Biography

OCTAVIO CUELLAR (b. 1964, Cuba)

“I have discovered that I’m a terribly frustrated poet who dismembered his poems in sculptures, for not understanding that exist one words behind another.”

EDUCATION

  • 1992. Graduated of Sculpture and Drawing, School of Visual Arts San Alejandro , Havana, Cuba

AFFILIATIONS

  • NATIONAL SCULPTURE SOCIETY, New York, NY

AWARDS

  • 2011. First Prize of Sculpture, Art Fest @Doral, Carlos Albizu University, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2000. Second Place, Erotic Art Salon, Gallery The Acacia, Havana, Cuba
  • 1993. First Place, Small Sculpture Competition Format Fernando Boada, Havana, Cuba

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2013. Tautology, Miami River Drive Art Fair, James L Knight Miami Convention Center, Brickell, Miami FL, USA
  • Hedonism, Viceroy Hotel at Icon Brickell, Miami FL, USA
  • 2010. Palimpsest, Gallery o2c-Art, Art Basel, Wynwood, Art District, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2005. To exhale, Smoke Jazz and Supper Club, New York, NY, U S A
  • 2002. The Art of Octavio Cuellar, J.L.S. Contemporary Art Gallery, Valle de Bravo, State of Mexico, Mexico
  • 2001. Fugitive Spirit, La BOOM Show Center, Mexico City, Mexico
  • 1999. Escaping of my body, Cigar Smokers Country Club and Habano Tobacco House. Istanbul, Turkey Upside down Century, Itinerant exhibition in Greece. May, Piraeus  Municipal Gallery; July,  Cultural Center of the Kephalonia Island’s government and Museum of the University of Athens
  • 1997. In silence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX), City of Havana, Cuba
  • 1997. Eyes that prefer to imagine, Gallery The Acacia, City of Havana, Cuba
  • 1997. Things of the soul, Andalucía Plaza Hotel, Marbella, Spain
  • 1997. Eyes prefer imagine, Gallery The Acacia, Havana, Cuba
  • 1995. The essential is invisible to the eyes, Octavio Cuellar sculptures, Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, Havana, Cuba
  • 1993. Spiritual, Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, Havana, Cuba
  • 1992. Reflections, Art Center 23 y 12, Havana, Cuba

COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS

  • 2019. Visions of Cuba. Historic Cuban Cigar Factory “Eduardo Gato”, Key West, FL. USA
  • 2018. I’m Icon Brickell Residences Tower II, Miami, FL. USA
  • 2017. Memories & Challenges of Contemporary Latin American Art, Magnetic Pompano, Creative City Collaborative & Pompano Citi Centre, Pompano Beach Dreams,  Sarcasm, Cynicism, with Cuban artists Luis Cabrera (printmaking), Cesar Beltran and Teo Beceiro (painting), Art & Design Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2016. Intangible Flight, with the Cuban painter David Rodriguez and Brazilian painter Claudio Souza Pinto, Art & Design Gallery, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2015. Nueva Zona Franca, Canvas sponsor, Latin American Art Pavilion Project,  Red Dot Fair during Art Basel week, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2014. Three talents, three artists, Stone House of San Bernardino Contla, Tlaxcala, Mexico
  • 2011. Miami Wave Project (booth), International Art Fair Naples, Naples, FL, USA (Curated by Sergio Garcia, artist)
  • 2007. Europe-Latin America Meeting, J.L.S. Contemporary Art Gallery. Valle de Bravo, State of   Mexico,  Mexico
  • 2003. Visual Images, El Carmen Museum. Mexico City, Mexico
  • 2001. 5th Cuban-Mexican Visual Arts Salon, Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
  • 2000. 3ra. Teodoro Ramos Blanco Sculpture Biennial and 98th Anniversary of Teodoro Blanco’s   Birth Theoretical Meeting, Teodoro Ramos Blanco Gallery, Havana, Cuba
  • 2000. CODEMA 2000, Cuban Contemporary Sculpture Salon, International Forum of Environmental  Sculpture, Center for the Development of Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba
  • 2000. 1st Erotic Art Salon Exhibit, Gallery The Acacia, Havana, Cuba
  • 1999. Contemporary Cuban Exhibition, Cuban Embassy in Bratislava, Slovakia     
  • 1998. Exhibition Week of the Czech Culture, Gallery Art Galiano and Concordia, Havana, Cuba
  • 1994. Cuban Contemporary Sculpture, Havana, Cuba
  • 1993. Small format, Gallery L, Havana, Cuba
  • 1992. Exhibit of the year with Cuban artists Manuel Mendive, Roberto Fabelo, Flora Fong, Nelson Dominguez, Zaida del Rio, Arturo Montoto, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Gallery The Acacia, Havana, Cuba 

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

  • 2016. Art Medellin, September 16-19, “Trazos de Identidad” (Strokes of identity), Latin American Art Pavilion Booth, Curator Anaibis Yero, Plaza Mayor, Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia
  • 2015. Red Dot Art Fair, December, Latin America Art Pavilion booth, Curator Anaibis Yero, Art Basel week, Downtown Miami FL, USA
  • 2013. Miami River Drive Art Fair, December 5, James L Knight Miami Convention Center, Brickell, Miami FL, USA
  • 2012. Biennial Visual Art LNVA, September 15- October 26, Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at the University of Connecticut’s, Avery Point Campus, CT, USA
  • 2010. RUTA 2010, International Juried Exhibition, February, Bakehouse Art Complex, Wynwood Art District, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2004. 2da Biennial Visual Arts in Yucatan, Cultural Institute of Yucatan, Mexico
  • 1994. 5th Havana Biennial (Contemporary Cuban Sculpture), May-July, Mariano Rodríguez Gallery,  Havana, Cuba
  • 1992. ARCOS 92, Exhibit on the occasion of the Meeting between Two Cultures, September, Arcos Fair,  Madrid, Spain

COMMISSIONS

  • 2020. Private Art Commission, title: Ka, sculpture (74 H x 24 W x 31 D inches), copper,  Miami Country Day School, Building Center for the Arts, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2019. Private Art Commission, title: Set Up, sculpture (70 H x 41 W x 28 D inches), copper,  Miami Country Day School, Building Center for the Arts, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2018. Private Art Commission, title: Cambre, sculpture (62 H x 40 W x 32 D inches), copper,  Miami Country Day School, Building Center for the Arts, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2017. Private Art Commission, title: Contra bass, sculpture (77 H x 34 W x 32 D inches), copper,  Miami Country Day School, Building Center for the Arts, Miami, FL, USA
  • 2002. Private Art Commission, Espiritu prófugo (Spirit fugitive), twenty sculptures on human scale, copper, Rincon Dorado, Cuernavaca, Morelos State, Mexico
  • 2000. Corporate Art Commission, Luego existo (Then I exist), three sculptures on human scale, copper,  Hostel   Los Frailes, Old Havana, Cuba
  • 2000. Public Art Commission, Tourists, three sculptures on human scale, copper, Arenas Doradas Hotel, Varadero, Cuba
  • 1999. Corporate Art Commission, The Monk, sculpture, copper, Basilica Minor of the San Francisco de   Assis Convent, Old Havana, Cuba
  • Public Art Commission, The Rhythm of Silence, four sculptures, variable dimensions, copper, Jazz   Café, Havana, Cuba
  • 1997. Private Art Commission, Spainair Traveler, sculpture, copper, Spanair S.A. headquarter in Palma de  Mallorca, Spain
  • 1997. Private Art Commission, Slow Passage, sculpture, copper, Andalacia Plaza Hotel, Marbella, Spain
  • 1997. Public Art Commission, Appearance, sculpture, copper, Hotel Sotavento, Varadero, Cuba
  • 1996. Public Art Commission, Presence, sculpture, copper, Hotel Arenas Doradas, Varadero, Cuba

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS SELECTION

USA                 

  • Miami Country Dade School
  • Carl Landengger
  • Senator Mark O. Hatfield Collection
  • Board Member RLH Properties S.A.B. de C.V Gordon Viberg, (Una piedra en tu zapato sculpture in his house in Colorado)

ENGLAND       

  • Halvor Astrup Collection

MEXICO          

  • Carlos Slim Collection
  • Maricela Hank González
  • Iddar De la Parra Family      

CUBA

  • Hotel Arenas Doradas, Varadero, Matanzas
  • Hotel Sotavento, Varadero, Matanzas
  • Hotel Turquesa, Varadero, Matanzas
  • Paseo Galleries, Havana
  • Basilica of the Convent of St. Francis of Assis, Old Havana, Cuba
  • Havana Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler, Havana, Cuba

ECUADOR       

  • President National Football Federation Galo Roggiero

SPAIN              

  • Gabriel Canaues Collection (General Manager, “Meliá” Channel)

SYRIA              

  • Prince Faisal Abdula

GUATEMALA   

  • Ricardo Arjona Collection 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Print Media

  • Garcia, Nelson, “Octavio Cuellar”, section Arte divino Arte, Palabra Nueva Magazine, Year XXV, July-August 2016, No.216, p.74
  • “Esculturas y Arte Pictórico se exhiben en Casa de Piedra de Contla”, Cuarto de Guerra digital newspaper, May23th, 2014, Tlaxcala, Mexico.
  • Wifredo Lam Bulletin, “No pisotear lo hecho con el Corazon” (Do not trample on what is done with the Heart), 10th Havana Biennial, Wifredo Lam Center, 2009, Old Havana, Cuba.
  • Newspaper Editor, “Iddar de la Parra promueve al escultor Cubano Octavio Cuellar” (Iddar de la Parra promotes the Cuban sculptor Octavio Cuellar), El Heraldo de Mexico newspaper, September 2001
  • “Presencias de un escultor”, Arte & Artes Magazine, Mexican culture magazine, No.9, Year 3, Mexico City, Mexico
  • Perez, Yanet, “La vestimenta de un pecador” (The vestment of a sinner), Opus Habana
  • Magazine, Vol. III, No. 3-4, November 30, 1999
  • Diaz Romay, Alexis Raul, “El mago de Oz”, Habanera Magazine, 1997, Havana, Cuba.
  • “Crítica de la obra del escultor Octavio Cuéllar” (Critique of the work of the sculptor Octavio Cuéllar), Eyes that prefer to imagine exhibition, catalogue, words by the art history Professor Antonio Alejo, Gallery The Acacia, 1997, Havana, Cuba
  • “Octavio Cuéllar: como la materia hecha flor”, Lo esencial es invisible para los ojos exhibition,
  • catalogue, words by Lino Betancourt Molina, Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, 1995, Havana, Cuba
  • “Spiritual”, Spiritual exhibition, catalogue, words by the Cuban painter Cesar Lela Jimenez, Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, 1993, Havana, Cuba

PUBLICATIONS