Circular Reflections

The artist delivers a compelling visual narrative focused on private migrations and shared histories, bridging historical documentary drawing and contemporary Latin American painting. Through figurative design and bold graphic outlines, his work pieces together chronicles of water that confront complex trajectories of flight and settlement. Clean technical execution moves between abstract horizons and recognizable figures, foregrounding human resilience across changing geographic landscapes.

Academic Foundations: Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1965, Sergio Lastres developed as a self-taught visual artist through independent studio copy work, close observation of Cuban avant-garde masters, and experimentation with regional graphic materials.

Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines: Before leaving Cuba, he worked within Havana’s independent cultural networks. Parallel work in graphic design, layout administration, and underground visual communications informed the bold linework and balanced compositions of his paintings.

Exile, Translocation & Relocations: In August 1994, during Cuba’s Special Period, he left the island on a makeshift raft during the Balsero crisis. After rescue at sea, he spent nine months at the United States Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay before entering the United States and relocating to Miami in 1995.

Current Status: He operates a home studio in Miami, Florida, maintains an international exhibition schedule, and mentors artists navigating translocation.

1994–1995: Resident Workshop Instructor, Cultural Arts Program, Guantánamo Bay Refugee Transit Camps, U.S. Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

1998–2005: Guest Master Painter and Community Youth Mentor, Visual Arts Outreach Initiative, Miami-Dade Public Library System, Miami, Florida.

Chronicles of Water (Crónicas del agua): Canvases processing the 1994 rafter crisis, transforming the ocean horizon into a narrative stage where fragile vessels move toward freedom.

Political Chess Games & Pawns: Allegorical figures and maritime refugees arranged across structural grids, representing human lives trapped as strategic pieces within geopolitical stalemates.

The Black Dove & Flight Elements: An ongoing investigation of the dark bird and flying origami as shorthand for exile memory and the desire for peaceful release.

Sanctuary Windows & Still Introspections: Drawings and paintings on domestic isolation and everyday objects, examining how translocated families reconstruct private mental landscapes.

2025: Refuge of the Senses, NIDO Art Gallery, Midtown Art District, Miami, FL.

2019: Artist Spotlight: Sergio Lastres, Archbishop John C. Favalora Archive & Museum, St. Thomas University, Miami, FL.

2014: Crónicas del agua, Koubek Center ArtSpace Gallery, Miami, FL.

2001: Travesías de la nostalgia, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Cusco, Peru.

The artist has participated in over 15 solo exhibitions.

2026: Circular Reflections, Westchester Regional Library, Miami, FL.

2025: Circular Reflections, St. Thomas University, Miami, FL.

2024: Arte Erótico Cubano, World Erotic Art Museum, Miami Beach, FL.

2022: Exodo 94, Museum of Arts & Sciences, Daytona Beach, FL; Balseros: 28 Years Later, Highlands Museum of the Arts, Sebring, FL; Shared Horizons, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Fort Myers, FL.

2021–2019: Annual National Juried Exhibition; The Journey Within; Divergent Paths; Balseros: Uniendo Orillas; National Juried Show; and Cross-Border Chronicles, at institutions in Mississippi, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas.

2018–1994: Reference Cited; The Rice Collection Anthology; Art of the Cuban Diaspora; and Arte en Confinamiento, at institutions in Florida and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The artist has participated in over 45 collective exhibitions.

2024: Individual Artist Support (MIA) Grant, Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Miami, FL.

2023: Silver Medal in Cover Art Design, Global Music Awards, La Jolla, CA.

2014: Honorary Recognition Milestone, Reuters International Media Agency, London, UK / Miami, FL.

1994: First Prize in Crayon and Drawing Multiples, Guantánamo Refugee Transit Camps Cultural Arts Commission, U.S. Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

2026: Alex Fleites, OnCubaNews, “Cronistas del éxodo: Sergio Lastres y la pintura del mar.”

2019: Memory of Nations / Post Bellum, “Sergio Lastres: Oral History of the Cuban Nation.”

2016: Elizabeth Campisi, Oxford University Press, Escape to Miami: An Oral History of the Cuban Rafter Crisis.

2014: Liz Ševčenko, “Archiving the GTMO Experience”; Reuters International Press, “The Cuban Raft Exodus: Sergio Lastres.”

1994: University of Miami Libraries Digital Exhibits, “A Work by Artist Sergio Lastres Depicts Cuban Rafters as Pawns.”

The artist’s creations, large-format canvases, and technical portfolios are preserved within the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University; The Caribbean Sea Migration Historical Collection; St. Thomas University Permanent Fine Art Registry; and The Rodríguez Collection Permanent Art Archive.