Circular Reflections

Alan Manuel González utilizes hyperrealism as a strategic tool for truth-telling, breaking through the structural limitations of the Cuban condition to prompt a thoughtful discourse on isolation and containment. His compositions subvert the idyllic island aesthetic by literally bottling it up, rendering lush landscapes, historical cathedrals, and tropical flora encased within glass jars or suspended inside water droplets. These “contained metaphors” create a powerful visual friction, balancing the profound beauty of national heritage against systemic boundaries and physical confinement. By filtering serious structural histories through meticulous craftsmanship and dramatic planes of light and shadow, his imagery transforms public civic spaces into quiet, intimate studies of fragmented memory, transparency, and faith.

Academic Foundations: Born in Havana, Cuba. His formal fine arts education began at the Paulita Concepción Vocational School of Art, where he completed his foundational creative training in 1986. He later entered the prestigious National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro in Havana, completing his advanced higher studio studies and graduating in 1990.

Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines: Throughout his multi-decade trajectory, his studio painting practice has been deeply informed by parallel achievements in institutional public portraiture, sacred design commissions, and global educational exchanges. In 2018, he was appointed as a Visiting Artist in Residence at Morehead State University in Kentucky, USA, where he conducted academic lectures on navigation within the university gallery system and showcased specialized contemporary print and drawing structures. Concurrently, he serves as a prominent permanent collection artist for the Archdiocese of Havana, executing high-level ecclesiastical commissions and master structural portraits for historical church properties.

Exile, Translocation & Relocations: Immersed within a complex transnational landscape, he has expanded his creative practice across multiple geographic bases. His hyperrealistic canvases and visual statements continually translocate across international borders, establishing a strong exhibition history throughout the United States, South America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Current Status: He resides in Miami while maintaining a residence and studio base in Havana, Cuba. He maintains a highly active international fine arts production schedule, balancing local community mural actions with global museum and gallery representation.

2018: Visiting Artist in Residence, Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky. (Conducted academic lectures, masterclasses, and student seminars focused on navigating the university gallery system as a cross-cultural artistic bridge).

Contained & Trapped Metaphors

A defining career portfolio focused on hyperrealistic compositions that subvert the idyllic Caribbean aesthetic. The works literally bottle up lush island landscapes, historical cathedrals, and tropical flora, encasing them within glass jars or suspending them inside water droplets to examine isolation, containment, and systemic boundaries.

The Crystal Gazing Interrogations

A prominent series established during his international university residencies, utilizing transparent reflections as a conceptual tool for truth-telling. These meticulous paintings explore the friction between national heritage and physical confinement, forcing a dialogue on transparency and social freedom.

Sacred Icons & Ecclesiastical Portraiture

A major institutional body of work deeply tied to traditional heritage, visible in masterworks like his altarpieces and bishop portraits. This series merges rigorous academic realism with profound personal themes of faith and sanctuary within a world defined by physical limitations.

This artist has participated in 13 solo exhibitions:

• 2018: Crystal Gazing at Cuba, Golding-Yang Art Gallery, Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky. (An academic residency showcase introducing his “Crystal Gazing” series to United States university audiences).
• 2018: Deaf Bubble, The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida.
• 2016: History Catcher, The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida.
• 2015: Contained Metaphors, Lois Lambert Gallery, Santa Monica, California. (Major exhibition focusing on his hyper-realistic, trapped architectural environments).
• 2014: Trapped Metaphors, The Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, Colorado.
• 2013: Glass No(s)t, Ecilop Art Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
• 2012: Ruega con nosotros, Havana Cathedral, Old Havana, Cuba. (A landmark sacred landscape installation presented within the historical cathedral site).
• 2011: Fe, Hotel Florida Gallery, Old Havana, Cuba.
• 2011: Dichosos los que…, Collage Habana Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
• 1997: Real Cubana, Casa Benito Juárez Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
• 1996: ¿Paisaje?, Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño, Havana, Cuba.
• 1993: Nothing’s Happening, Kahlo Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
• 1987: Una retreta de hechos, Galería San Alejandro, National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba. (His foundational academic solo debut on the island).

This artist has participated in over 30 group exhibitions, with documented institutional highlights including:

• 2012: Madre, ¡ruega con nosotros!, Havana Cathedral, Archdiocese of Havana, Cuba. (A landmark collective survey celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre within the historic cathedral heritage site).
• 2011: Sin irnos por la Rama, Galería La Acacia, Havana, Cuba.
• 2009: Este Hombre es mi Amigo, Galería Memorial José Martí, Havana, Cuba.
• 2009: Reencuentro, Galería Pierre A. Renoir, Unión Francesa, Havana, Cuba.
• 2009: RestaurArte, Biennial Collateral Exhibition, Mercaderes, Old Havana, Cuba.
• 2009: Cuban Visions, Embassy of Cuba, Doha, Qatar.
• 2009: Diálogo Cotidiano, Galería Memorial José Martí, Havana, Cuba.
• 1996: A Título Personal, Galería Casa Benito Juárez, Havana, Cuba.
• 1995: III Exposición del Grupo ARAR, Centro de Prensa Intl, Havana, Cuba.
• 1994: A Falta de Pan, Camellos, Collateral Exhibition to the V Havana Biennial, Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba. (Institutional display exploring post-Soviet socio-economic realities during a Global South’s most significant cultural art events).
• 1990: Cuidado, hay Hombre, Universidad de La Habana, Havana, Cuba.
• 1990: Ceremonia Inaugural, La Madriguera, Quinta de Los Molinos, Havana, Cuba.
• 1989: Nueve Alquimistas y un Ciego, Galería Sala Talía, Havana, Cuba.
• 1988: Galería San Alejandro, Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba.

• 2015: Honorable Mention, National Landscape Salon, Galería La Acacia, Havana, Cuba.
• 2011: Honorable Mention, National Landscape Salon, Galería La Acacia, Havana, Cuba.

Permanent Installations & Commissions

• 2018: Archdiocese Commission (Portrait of Cardinal Jaime Ortega), Bishops’ Salon, Saints Carlos & Ambrosio Seminary, Archdiocese of Havana, Cuba. (A specialized hyperrealistic structural portrait permanently housed within the historical Salon of Bishops).
• 2018: Archdiocese Commission (Bishop Portrait), Bishops’ Salon, Saints Carlos & Ambrosio Seminary, Archdiocese of Havana, Cuba.
• 2012: Sacred Altar Piece (Our Lady of Charity), Havana Cathedral, Old Havana, Cuba. (A major permanent sacred installation celebrating national heritage within the central Cathedral compound).
• 2012: Our Lady of Charity (Large Format Portrait), Centro Félix Varela, Cathedral Compound, Havana, Cuba.
• 2001: The Charismatic Renewal Mural, Charismatic Renewal Headquarters, Miami, Florida. (A significant, large-format permanent public mural painting).
• 2001: Our Lady of Charity (Large Format Portrait), Ermita de la Caridad Conference Center, Miami, Florida.

• Critical Essays & Specialized Art Press

  • 2019: Sánchez Sánchez, Suset. “Alan Manuel González.” CdeCuba Art Magazine, no. 26 (2019): 42–47. (An analytical media profile and collection review evaluating his hyperrealistic paintings and glass bubble motifs as spaces documenting the contemporary national condition).
  • 2018: Sánchez, Suset. “Gulliver Trapped in a Bottle.” CdeCuba Art Magazine, no. 25 (September 2018). (The definitive critical text on his work, describing his contained landscapes as “liquid metaphors” and “bubbles of crystal” that narrate the everyday epic of the Cuban nation).
  • 2017: Ortega, Píter. “An Island in the Agonizing Echo of a Glass Cup: Alan Manuel González’s Poetics.” Art On Cuba: Visual Arts Magazine, March 2017. (A specialized critical text evaluating the conceptual use of glass containers and transparency as metaphors for isolation and social containment).
  • 2016: Ferrer, Estela. “Alan Manuel: Crónicas desde el lienzo.” CdeCuba Art Magazine, no. 20 (2016). (An analytical feature arguing that González’s poetics offer a breath of fresh air by directly narrating the historical circumstances of Cuba).
  • 2015: “Alan Manuel González Paints Images of Cuba Inside Objects.” Hi-Fructose Magazine, August 7, 2015. (An English-language feature exploring how his use of jars and light bulbs serves as a visual language to bypass censorship).
  • 2015: Antón Castillo, Héctor. “Las novias profanadas of otros paisajes.” Revista Convivencia, no. 43 (January–February 2015): 9. (An essay discussing how the Duchampian readymade acquires a pictorial connotation that disputes prominence with native palms as the artist’s alter ego).
  • 2015: Castro Barrantes, Arturo. “Realismo que comunica.” Revista Vida y Éxito (2015). (An editorial interview examining the artist’s creative drive, spiritual language, and his early landscape works addressing social restrictions on the island).
  • 2015: Treilhard, Marieke. “Straight From Cuba.” Artillery Magazine, May 20, 2015. (A specialized gallery review tracking his introduction to contemporary West Coast art audiences, focusing on his hyperrealist technique and his survivalist ingenuity of painting on flour bags during material shortages).
  • 2011: Antón Castillo, Héctor. “Dichosos los que… próxima exposición.” La Ternura Cultural Registry, August 31, 2011. (An analytical essay containing critical excerpts examining the “objectual pulse” of González’s work and the transformation of the Duchampian readymade into a pictorial device).
  • 2011: Richard, Marie-Thérèse. “Anticipo de un humanismo nuevo.” Exhibition text for Dichosos los que…, Galería Collage Habana, August 2011. (A celebratory curatorial text by a Sorbonne art specialist examining how the density and audacity of the artist’s message transcends local history).

  Newspaper Features & Exhibition Reviews

  • 2018: “Cuban Artist Alan Manuel González Shares His Art and Experience with MSU Students.” WMKY / Morehead State Public Radio, October 26, 2018. (An academic media profile reviewing his university residency and his lectures on the navigation of the university gallery system).
  • 2017: Mesa-Gaido, Gary. “MSU Professor Goes to Family Home for the Arts.” The Trail Blazer, April 12, 2017. (A detailed profile and studio interview exploring his hyperrealistic style and the process of building his first US university exhibition).
  • 2016: Riol, Rubens. “Alan Manuel González, catarsis ante el espejo.” El Nuevo Herald, May 29, 2016. (A detailed review of his “Dichoso el hombre…” series, quoting the artist describing his work as the fruit of inescapable circumstances and discussing key works like ‘El búnker donde habito’ and ‘Café cubano’).
  • 2014: Consejo Editorial. “Copper Fest: El intercambio cultural en Miami.” La Joven Cuba, August 14, 2014. (A cultural press review tracking his participation in Miami’s Copper Fest and analyzing how his paintings re-contextualize the iconographic imagery of the Virgin of Charity).
  • 2012: I. R., Alina. “Alan Manuel González expone en la Catedral de La Habana en homenaje a los 400 años de la Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre.” La Ternura Cultural Registry, September 19, 2012. (An institutional art critique reviewing his medium and large-format canvases displayed within the interior of the Havana Cathedral).
  • 2011: “Alan Manuel González: El color de las metáforas.” Juventud Rebelde, September 17, 2011. (A Cuban national press review detailing his technical mastery in fine drawing and painting formats).
  • 2010: Rodríguez, Jorge Rivas. “Presente Cuba en Feria Internacional de Arte en Moscú.” Espejo Impaciente Cultural Registry, September 21, 2010. (An international exhibition report documenting his participation in the Moscow International Art Fair and analyzing his use of biblical themes to evaluate contemporary society).

• The original creations, hyper-realistic canvases, and sacred public installations of Alan Manuel González are permanently preserved within the following public registries and institutional collections:

  • The Archdiocese of Havana Collection (Havana, Cuba). (Preserving his specialized hyper-realistic bishop portraits and structural ecclesiastical works within the permanent Salon of Bishops).
  • Havana Cathedral Permanent Heritage Registry (Old Havana, Cuba). (Holding his permanent sacred altarpieces and historical religious landscape paintings within the main cathedral complex).
  • Centro Félix Varela Archives (Cathedral Compound, Havana, Cuba).
  • Saints Carlos & Ambrosio Seminary Permanent Roster (Havana, Cuba).
  • Ermita de la Caridad Conference Center Art Registry (Miami, Florida).
  • Charismatic Renewal Headquarters Public Mural Registry (Miami, Florida).
  • International Contemporary Art Portfolios: Works are actively held by fine art collectors and private registries in over 15 countries across Europe (including Germany, Spain, France, England, Holland, Russia, and Greece) and the Americas (including the United States, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Martinique, and Cuba).