Circular Reflections

A Cuban Contemporary Art Documentation Project

Artist dossier

Violeta Roque de Arana

Born 1964, Havana, Cuba — Resident of Miami, Florida since 1997

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Artist's Gallery

Selected works

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Style Description

The artist constructs a meticulous realm of gentle mystery, where ephemeral dreams and modern daily life converge to map the psychological reality of displacement. With virtuosic realism, she orchestrates domestic objects, historic symbols, and natural geometries such as the Fibonacci spiral into uncanny compositions that dismantle traditional timelines. Mathematical structures and everyday items coexist on barren theater stages, transfiguring interiors and landscapes into quiet sanctuaries probing translocation, loss, and memory.

Biography & Artistic Evolution

Academic Foundations: Born in Havana in 1964, she trained at the National Fine Arts Academy San Alejandro, graduating in Plastic Arts in 1983. She completed a Black and White Photography Laboratory Workshop (1991) and higher advertising photography and media illumination studies at the University of Havana (1992–1993).

Institutional Service & Parallel Disciplines: She taught at San Alejandro and the School of Design, worked as head graphic designer and layout illustrator for Mujeres and Muchachas, and served as art director for Cuba’s state postal operations, illustrating postage stamps featuring antique carriages. In the early 1990s she focused entirely on independent studio painting.

Exile & Translocation: She left Cuba permanently in 1997 and settled in Miami, Florida, developing paintings and photographic concepts around the memory of Havana’s Moorish tile floors.

Current Status: Active independent home studio in Miami, continuously developing oil collections and macro-photographic installation concepts.

Teaching & Academic Appointments

Instructor at the San Alejandro Academy and the School of Design during her early professional development in Cuba.

Notable Artwork Series & Motifs

Infinite Passages & Moorish Cartographies: Detailed canvases reproduce old Cuban floors and vintage drains as geometric platforms for studying infinity.

Sky and Cloud Chronicles: Camera work and mixed-media overlays study atmospheric forms, faces in clouds, and drifting horizons as reflections of an exiled consciousness.

Fibonacci Spirals & Natural Geometries: Realistic still-life elements combine with fractals and golden ratios to build spaces of contemplation.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2005: Understand the Infinity 2, ArtMiami, Silvia Dorfsman Project, Miami Beach. 2004: Collection, Samari Lake Clubhouse, Hialeah Gardens. 2002: Playing, Alpha Art Gallery, Miami. 1997: Our Floors, Yamato Art Gallery, Coral Gables. 1996: Bodegones Cubanos, Itatti Gallery, Mexico City. 1995: Bodegones Cubanos, Habana Hilton; Sabor Tropical I and II, Galería Orígenes and Gran Teatro de La Habana. 1994: 10 Years of Retrospective, Galería de Arte Galeano, Havana.

Selected Collective Exhibitions

2026: Circular Reflections, Westchester Regional Library, Miami. 2025: Circular Reflections, St. Thomas University, Miami. 2007: Tenth Annual Brickell Key Day, Miami. 2005: Group Exhibition, Alpha Art Gallery, Miami. 1995: A la carta, Galería Habana, Havana.

Selected Awards & Achievements

Brickell Key Exhibition Distinction: First Place at the Tenth Annual Brickell Key Fine Art Showcase, Miami (2007). National Student Salon Prize: First Prize for painting at the Segundo Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Ministry of Culture, Havana (1983).

Selected Bibliography & Publications

Fabiola Santiago, The Miami Herald (January 7, 2005): front-page feature on her shift from chess to macro-realism. Alfredo Triff, Miami Art Guide (April/May 2005): review of the Art Miami project. Ivonne Gómez, El Nuevo Herald (April 18, 1998): interview on her first year in exile. El Nuevo Herald / The Miami Herald Artes y Letras archive reviews document her exhibitions and graphic style across South Florida.

Collections

Original paintings, mixed-media layouts, and signed graphic portfolios are preserved within: Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MoCAA), Miami; Archbishop John C. Favalora Archive & Museum Collection, Miami; Alpha Art Gallery curation hubs; Silvia Dorfsman Project registries; and international private collections across Spain, Denmark, Mexico, and the United States.