist as to his audience; he does not embark on a work with a set idea of the outcome, rather the process is a journey of discovery, with the individual marks and gestures imbuing each piece with a unique atmosphere. In the artist’s own words:

‘The materiality of the paint and the canvas becomes an eco-system of relationships, representing colors, space and solidity with their potentiality in motion. I make new objects communicate in their environment, becoming stories of the visual system with open possibilities.’

Santos’ inspirations are drawn from the more awkward or subversive corners of art history, such as Old Masters who were the eccentrics of their era, such as Giuseppe Arcimboldo, or those whose style was at odds with conventional beauty, such as El Greco or Francisco Goya. Further, his paintings take influence from the fleshy forms of Peter Paul Rubens and the expressive grandeur of Michelangelo and Raphael.

Alongside his European Old Master models (experienced first hand in Florence, where the artist has lived and worked since 2021), in these artworks the artist incorporates elements from the cultures of his native Cuba, and the United States, infused with his own interest in psychology. Santos synthesises these diverse experiences with a rigorous understanding of design, colour, and the structure of his materials, giving birth to his art.

Each painting gives rise to a short poetic musing in English and Italian, a verbal companion to the visual entity. The text that Santos pairs with Out of the Cave is as follows: 

'Inspired by the grotesque ceiling design of the Uffizi Gallery, this painting draws the invisible connection between past actions over new intricate silhouettes.

Ispirato al design grottesco del soffitto della Galleria degli Uffizi, questo dipinto attrae la connessione invisibile che esiste tra il passato e le nuove intricate sagome.'