Jorge Fornes

Jorge Fornés captures the silent music of pure structure, weaving a vibrant world of geometric pathways where lines act as the rhythmic pulse of human thought. Through a precise, highly atmospheric handling of high-contrast color balances and interlocking grids, the artist tracks the subtle movement between miniature physical surfaces and expansive civic walls. His iconography brings together a highly disciplined cast of elements—repeating line matrixes, optical tunnels, and micro-engraved paths—turning the artwork into a dynamic, open theater where regular vision gracefully dissolves into pure movement. By using the meticulous, historic patience of a currency designer, small fragments of hard-edge form become stunning possible worlds, offering the observer's mind a clean, meditative shelter built entirely of light, shadow, and infinite symmetry.

• Academic Foundations: Born in Havana, Cuba. He began his structured training at the historic National Fine Arts Academy San Alejandro, specializing in art and sculpture. During his residency at the academy, he developed his formal craft under the direct guidance of recognized Cuban master painters, including Ever Fonseca, Carmelo González, and René Portocarrero. He expanded his formal design vocabulary by studying theatrical set design and costume composition with Professor Rubén Vigón, alongside graduating with a specialization in graphic design from the National School of Applied Arts.
• Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines: Following his studies, Fornés balanced his painterly exploration with a highly prominent parallel career in numismatics and graphic production. He was hired directly by the National Bank of Cuba to serve as a Special Numismatic Designer for the Cuban Coin Enterprise and the Numismatic Museum, executing the intricate technical drawings and master security engraving layouts for historical state coins, circulating banknotes (such as the famous 1988–1989 three-peso bills), commemorative plaques, and official medals. Concurrently, he served as a pioneer of the island's geometric vanguard, co-founding the historic "Op-Art Cuban Group" (Optical Art) in 1979 alongside artists Elena Serrano, Ernesto Briel, and Armando Morales.
• Exile, Translocation & Relocations: After establishing a significant body of work as a numismatist and a state-commissioned public muralist—including creating a large-scale public mural for the Amadeo Roldán Theater—Fornés left Cuba permanently to enter exile. He translocated to the United States, carving out a permanent geographic settlement path in Miami, Florida. This monumental relocation completely separated his practice from state central banking archives, prompting him to transition his optical spatial mastery and complex drafting lines into premium independent fine art circuits.
• Current Status: He operates an independent studio practice in Miami, Florida, continuously developing abstract oil portfolios, intervened screen prints, and custom design commissions. Alongside his active painting cycles, he coordinates routine ties on curation registries, collaborates with contemporary diaspora circles, and joins ongoing regional fine art surveys and commemorative exhibitions across South Florida, including his selection as the premier featured creator for the Caribbee Club program.

• The Op-Art Networks & Kinetic Vibrations: A career-defining portfolio of hard-edge geometric abstractions and intervened prints utilizing high-contrast optical grids to challenge human perception.
• Numismatic Engravings & Banknote Topographies: A standalone concept archive of miniature illustrations, coin configurations, and security line drawings executed for the central banking systems of Cuba, including the signature design of the iconic three-peso banknotes.
• The Civic & Theater Murals: A collection of monumental public canvas installations and architectural set structures that merge post-revolutionary graphic layout logic with spatial expressionism.

• 2017: The Caribbee Club Inaugural Feature, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL, USA. (This major milestone exhibition selected his paintings to launch the museum's rotating spotlight program celebrating city landscapes).
• 1992: Mural del Teatro Amadeo Roldán, Teatro Amadeo Roldán, Havana, Cuba. (This monumental public architectural commission marked his final major artistic layout executed in the Cuban capital before his permanent departure into exile).
• 1989: Estructuras Ópticas, Galería de Arte Galeano, Havana, Cuba.
• 1985: Diseño y Forma, Galería Fidelio Ponce de León, Fondo Cubano de Bienes Culturales (FCBC), Havana, Cuba.

• 2026: Circular Reflections, Westchester Regional Library, Miami, FL, USA.
• 2025: Circular Reflections, St. Thomas University, Miami, FL, USA.
• 2025: 4 Revoluciones de México y Cuba, Embajada de Cuba en México, Mexico City, Mexico. (This numismatic history survey explicitly highlighted his iconic 1988 and 1989 structural specimen bill concepts).
• 2015: White Way Lights Commemoration, Coral Gables independent galleries, Coral Gables, FL, USA. (This regional survey invited prominent local artists to commemorate the historical light infrastructure of the city).
• 1988: Exposición Colectiva de Arte Óptico, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba. (This historical group survey officially logged his contributions as a foundational pioneer of the island's Op-Art movement).
• 1984: Salón de Artes Plásticas San Alejandro, Galería de la Academia San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba.

• National Numismatic Distinction: Awarded the Official State Prize for Currency Design by the National Bank of Cuba, celebrating his permanent artistic contributions to the island’s visual and monetary history, Havana, Cuba, 1990.
• Academic Chair Distinction: Appointed as a foundational guest jury member and graphic arts counselor for regional applied art panels and fine art design salons across Havana, Cuba.

• 2026: Catálogo: Reflexiones Circulares [Curaduría: Miguel Rodez]. InCUBAdora, March 24, 2026. https://www.in-cubadora.com/2026/03/24/catalogo-reflexionescirculares-curaduria-miguel-rodez/. This Spanish-language article concisely summarizes the Cuban contemporary art documentation project, Circular Reflections, and includes the complete artist roster.
• 2025: Rodez, Miguel. Circular Reflections: Cuban Art Documentation Project. Miami Gardens, FL: St. Thomas University Press, 2025. Permanent collection, Miami-Dade Public Library System, Fine Arts Archive. (A comprehensive catalog featuring information about the 63 initial participants in Circular Reflections, including an analysis of the artist’s work, biographical information and curriculum highlights).

The certified original paintings, mixed-media layouts, and signed graphic portfolios of Jorge Fornés are actively preserved within elite private portfolios and contemporary art networks across:

• Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MoCAA) Permanent Archive (Miami, Florida, USA).
• The National Bank of Cuba Numismatic Archives & Currency Vaults (Havana, Cuba).
• The Amadeo Roldán Cultural Center Permanent Architectural Registry (Havana, Cuba).
• International Private Collections: Masterworks are curated by specialized collectors of abstract geometric art, mid-century Op-Art, and post- revolutionary Latin American drawing across Europe, Latin America, and the United States (with heavy distribution in Miami and Coral Gables, Florida)