Pedro de Oraá

PEDRO DE ORAÁ (Cuba, 1931 -2020).
Untitled, 19808.
Acrylic on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 39 x 28 cm; 40 x 30 cm (frame).

In the present work it is possible to appreciate the influence of geometric abstraction and kinetic art of Latin American roots, which in Cuba took its own drift in the Concrete movement, of which Pedro de Oraá was an outstanding representative.

Pedro de Oraá was a Cuban visual artist known for his contributions to the Cuban abstract movement of Concretism in the 1950s, his participation in the group Los Once in 1956 and the co-founding of Los Diez Pintores Concretos. Throughout his artistic career he also worked as an art critic, poet, designer, translator and recipient of numerous awards such as the Distinction for National Culture in 1995, the National Book Design Award in 2011 and National Plastic Arts Award in 2015. Pedro studied at the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts. Together with his wife he opened the Color-Luz Gallery in Havana in 1957, which became the meeting point of Los Diez and the place where they held most of their exhibitions. His personal work was characterized by a style that defined itself as simply geometric and without figurative or natural references. A style without narratives or natural connections. Even after the dissolution of the groups in 1961, Oraá represented Cuba in many exhibitions both on the island and abroad and was an important member of many cultural organizations such as the National Union of Writers and Artists and the National Council of Culture. With a career spanning more than 70 years, De Oraá was the last living member of Los Diez. De Oraá's work was included with that of other Los Diez members in David Zwirner Gallery's "Concrete Cuba" exhibition that was shown at the gallery's London location in 2015 and at its New York City headquarters in 2016. In Cuba, the entry of abstraction implied synchronization with international isms and a revolution of its own within the history of Cuban art. Although Los Diez exhibited as a group only three times, they spanned a significant period in Cuba's political, social and artistic history in just three years. From the fall of the Fulgencio Batista regime to the Cuban Revolution and the rise of a very nationalistic sentiment, "concretism" was almost omitted from Cuban art history until today.