Nine Core Pillars

The Circular Reflections project is a major traveling contemporary exhibition and living archival initiative. Conceived and developed over nearly a decade by Miami-based contemporary visual artist and independent curator Miguel Rodez, the project presently brings together a massive growing collective of over nearly 100 established Cuban artists across generations and geographies and is expected to continue to increase.

The project stands as a monumental cultural undertaking built upon nine core pillars:

The Strict 21-Inch Tondo Format

The defining formal parameter of the project is that every participating artist must execute their work within a strict 21-inch circular framework. Curator Miguel Rodez introduced this spatial rule to deliberately shun the traditional rectangular canvas, which he states “boxes in a narrative.” By utilizing the round portal (known traditionally in art history as a tondo), the project forces creators to entirely strip away standard linear perspective and compositional habits, reinventing how they organize negative space and movement.

Amplification of Distinct Signature Styles

While the circular border provides an unyielding material uniformity, it is not used to flatten individuality. Instead, the geometric constraint functions as a high-contrast lens that isolates and spotlights each individual artist’s highly developed signature style. Because the artists are not bound to a singular political or conceptual theme, the resulting exhibition displays an immense breadth of uninhibited visual languages—ranging seamlessly from hyper-realistic and academic figuration to expressionist street graffiti, minimalist geometry, and textured conceptual abstraction side-by-side.

Anchored by Elite Curricula Vitae

The selection process for Circular Reflections enforces an exceptionally rigorous professional standard. The project does not operate as an amateur community open call; rather, it is composed exclusively of established masters who possess impressive, verified professional curricula. The participating roster consists of artists who have already achieved permanent global museum placement, earned prestigious national fine art fellowships, or been featured in canonical art market publications across their respective careers.

An Unrestricted, Transnational Diaspora

The project features no regional or geographic limitations, functioning as an expansive transnational network that reflects the true, global reality of the contemporary Cuban diaspora. Participating artists submit their works from diverse home creative bases scattered across the globe, including active artists living on the island of Cuba, multiple states throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Spain.

A Living Historical and Academic Archive

Circular Reflections is explicitly structured to serve as an ongoing historical document charting the evolution of Cuban art across generational lines. It intentionally bridges divides by displaying the works of historic 1980s Cuban avant-garde icons right alongside mid-career figures and emerging millennial voices. By shifting the work out of conventional fine art white cubes and traveling directly into regional academic spaces (such as St. Thomas University) and civic hubs (like the brutalist raw concrete spaces of the Westchester Regional Library), the project actively documents and preserves collective cultural memory for the public.

Freedom from Conceptual Restrictions

By choosing to unite the collection purely through a structural, geometric constraint rather than an ideological or topical one, Rodez deliberately liberates the artists from expected clichés. The absolute absence of conceptual restrictions allows each participant to speak honestly from their own personal histories and sensibilities. This effectively dismantles rigid, institutional preconceptions of what “Cuban art” is supposed to look like, offering instead a fluid field of independent global practices.

The “Reflections” Conceptual Dimension

The exhibition features “Reflections,” a conceptual dimension designed to expand visitor engagement. Each circular artwork pairs with a distinct textual counterpoint by curator Miguel Rodez—ranging from an evocative phrase or one-liner to a poem or short narrative—created as an immediate response to the specific piece. Crucially, these writings do not serve as definitive interpretations. Instead, Rodez utilizes his commentary as a philosophical starting point to demystify the gallery experience and foster public dialogue. By presenting a fluid response rather than an academic mandate, the project empowers viewers to challenge the curator’s perspective, confront their own sensibilities, and freely formulate their own internal reflections.

Institutional Pedagogy & Master Academic Lineage

A critical evaluation of the master artist roster reveals that the collection represents a profound accumulation of institutional pedagogical authority. An audit of the participant list shows that nearly 50% of the participating artists have served as formal fine arts professors, department chairs, or thesis mentors at some of the most rigorous art academies —including the San Alejandro Art Academy; the National School of Art (ENA) and the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) in Havana, as well as major university studio programs across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Some have served as leaders, mentors or practitioners at influential institutions as Havana’s Taller de Grafica Portocarrero. Many of the participating artists have also served at other schools and personal art instructors. The inclusion of pedagogical participants means the exhibition directly maps not just individual studio output, but the very master-student lineages that trained entire generations of contemporary creators.

A Growing, Living Collection

Far from being a static or frozen historical survey, Circular Reflections functions as an expanding, living contemporary repository. Curator Miguel Rodez continues to systematically audit the diaspora, intentionally scouting and integrating highly qualified Cuban masters who possess a fiercely defined, uncompromised signature style. This growth ensures the archive remains active while exhibitions are held in places like cultural centers and museums, capturing current stylistic shifts and late-career expansions of major artists in real-time.