Pedro de Oraá

PEDRO DE ORAÁ (Cuba, 1931–2020).
Untitled, 2014.
Acrylic on canvas.
Certificate of authenticity issued by the Pedro de Oraá Foundation is included.
The canvas has a slight defect.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 80 x 37 cm.
This work belongs to Pedro de Ora’s mature period. The composition is built using bold, angular planes and forms, dominated by the contrast between black and white, punctuated by lines and accents of blue, yellow, red, and gray. The interplay between geometric forms and empty spaces creates a dynamic visual rhythm, in which the line takes on a structural and expressive role.
The work reflects Oraá’s personal evolution from the principles of Concrete Art, based on the autonomous use of line, plane, color, and proportion, without resorting to figurative representation. His artistic language combines geometric precision with greater compositional and gestural freedom, a hallmark of his mature work.
Pedro de Oraá trained at the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts in Havana. Beginning in the 1950s, he actively participated in the renewal of Cuban abstraction and, together with Loló Soldevilla, founded the Color-Luz Gallery and was a member of Los Diez Pintores Concretos, a group fundamental to the development of Concrete Art in Cuba. Throughout his extensive career, he worked as a painter, draftsman, printmaker, designer, poet, and art critic. His work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions and has received major awards, including the Distinction for National Culture, the National Design Award, and, in 2015, the National Prize for the Visual Arts of Cuba. His body of work, found in collections and museums in Cuba and other countries, constitutes a fundamental contribution to Latin American geometric abstraction.