Cosme Proenza Almaguer

Painter and printmaker. Member of UNEAC and the International Association of Plastic Arts (AIAP).

The creative universe of Cosme Proenza is an ineffable demonstration of mastery of the craft and creative sensitivity. The metaphors of his images create a special atmosphere whose substance is drawn from evocation and longing. Like a delicious elixir of utopias, his imagination pours into the authenticity of his landscapes, the depth of his vegetation and the undulating flight of the mantles that come to life on their own. Thus, he manages to recreate the truthful presence of unreal insects and unthinkable beings, with the mysterious docility of their anatomies and the fragile tissue of their wings. In the colorful hybridity of his creatures, in the fascinating transparencies and in the sweet submission of color to the demands of chiaroscuro, in the immeasurable distances of his perspectives and the complicity of his mists lies the convincingness of his impossibilities. In the dramatic duality of his lights and shadows and the encompassing Baroque quality of his scenes lies the delicacy of his framework, the musicality of his exuberances and the intricate web of reminiscences and contributions. Then emerges the beauty of his compositions and the lyrical sensuality of his creative yearnings.

Studies
National School of Art, Cubanacán, Havana.
Master of Fine Arts in Monumental Painting. Institute of Fine Arts of Kiev, Ukraine.

Personal Exhibitions
1973-1978 Drawings and Paintings. Galería Holguín, Holguín.
1983 Cuban Paintings. Gallery of the Institute of Civil Aviation of Kiev, Ukraine.
1984 Drawings. Central House of Painters, Kiev, Ukraine.
1987 These Angels That Disorder My Dreams. Galería Centro de Arte Luz y Oficios, Havana.
1989 Scars. Provincial Art Gallery, Matanzas.
1991 Paintings and Drawings. Galería Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico.
1992 Manipulations I. Galería ITAN, Mexico City, Mexico.
Manipulations II. Galería Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico.
Drawings. Galería Hotel Camino Real. Mexico City, Mexico.
1993 Manipulations I. National Museum of Fine Arts of Santander, Santander, Spain.
1994 Boscomania I. Galería Habana, Havana; Boscomania I. Center for Fine Arts of Maracaibo, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
1995 Boscomania II. Galería Galiano, Havana.
1996 Boscomania. Galería Azketa, Costa Rica.
1996, 1997 A Stranger in Vasari. Convent of San Francisco de Asís, Havana; Galería Maillope, Navarra, Spain.
1999 Year Zero. Museum of the Americas, Cuartel de Ballajá, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2002 Voices of Silence. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana.
Recent Paintings, Casa de Iberoamérica, Holguín, Cuba
Exhibition of Cosme Proenza, Galería Cosme Proenza, Gibara, Holguín, Cuba

Group Exhibitions
1975 Contemporary Cuban Art. Norway and Sweden.
1976 National Exhibition of Young Artists. Museum of Fine Arts, Havana.
1986 II Havana Biennial. Museum of Fine Arts, Havana.
1987 National Printmaking Encounter. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana.
1987, 1989 UNEAC Exhibition. Cuba Pavilion, and National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana.
1992 International Fair of Seville. Spain.
1995 Twelve Wandering Tales by Gabriel García Márquez. Cartagena, Colombia.
Cuban Painters in Denmark. Denmark.
I Exhibition of Contemporary Cuban Art. Havana.
1997 Contemporary Cuban Painting. Moscow and China.
1998 International Arco 98 Fair. Madrid, Spain.
1999 Cuban Imaginations. Centro Cultural La Mercé, Girona, Spain.
2000 Death and Life. Palace of Conventions, Havana.
Cuban Postmedieval Painting. Convent of San Francisco de Asís, Havana.
2001 Anniversary Exhibition of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF. National Theater.
Tribute to Lennon. José Martí National Library, Havana.

Murals
1986 Youth (fresco). Motel "El Bosque", Holguín.
1987 Allegory (fresco). Etecsa Building, Holguín.
1988 Sonata acrylic (panel). TeleCristal Building, Holguín.
1991 Set of three murals at Hotel "Sol del Atlántico" (Sgraffito in cement). Guardalavaca, Holguín.
2000 San Francisco de Paula (triptych). Church of Paula, Havana.
2001 Celia, the Most Authentic Flower. School of Social Workers, Holguín.
2002 San Salvador Polyptych. Cathedral of Bayamo. Bayamo.
2003 Collective Mural in the Chapel of Man. Quito, Ecuador.

Awards
1975 Painting Prize. 5th National Youth Exhibition, Palace of Fine Arts, Havana.
1983 Lenin Prize, Superior Institute of Art of Kiev, Ukraine.
1991 Ministry of Culture Prize for the set of three murals of Hotel Sol del Atlántico, Guardalavaca, Holguín.
1995 Special Prize from the Cuban Institute of the Book, in the First Exhibition of Contemporary Cuban Art, Havana.
1997 Commemorative Medal for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Cuba.
1998 Distinction for National Culture, Havana.
2000 Axe of Holguín, Holguín.
2002 Alejo Carpentier Medal, Havana.

Collections
National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.
Museum of Fine Arts of Krasnodar, Russia.
Superior Institute of Fine Arts of Kiev, Ukraine.
Museum of the City. Havana, Cuba.
Vatican Museum. Rome, Italy.
Private collections in Poland, Ukraine, Mexico, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Laos, Vietnam, Italy, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Georgia, Costa Rica, United States, Austria, France, Panama, Germany, Puerto Rico and Spain.

Main works installed:
1986 Youth (fresco), Motel El Bosque, Holguín
1987 Allegory (fresco), headquarters of the Ministry of Communications, Holguín
1988 Sonata (acrylic—panel), headquarters of Provincial Television, Holguín
Set of three murals (sgraffito in cement), Hotel Sol del Atlántico, Guardalavaca, Holguín
2000 San Francisco de Paula (triptych), Church of Paula, Havana
2001 Celia, the Most Authentic Flower, School of Social Workers, Holguín

Other Activities:
Illustration of national and foreign books and magazines, book "Technology of Monumental Painting" (in preparation), national and foreign lectures, judge in various exhibitions, taught art for fifteen years and served as thesis advisor for numerous students.