# Cuban sculptor Rafael Consuegra dies in Miami hospital

**Date:** 09/20/2021

Cuban artist Rafael Consuegra passed away at a Miami hospital on September 17th, one day after turning 80 years old. The sculptor, who had been based in the U.S. since the 1960s, died from a heart condition, as confirmed by his assistant and the artist's social media accounts.

Rafael Consuegra studied art at Miami Dade College and later obtained a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Miami in 1971.

With a solid career in the arts spanning more than 40 years, Consuegra was the recipient of several awards, including the Miami Art Center's Award for Sculpture in 1967. In 2012, he was appointed as a U.S. ambassador to promote Belgrade as the capital of the arts in 2020.

Consuegra was distinguished by his metal and ceramic pieces. The artist earned the admiration of his colleagues for his constant support of new generations of artists.

"I will remember him as a sculptor friend who worked very well with metals and ceramics, and he also painted. He was very hardworking, always helping younger artists. His studio is full of works from different periods with a great culture of religion and art," said artist Ismael Gómez de Peralta.

"As an artist, he mastered ceramics very well with dramatic figurative expressions, but he was more known for his metal works. He managed to display works in Russia, Spain, in important places. He handled sculpture in public spaces very well. He achieved works of abstract character; his work is very well identified by all its formal and conceptual elements. He achieved a personal style," he added.

Regarding whether De Peralta was aware of any recent work that Consuegra failed to complete, De Peralta commented:

"The studio was full of works, almost all finished. It's typical for artists to have unfinished works and one day take them up again and finish them. In his case, sometimes it was complicated, because he worked in metal. He was an older person but strong, although he did need help from a welder at some final moments."

De Peralta recounted that he met Consuegra in the Bird Road Art District in Florida, an artistic area that the sculptor helped found and where both artists' studios were located.

"We met around 2007, when I had my first studio in that industrial neighborhood of almost 50 artist studios. He told me that they managed to get the city to recognize that circuit. And so we visited each other many times; he made paellas and invited everyone. My last studio and his were in the same courtyard, and that's where we spent more time together; we would walk our little chihuahuas together, Mimi and Frida. We talked a lot about these faithful beings, dogs, which he loved just as much as I did," De Peralta recalled.

He also highlighted the artistic value of Consuegra, whose work transcended in the city of Miami.

"He was, like every artist, in a struggle for beauty; a tender being, but also ironic. He talked a lot about God, he liked to share with friends from different spheres. There were groups of artists, others of religious doctors and military people, that is, veterans. Sometimes, all together it was a show. And he was the center. We lost a very well-known artist in this city, who developed works in Russia, Serbia, Barcelona, and France," he added.

His pieces have also been exhibited in Germany, New York, Chicago, Georgia, and Puerto Rico.

Beyond being a "great artist, creator, and friend," as described by Cuban painter Agustín Gainza, Consuegra is also remembered for his human spirit.

"He was a great human being, willing to help, a great conversationalist, with whom I was able to exchange many different ideas about art," said Gainza, who met the sculptor about 37 years ago.

Regarding his work, Agustín Gainza expressed his opinion that "as a ceramicist he was extraordinary, as well as his metal sculptures. And when he combined these two elements, he created pieces that only Consuegra could conceive. It's very difficult for me to describe it, what I can say is that he was a creator always seeking new challenges, with a very personal mark," he added.