Juan Manuel Rivero Prieto

Rivero Prieto’s compositions serve as a profound fine arts manifestation of Freud’s duality of instincts, capturing the perpetual tug-of-war between self-preservation and the death drive’s return to nothingness. His aesthetic trajectory shifts seamlessly from the visceral, deconstructed human anatomy of his early expressionist series to the endearing, naive curiosity of his organic contours. Utilizing oil on canvas and master printmaking techniques, his work balances an idyllic world of modern hedonism against a dark, nonconformist figuration. This deliberate polarization ensures his art functions not as passive representation, but as a site of intense socio-cultural and psychological controversy.

Academic Foundations:

Born in 1976 in the city of Holguín, Cuba, Juan Manuel Rivero Prieto initiated his disciplined creative path with foundational studio training at the Professional School of Plastic Arts “El Alba” in Holguín, graduating as a Graduate in Painting in 1995. He advanced his higher academic studio education at the prestigious Higher Institute of Art (ISA) in Havana, where he completed a rigorous, highly competitive curriculum to earn his Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting in 2001.

Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines:

Upon graduation, Rivero Prieto immediately transitioned into higher education, influencing a new generation of creators as a Professor of Painting at the historic San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts from 2001 to 2005. Parallel to his classroom leadership, he shaped institutional art direction and curation within Cuba’s contemporary landscape, serving as Resident Chief Curator for the “Luz y Oficios” Center for the Development of Visual Artsin Havana from 2001 to 2004.

2001–2005:
Professor of Painting, San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

2000–2004:
Founder, Principal Organizer, and Academic Director, Circo Project International Performance Event (Editions I–V), Havana, Cuba.

Anónimos (Anonymous Series):
A series of raw, visceral expressionist oil portraits that investigate the systematic deconstruction of human identity. Using precise anatomical analysis and dark tonal ranges, these works map the existential friction between bodily pleasure and decay, exposing the hidden psychological impulses of human behavior.

Minotauro (Minotaur Series):
A collection intersecting classical mythological archetypes with contemporary psychological landscapes. Through dense textures and dramatic gestural forms, the series acts as a visceral exploration of internal power dynamics, cruelty, and the friction between rational identity and animalistic instinct.

Maternidades (Maternity Series):
An intensely textured body of work that reinterprets traditional motifs of motherhood through a rigorous fine arts lens. These compositions combine structural form with organic distortion, analyzing the maternal figure not merely as a symbol of comfort, but as an active biological site of physical and anatomical tension.

Motivos Florales / Primal Hedonism (Floral Motifs Series):
A major stylistic shift utilizing fluid, hyper-saturated color palettes and organic contours that melt across the canvas. These pieces establish a fantastic world suspended from reality, utilizing non-linear, transcultural narratives to examine modern hedonism, sensuality, and an idyllic space devoid of existential dread.

2026:
Pictogramas, Galeria RIVERO, Castellón de la Plana, Spain.

2026:
Exposición de Pintura Juan Rivero, Sala de Exposiciones del Ayuntamiento de Sant Joan de Moró, Castellón, Spain.

2018:
Motivos florales, Centro Cultural La Marina, Castellón de la Plana, Spain. (This exhibition highlighted a major technical shift toward hyper-saturated color palettes and themes of modern hedonism).

2017:
Motivos florales / Primal Hedonism, Ayuntamiento de Atzaneta, Castellón, Spain.

2016:
Historia de un minotauro llamado Asterión, Ayuntamiento de Teruel, Aragon, Spain.

2015:
Presentación del Proyecto Impregnación, Estudio Juan Rivero, Castellón, Spain.

2014:
Anónimos, Sala de Arte Pictograma, Castellón, Spain.

2010:
Minotauro, Galería de Arte Pictograma, Castellón, Spain.

2006:
Anónimos, Centro de Diseño y Artes Visuales (Galería Luz y Oficios), Havana, Cuba. (This presentation marked a critical institutional curation of his expressionist portraiture before his relocation to Spain).

2004:
Ausencias Posibles, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba.

2003:
Cuba sin lamentos, Galería de Arte Concha Ferrant, Havana, Cuba.

2002:
El Cuerpo Laboratorio, Academia de Artes Plásticas San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba.

2001:
Inmersión, Facultad de Artes Plásticas (ISA), Havana, Cuba.

1998:
El objeto del Eterno, Casa de la Cultura de Plaza (Galería Carmelo González), Havana, Cuba. (This debut solo exhibition established the artist’s early departure from academic constraints toward visceral, dark psychological themes).

2024:
Mini Print Cantabria Exhibition Selection, Instituto Cervantes de Burdeos, Bordeaux, France.

2023:
Llamada: Trabajo en Progreso //1, Museo de Bellas Artes de Castellón, Castellón, Spain.

2019:
Contemporary Cuban Printmaking, Galería Habana, Havana, Cuba.

2016:
Exposición Colectiva de Seis Artistas, Espacio Lavadero de San Andrés, Soria, Spain.

2015:
The Flesh and The Totem Collective, Dark Art Movement Digital Platform, International.

2012:
Exposición Colectiva Barrejat, Galería Real de Castellón, Castellón, Spain.

2009:
Visions of Myth, Galería d’Art Ripollés, Castellón, Spain.

2006:
Proyecto Circo Travelling Showcase, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba.

2003:
Circo Project Collective Showcase, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba.

2001:
Sentido Común, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba.

2001:
Con un pensar abstraído, DUPP Gallery, Havana, Cuba.

2000:
VII Edition of the Havana Biennial Collective Project, Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana, Cuba.

1995:
Salón de la Ciudad, Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas, Holguín, Cuba.

2006:
Curatorial Project Award for Proyecto Circo Travelling, Spanish Embassy in Cuba / Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), Madrid, Spain / Havana, Cuba.

2001:
Curatorial Award for the Exhibition Con un pensar abstraído, DUPP Gallery, Havana, Cuba.

2000:
UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts, Awarded collectively to the DUPP Gallery collective at the 7th Havana Biennial for the installation One, Two, Three, Testing…, UNESCO, Havana, Cuba.

2024:
Bravo Guerra, Abram. “El exorcismo de la carne: Tensión estética y la dualidad de Eros y Tánatos en la obra pictórica de Juan Rivero.” Artcrónica: Revista de Artes Visuales Cubanas, vol. 14, April 2024.

2024:
Setdart Subastas Internacionales. “Estudio de mercado y tasación de obras selectas de Juan Manuel Rivero Prieto.” Setdart Auction House Indexation Journals, March 2024.

2022:
Muro Bellido, Basilio. “Mitología y plástica contemporánea: Análisis crítico de la Serie Minotauro de Juan Rivero.” ArteInformado Galería e Índices de Arte, 2022.

2021:
Macabre Fine Art Publishers. “Dark Expressionism and the Metaphor of the Nonconformist Figure: The Anonymous Series.” Macabre Gallery Press, 2021.

2017:
Fine Arts Advisory Board. “Juan Rivero: Retrospective of Modern Cuban Expressionism and Bodily Duality.” ArteMorfosis Contemporary Art Research Archive, 2017.

2014:
Correos de la Comunidad Valenciana. “Intervenciones artísticas en el tejido urbano: Juan Rivero y la ejecución del retrato en directo.” ViveCastellón Diario Cultural, 2014.

2006:
Centro de Diseño y Artes Visuales. “La poética del cuerpo disgregado: Una lectura crítica de ‘Anónimos’ de Juan Rivero.” Luz y Oficios Monografías de Arte Contemporáneo, 2006.

2006:
Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación. Memoria de Gestión Colectiva: El Impacto del ‘Proyecto Circo Travelling’ en España y Cuba. Madrid: Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID), 2006.

2000:
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam. Catálogo Oficial de la VII Bienal de La Habana: Proyecto DUPP y la promoción de las artes. Havana: Consejo Nacional de las Artes Plásticas (CNAP), 2000.

2018:
Valencia Cultural Review. “Motivos Florales en el Centro Cultural La Marina: Complacencia sensual y la evolución técnica de Juan Rivero Prieto.” Artes Plásticas de la Comunidad Valenciana, 2018.

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Havana, Cuba).

Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam (Havana, Cuba).

Museo de Bellas Artes de Castellón (Castellón de la Plana, Spain).

ArteMorfosis Contemporary Art Research Archive (Zurich, Switzerland).

Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) Permanent Archive (Madrid, Spain).