Aissa Santiso

AISSA SANTISO (Havana, 1990).
"The fool. 2023
Oil on canvas.
Certificate of authenticity attached.
Measurements: 180 x 100 cm.

Aissa Santiso's work is located in a territory where figuration, memory and identity are intertwined with a pictorial language of strong symbolic charge. His compositions present characters suspended in vibrant atmospheres, crossed by glazes, wefts and graphic gestures that fragment the image and give it an almost scenic intensity. Color, applied with expressive hallmarks, acts as an emotional vehicle, while the figures seem to inhabit an ambiguous space between the intimate, the theatrical and the dreamlike.

In his paintings, Santiso constructs scenes of great visual power in which the body, the face and the mask function as elements of psychological exploration. Her work invites us to read identity as something mutable, traversed by layers of memory, desire and representation.

She has a degree in Visual Arts from the Universidad de las Artes ISA and the Academia Nacional de Artes San Alejandro, both in Havana, Cuba. She has participated in international events such as Art Basel Miami 2016, the Havana Contemporary Art Salon, the Havana Biennials of 2009, 2012 and 2015, and the Experiments in Cinema festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

His work has been exhibited in galleries and cultural centers in Cuba, the United States, the Bahamas and Mexico. His solo exhibitions include SCISSORS at the Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, HISTO-GRAMA at the Casa Museo Oswaldo Guayasamín, THE BIG BLUE EYE-action 1 at the Castillo Árabe de los Jardines de la Tropical, and FLAT at the Galería de la Biblioteca Rubén Martínez Villena, all in Havana.

He has also participated in numerous group shows, including Options to the Future at La Galería Cubana, Boston and Provincetown; The Approach / El Acercamiento at Art Basel Miami and Plaza de la Raza Gallery, Los Angeles; Proyecto ZIP at the Ludwig Foundation in Cuba; and several collateral exhibitions at the Havana Biennial. His awards include the Watch and Talk Residence at the Belluard International Festival, Fribourg, Switzerland, and the ESTUDIO 21 creation grant from the Center for the Development of the Visual Arts of Cuba.