Manuel Mendive Hoyos

Manuel Mendive was born in the Luyanó neighborhood of Havana, Cuba. Mendive is one of the most prestigious contemporary visual artists at the national and international level that the island has produced.

At just eleven years old, he won an award in a children's painting competition in Japan and has subsequently received countless prizes, such as the National Drawing Salon award (Havana, 1967); the May Salon award (Paris, 1967); the II International Painting Festival award Cagnes-sur-Mer (France, 1970); the Alejo Carpentier Medal from the State Council of the Republic of Cuba (Havana, 1988); the National Prize for Plastic Arts (Havana, 2001), and the UNESCO Five Continents Medal (2009).

He graduated from the San Alejandro School in Painting and Sculpture in Havana in 1963 and, from that moment on, his life became linked to art. Greatly influenced by the Yoruba religion since his childhood, Mendive made this belief his highest form of artistic expression; his inspiration.

His works are distributed across 12 countries, brought together in 14 collections. His artistic legacy has received 17 awards, among which we can highlight the "Order of Knight of Arts and Letters of the Ministry of Culture and Francophony of the Republic of France" (1994) or the award "Order of Félix Varela from the State Council of the Republic of Cuba" (1994).

His work, the essence of Afro-Cuban culture, shows the mental state of the artist at each moment of his life. He explores his inner world and expresses it on his canvases. For all those unfamiliar with the Yoruba religion, it may seem like a grotesque or crude work, but Mendive has reopened the path to the encrypted and the meaning that each of us may wish to give to the work.

Personal Exhibitions

2005 Exhibition Nourishing the Spirit, Light, the Ancestors, Oludumare, the Most Beautiful, Gary Nader Gallery, Coral Gables, United States of America.

2005 "Mother Africa" Series, African Culture Days, "Casa de la Cultura de Angola" Gallery, Havana, Cuba.

2004 Modern Cuban Art Exhibition, Athens, Greece.

2003 The Ancestors, orisha, nature and thought, Museum of the Americas, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

2003 Social, intellectual and chic, Biarritz, France.

2002 The Waters, the everyday and thought, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

2001 Shangó and Life, La Recova Exhibition Hall, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

2001 Shangó and Life, Sa Nostra Cultural Center, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

2001 Capitol Cultural Center, Cáceres, Spain.

2000 Saint Barbara-Shangó in Our Lives, Universal Art Gallery of Güines, Havana, Cuba.

2000 The Birds and the Fish, Latin American Gallery, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.

1999 Sculpture Exhibition, Rum Museum, Havana, Cuba.

1999 Gary Nader Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, United States of America.

1998 Villa de Chanteclerç, Fort-de-France, Martinique.

1998 Andy Jllich Gallery, Switzerland.

1997 Joan Guaita Art Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

1997 El Mundo del Arte Gallery, Paris, France.

1997 Colonial Art Museum, Havana, Cuba.

1996 Museum of Modern Art of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

1996 National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica.

1996 Actual Art Gallery, Santiago de Chile, Chile.

1995 La Acacia Gallery, Havana, Cuba.

1995 Fernando Quintana Gallery, Bogotá, Colombia.

1994 El Mundo del Arte Gallery, Paris, France.

1993 Expositum Gallery, Mexico City, D.F., Mexico.

1992 El Mundo del Arte Gallery, Paris, France.

1991 XXI International Biennial of São Paulo, Brazil.

1990 Civic Gallery, Piazza Cavour, Padua, Italy.

1989 Nesle Gallery, Paris, France.

1989 SEIBU Group, Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

1988 The October Gallery, London, Great Britain.

1988 Ethnographic Museum of Budapest, Hungary.

1988 XLIII Venice Biennial, Italy.

1987 For the Observing Eye, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

1987 Museum of Contemporary Art, Panama City, Panama.

1986 Conversing with the Fish, Latin American Cultural Space Gallery, Paris, France.

1984 Plaza Vieja Gallery, Cuban Cultural Assets Fund, Havana, Cuba.

1982 ORTH Gallery, Nuremberg, Federal Republic of Germany.

1982 Iwalewa House, University of Bayreuth, Germany.

1982 Mpapa Gallery, Lusaka, Zambia.

1982 Traveling exhibition through Zambia, Nigeria, Angola, and Mozambique.

1981 Art Gallery, Moscow, USSR.

1980 Mendive: A Painter of the Marvelously Real, L Gallery, Havana, Cuba.

1975 National Museum of Tanzania, Tanzania.

1964 Art Center, Cathedral Square, Havana, Cuba.

Performances (Selection)

2004 Nature and the Body, Art Center, Romerías de Mayo, Holguín, Cuba.

2003 International Sexology Event, National Theater of Cuba, Havana, Cuba.

2003 Eighth Havana Biennial, La California Project, Havana, Cuba.

2002 Performance for the exhibition The Waters, the everyday and thought, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

2001 Performance for the exhibition Shangó and Life, filmed in White Mantle, Lomas de la Peregrina, Tapaste, Havana.

2001 Performance for the exhibition Saint Barbara-Shangó in Our Lives, Universal Art Gallery, Güines, Havana.

2001 Body Painting exhibition Shangó and Life, Cultural Center, Sa Nostra, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

2000 Opening of the exhibition Social, intellectual and chic, Rum Museum, Havana, Cuba.

2000 The Birds and the Fish, Latin American Gallery, Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba.

1999 Event The African Odyssey, John F. Kennedy Center, Washington D.C., United States of America.

1999 International Contemporary Art Fair, FIAC'99, Paris, France.

1998 Water, light, shadow, Villa Chanteclerç, Fort-de-France, Martinique.

1997 International Art Fair ARCO'97, Joan Guaita Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain.

1997 It Looks Like Happiness, VI Havana Biennial, Wifredo Lam Center, Museum of Colonial Art, Havana, Cuba.

1997 Museum of Modern Art of Cartagena de Indias, Plaza San Pedro Claver, Colombia.

1996 Deep Waters, Actual Art Gallery, Santiago de Chile, Chile.

1996 Heads and Hearts, Performance and Multimedia, La Acacia Gallery, Havana, Cuba.

1995 Caribbean Festival 2000, Champeret Space, Paris, France.

1994 Deep Waters, International Cervantes Festival, Alhándiga Museum, Guanajuato, Mexico.

1994 V Havana Biennial, Wifredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba.

1993 First Vodum Art and Culture Festival Ouidah'93, Benin.

1992 El Mundo del Arte Gallery, Paris, France.

1992 Remove the Bad, Neslé Theater, Paris, France.

1991 Shangó, opening of the Latin America Memorial, São Paulo, Brazil.

1990 XII International Ballet Festival of Havana, Havana, Cuba.

1990 Yemayá and Oshún, Civic Gallery, Plaza Cavour, Padua, Italy.

1989 Institute of Contemporary Art ICA, London, Great Britain.

1989 Nature and the body, SEIBU Group, Tokyo, Japan.

1989 The Light, III Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

1989 Cultural Center of the Philippines, with the participation of the National Ballet of the Philippines.

1988 Iroko, exhibition Waters, fish and man, The October Gallery, London, Great Britain.

1988 Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France.

1987 The Peacock, XLIII Venice Biennial, Italy.

1987 For the Observing Eye, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

1987 Museum of Contemporary Art, Panama City, Panama.

1987 Performance, Festivities of the Congos of Portobelo, Panama.

1986 Life, II Havana Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

Main Collections
National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.
Emilio Bacardí Museum, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
Museum of Modern Art of Panama, PANARTE, Panama.
Museum of Modern Art, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
Ethnographic Museum of Budapest, Hungary.
Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France.
Atlantic Center for Modern Art, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
Sa Nostra Foundation, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
France Liberté Foundation, Paris, France.
Joan Guaita Art Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
National Museum of Tanzania.
The John F. Kennedy Center, Washington, United States of America.
Gary Nader Art Gallery, Miami, United States of America.
SEIBU Group, Tokyo, Japan.
Cultural Center of Manila, Philippines.

Awards

2009 UNESCO Five Continents Medal.
2001 National Prize for Plastic Arts, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba.
1994 Order of Knight of Arts and Letters of the Ministry of Culture and Francophony of the Republic of France.
1994 Order of Félix Varela from the State Council of the Republic of Cuba.
1988 Alejo Carpentier Medal from the State Council of the Republic of Cuba.
1986 International Prize II Havana Biennial, Cuba.
1984 Latin American Cultural Space Gallery Prize, Havana, Cuba.
1984 I Havana Biennial, Wilfredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba.
1970 Diploma Prix National II Pintura Festival Cagnes-sur-Mer, France.
1968 Adam Montparnasse Award XXIV, May Salon, Paris, France.
1962 Sculpture Prize Fine Arts Circle, Havana, Cuba.