ABOUT
REYDEL ESPINOSA
Born in 1985, REYDEL ESPINOSA immersed himself in drawings since his early childhood. When other children were playing football or swimming in the ocean catching fish, the young boy REYDEL was drawing out endless imaginations in his mind on paper. He then was determined to become an artist at the age of 14 years old through a self-taught process. Compared to artists with formal training from art academies, he has demonstrated less traditional and more liberal ideas in his creation. He considers the originality of an artwork’s idea is far more significant than the techniques.
“Instead of imposing my ideas on the spectators, I would rather they are empowered to interpret what they see in my artworks. I consider myself a storyteller,
and the story comes from my imaginations.”
Although REYDEL is a self-taught artist, he has outstanding painting techniques. He gained his advanced skills through thorough and intense studies, analysis, and emulations of great art masters’ artworks. He received formal education from artisan school where they provided training in hand-made but not in painting skills. However, his abundant imaginations are unleashed uncontrollably in his paintings. Together with his persevering pursuit of perfecting his techniques, he gradually shapes his signature style in surrealism with a personal touch, especially in the animal themes.
REYDEL mentioned
“All species in nature synchronize and coexist in harmony without the
participation of human beings.”
He loves to create characters with a sense of humor in his artworks. For example, personified apes acting out intelligently, mimicking human beings, often cause a good laugh out of spectators. “In the vortex of my dream world, apes and peacocks stand out. They represent different meanings in my fantasy artworks.” In many of REYDEL’s paintings, the apes are the protagonists as they are funny and mysterious at the same time.
As to the mutant peacock, she gives splashes of beauty to his surrealist painting while she breastfeeds metamorphic creatures. Peacocks in rare transformation are inconceivable yet so astonishingly beautiful in his invented universe.
The Remarkable Influence
The remarkable influence since the beginning of his surrealist creations is from the painter Bosch (1450-1516). Bosch’s medieval dream metaphors, which were full of witches, alchemy, magic, bestiaries, and hagiographies, inspire REYDEL’s imaginations to depict the fictional world full of creative images. His most influential work on him is “The Garden of Earthly Delights”.
According to REYDEL, “the triptych reaches an enigmatic and exaggerated tone. It demonstrates, at the same time, the opposing ideologies of the proper natural obedience and the improper sinful disobedience of the human creature. The artist uses a sarcastic and humorous approach to express his ironies."
Thus, REYDEL is keen on not only producing works with technical perfection but also with themes that inspire the spectators to reflect on their own points of view.
Metaphysics is another topic that REYDEL is deeply interested in. This branch of philosophy plays a significant role in boosting his imaginative and subconscious mind. Mutant and mythical creatures emerge from his inner universe. Meditation is an important step for his creative process to produce the original ideas and figurations. Animals are given life in his works with virtues and intelligence to do impossible things.
He said
“It is a sacred mission and necessity for me as an artist,
to bring these inner images to light as they represent some unique spiritual value.”
“The inventions of the creatures and compositions of my paintings, completely depend on my emotional status. For instance, listening to my favorite music, moving the paintbrush whimsically, I am enlightened to create mutant creatures. The color tone of my artworks goes from monochromatic to saturated spectrums, as close to the limit of expectation as possible."
Although REYDEL cannot always show the desired color he has in his mind due to the lack of painting materials in Cuba, he always tries to express beyond rations and beyond defined principles via transcendent animals’ distinctive features and acts. In the future, he plans to write down a complete tale based on his current artworks, in which creatures living in another dimension or universe have their own customs and civilization. Maybe every piece of his artwork is depicting a certain scene or a small anecdote in this story. However,
he now focuses on creating independent pieces according to his heart,
that are worth looking forward to.
REYDEL ESPINOSA
-1985-
2000-2005 Craftsmanship Diploma Holguin/Self-Taught Artist
AWARDS
2022 Honorable Mention for the Contemporary Expressions Award
Talent Prize Award by Art Show International Gallery
American Art Awards Category Surrealism 3rd Place
2023 Mention Prize by the jury of Salon des Artistes Francais
EXHIBITION /個展
2020
NEW TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN – LOVE AND SHARE SUMARI ART GALLERY
蘇馬利藝廊「愛與分享」
2019
NEW TAIPEI CITY, TAIWAN – AWAKENING
SUMARI ART GALLERY
蘇馬利藝廊「覺醒」
2018
HAVANA, CUBA –NEW SPECIES CARMEN
MONTILLA GALLERY
古巴哈瓦那CARMEN MONTILLA藝廊「新物種」
2017
HAVANA, CUBA – ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE
CARMEN MONTILLA GALLERY
古巴哈瓦那CARMEN MONTILLA藝廊「動物智慧」
2015
CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY – FAIRIES
土耳其卡帕多奇亞「精靈」
2010
HAVANA, CUBA –SPECIES CARMEN
MONTILLA GALLERY
古巴哈瓦那CARMEN MONTILLA藝廊「物種」
2009
HAVANA, CUBA – LACTATION
CARMEN MONTILLA GALLERY
古巴哈瓦那CARMEN MONTILLA藝廊「哺乳」
2007
HOLGUIN, CUBA – INNOCENCE
CUETO ART GALLERY
古巴CUETO ART藝廊「天真無邪」
JOINT EXHIBITION /聯展
2023
PARIS, FRANCE
Art Capital 2023 (Salon des Artistes Francais)
2022
MIAMI, USA
Red Dot Miami 2022
PARIS, FRANCE
Salon d'Automne 2022
PARIS, FRANCE
Salon des Beaux Arts 2022
CHIANCIANO, ITALY
CHIANCIANO Biennale 2022
NEW YORK CITY, USA
ARTEXPO NEW YORK 2022
2021
NEW MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – BESTIARY
AGUAFUERTE ART GALLERY
墨西哥AGUAFUERTE藝廊「動物寓言」
2019
▸MIAMI, USA SPECTRUM MIAMI ART FAIR
▸PARIS, FRANCE ART SHOPPING PARIS ART FAIR
▸TAIPEI, TAIWAN – TO GIVE
CHANG-KAI SHEK MEMORIAL ART GALLERY
台灣中正紀念堂「給予」
▸TAOYUAN, TAIWAN – CUBAN CONTEMPORARY ARTS
TAOYUAN CITY CULTURAL DEPARTMENT LOBBY EXHIBITION
桃園市文化局大廳聯展古巴「藝夢」
2018
TAOYUAN, TAIWAN – CUBAN CONTEMPORARY ARTS
SUMARI ART GALLERY
蘇馬利藝廊「古巴現代藝術聯展」
2016
HAVANA, CUBA
CARMEN MONTILLA GALLERY
古巴哈瓦那CARMEN MONTILLA藝廊
2014
▸HOLGUÍN, CUBA CULTURAL CENTER
古巴奧爾金文化中心
▸HOLGUÍN, CUBA CITY HALL
古巴奧爾金市政廳
2008
HOLGUÍN, CUBA YEARLY SALON CUETO
古巴奧爾金年度CUETO沙龍
2007
HOLGUÍN, CUBA YEARLY SALON CUETO
古巴奧爾金年度CUETO沙龍