Circular Reflections

The work maps a highly personal territory where the organic warmth of Afro-Cuban mythology is overtaken by cold, technological structures. Deep lines and vibrant, clashing color values track the artist’s shifting sense of self as he moves through changing political and cultural environments. Instead of rendering a literal scene, the canvas becomes an abstract terrain of symbols—part ancestral, part machinery—capturing a sharp, vivid picture of internal exile and psychological navigation.

Academic Foundations: Born in Havana, Cuba, on September 28, 1960. He initiated formal artistic instruction at the National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro, graduating with his studio degree in 1982. He subsequently completed higher studio education at the Higher Institute of Art (Instituto Superior de Arte, ISA) in Havana, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1987. Following relocation to Europe, he expanded his academic training, earning an advanced diploma as a Técnico Superior en Diseño Gráfico y Técnicas Publicitarias from the Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, Spain.

Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines: His multidisciplinary practice spans painting, drawing, printmaking, and complex conceptual installations. His parallel professional track is informed by extensive engagement with graphic design, media layout, and commercial advertising. He served as founder and Art Director of ARTESPECTRUM (2010), an arts publication in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and spent years as a senior creative for Spanish advertising agencies (2006–2010), including editorial design and layout direction for corporate journals like Supermercados SPAR (2004).

His early career also included state-supported projects in tourist decor, theater scenography, and short film art direction.

Exile, Translocation & Relocations: To escape a confining ideological landscape that restricted his independent creative voice, he permanently left Cuba. He initiated a long-term residency in Spain, spending a productive professional chapter living, designing, and exhibiting in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. He later relocated to the United States, permanently establishing his home and long-term production workspace in Miami, Florida.

Current Status: He lives and works as a full-time professional artist out of his physical studio workspace in Miami, Florida. From this metropolitan base, he manages active gallery representation, public art panel collaborations, and private acquisitions across the United States and Europe.

• 2008–2009: Assistant Professor of the History of Graphics, Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 1989–1993: Professor of Art History, Elementary Fine Arts School System, Havana, Cuba.
• 1987–1989: Fine Arts Mentor and Regional Art Instructor, Institutional Career Placement Service, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba.

Raíces Ancestrales: A vital early-career block of work dedicated to unpacking his ancestral Afro-Cuban heritage. This series translates traditional regional mythologies, folklore, and ritual practices into fluid visual narratives that lay the groundwork for his complex, symbolic personal landscape.

Mapas Mitológicos: A primary standalone portfolio featuring intricate canvases that operate as spiritual and psychological roadmaps. These works utilize potent symbolic markers—such as geometric points and specific cultural signs—as structural guideposts to map his personal responses to challenging outside forces.

Generación Metaloide: A continuous series tracking his stylistic evolution into cold, industrial examinations of the self. By layering human anatomy with heavy machinery blueprints, metallic cogs, and systemic valves, the paintings confront his direct psychological friction against restrictive social and ideological environments.

This artist has participated in 11 solo exhibitions:

• 2020: Inhala / Exhala, Pandemio Virtual Studio Exhibition, Miami, FL. (A conceptual multi-media project debuting six photographic triptychs mapping biographical synthesis, captured by Panol Vega).
• 2015: Magín: National Hispanic Heritage Month Survey, Florida Memorial University, Miami, FL.
• 2012: Reconstrucción, QbaVa Art Gallery, Union City, NJ.
• 2004: Fragmentaria, Salón TeQuiero, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 1998: Generación Metaloide, Banco Central Hispano 20, Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 1997: Tarot, Markgraf Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany.
• 1994: Bicycles in Cuba, Caracola Latin American Fine Art, Altadena, CA.
• 1992: Kunst auf Cuba, Wagner Gallery, Vienna, Austria.
• 1991: Cross Road, Cultural Center & Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
• 1990: Ser, Galería Centro de Arte de Alamar, Havana, Cuba.
• 1987: Visiones, Degree Exhibition, Higher Institute of Art (ISA), Havana, Cuba.

This artist has participated in 30 collective exhibitions and museum surveys:

• 2026: Circular Reflections, Westchester Regional Library, Miami, FL. (Major multi-city survey showcasing circular fine art format works by eighty prominent contemporary Cuban visual masters).
• 2025: 100 & 31 S.A. (Segunda Edición), GaleríaBodden, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
• 2025: El Espectador, Galería de Arte Independiente, Barcelona, Spain.
• 2024: ¿Cuánto vale la tierraquemada?, PlataformaEcologista de las Palmas Exhibition, Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2022: Más allá del Plato, Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS), Daytona Beach, FL. (In collaboration with the Fine Ceramic Art Center).
• 2018: Opening Festival LGTBQ, Artefactus Gallery, Miami, FL.
• 2018: Unofficial, Kendall Art Center, Miami, FL.
• 2017: Cien & 31 S.A., El Bunker EspacioAlternativo, Miami, FL.
• 2015: Ocho, 17 Frost Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2014: 11/11: Eleven Artists on Eleven Months, Payares Studio, Miami, FL.
• 2013: El Nido, Ephemeral Public Space Installation, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2012: LatinAméricART, Casa Turquesa Art Space, Miami, FL.
• 2012: Canarias Nórdica: Primera Feria Internacional de las Artes, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2012: Experiferia, Ateneo Ciudad Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2011: Tarot Exhibition, MEWO Kunsthalle, Memmingen, Germany.
• 2008: Feria Internacional de ArteContemporáneo de Arcale, Valladolid, Spain.
• 2005: Canarias s. XXI: NuevasTendencias, Centro Atlántico de ArteModerno (CAAM), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 2004: Dissident Cuban Artists in the Special Period, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL.
• 2002: ExposiciónIberoamericana de Arte, Palacio de Exposiciones, Madrid, Spain.
• 1998: ConexiónAtlántica, Casa Cuba, Gáldar, Gran Canaria, Spain.
• 1995: Painted Naked, FayadJamís Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
• 1992: Cubaart, Golferichs House, Barcelona, Spain.
• 1992: National Exhibition of Sculptures, Center for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV), Havana, Cuba.
• 1989: Proyecto de Teatro Laboratorio: Teatro Límite, Multidisciplinary Performative Survey, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
• 1988: Small Format Exhibition, Gallery L, Havana, Cuba.
• 1987: Salón de Graduados del ISA, Galería del Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba.
• 1985: Arte en la costa, Interdisciplinary Art Action, El Narigón, Havana, Cuba.
• 1984: Poesía Pública, Multidisciplinary Collective Intervention, Amphitheater of the University of Havana, Havana, Cuba.
• 1984: Primera Bienal de La Habana, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.
• 1982: Exposición de Tesis de San Alejandro, Galería San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba.

Information needed.

Monographic & Exhibition Catalogues

• 2025: Rodez, Miguel. Circular Reflections: Cuban Art Documentation Project. Miami Gardens, FL: St. Thomas University Press, 2025. A comprehensive archival catalog documenting exhibition participants, featuring an extensive analysis of the artist’s structural motifs and multi-material layouts.
• 2012: Méndez Alpízar, L. Santiago (Chago). Magín Pérez Ortiz: otros ritmos cinéticos. Madrid: EforyAtochaEdiciones, 2012. A dedicated monograph analyzing the kinetic rhythms, material transitions, and formal structural evolution of the artist’s paintings.

Curatorial & Survey Publications

• 2022: Vega Jácome, Rafael. Contemporary Artists Handbook: Manual de Artistas Contemporáneos. Miami: Brighter Book Publishing, 2022. An encyclopedic studio compilation mapping aesthetic tenets, developmental milestones, and technical configurations of contemporary visual artists.
• 2000: Rivero, Raúl. Ojo Pinta: Pintores cubanos en el Período Especial. Washington, DC: Center for a Free Cuba, 2000. A landmark publication featuring an interview and critical profile analyzing the artist’s creative resistance and production strategies during the island’s Special Period crisis.

Scholarly Journals & Criticism

• 2021: Vigil-Escalera, Gregorio. “No dejen de hacer trampas y Carne y Sangre: Serviros.” Artepoli: Revista de Arte y Cultura, no. 29 (June 2021): 22–27. A critical aesthetic evaluation tracing the conceptual foundations, physical density, and narrative layers defining the artist’s work.
• 2018: Castellanos, Willy. “Extraoficial: Las imágenes y el ‘Estado’ de las cosas.” Latin American Art, vol. 17, no. 34 (November 2018): 14–21. A scholarly exploration analyzing the sociological conditions and structural weight embedded within the artist’s compositions.
• 2018: Pérez Ortiz, Magín. “La Mitología Tecno-Mecánica en el Arte Contemporáneo.” Artepoli: Revista de Arte y Cultura, no. 14 (November 2018): 18. A personal theoretical treatise unpacking the fusion of ancestral Afro-Cuban iconography with industrial machinery blueprints.

Press & Critical Reception

• 2026: Ángel Roca. “Circular Reflections: Dissolving the Corners of the Cuban Narrative.” Artepoli, no. 48 (2026): 6–12. A comprehensive bilingual feature article evaluating the artist’s visual contribution within a historic survey exhibition.
• 2026: Rodez, Miguel. “Catálogo: Reflexiones Circulares.” InCUBAdora (March 24, 2026). An overview summarizing the Circular Reflections project, its curation, and the registry of participating visual artists.

• 1998: Nieto, Julio. “Generación Metaloide.” Diario de Las Palmas (October 14, 1998): 32. A dedicated solo exhibition chronicle and critical interview evaluating the artist’s transition into cold, mechanical paradigms of identity.
• 1997: Stuttgart Kunst-Anzeiger. “Die Symbolik des Tarots in der kubanischen Kunst von Magín Pérez Ortiz” (September 3, 1997). A regional exhibition review evaluating the psychological intent and technical execution behind the artist’s tarot-inspired presentation.
• 1996: Márquez García, Sandra. “Cuba Obtiene Dólares con Arte Polémico.” El Nuevo Herald (August 11, 1996): C1. An extensive journalist feature profile and interview assessing the socio-political friction and critical reception surrounding the artist’s controversial mid-90s work.
• 2004: Canarias de las Artes. “La evolución simbólica de Magín Pérez Ortiz de Cuba a España” (October 14, 2004). A regional press evaluation charting his migration trajectory and spatial realignment following relocation to the Canary Islands.

Information needed.