Josignacio

Early life

Josignacio came from a family of intellectuals and was surrounded by a vast collection of paintings. There had been many family friends who visited him regularly. Among them were painters such as Roberto Fabelo, René Portocarrero, Amelia Peláez, Felipe López, Mariano Rodriguez "El Gallego Posada" and Gilberto Marino.

During these visits these painters taught Josignacio new methods and painting techniques. Notably, in one of Josignacio's interviews, he had been asked "when did you begin to paint?" His reply was: "I do not recall when; it had been a part of my daily life like everything else." Among his teachers his talent as a future painter was obvious, and in 1983 he went presented himself to the admissions test at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA). Out of the many who tested, he was one of the few to pass. Overjoyed with the news, Josignacio shaved his head, stating "new life, new hair." When he came to school to attend the Dean banned him from the premises and from attending because they interpreted his head shaving as protest against the government. One of Josignacio's teachers, Consuelo Castaneda, also had been banned from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) because of having a punk hairstyle.

This turn of destiny gave Josignacio an obsession to learning all related with art, art history and to be the best in his field. After being banned, his challenge and goal was to beat ISA graduates in every sense possible.

In 1984 working as a helping hand for Martinez Anay and Andres Ugalde in the making of a big mural painting for the Military Patriotic Educational Society known as Sociedad de Educación Patriótico-Militar (SEPMI) (the Cuban version of the Boy Scouts). This agency had been directed by Cuban Cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez. It was during this time Josignacio accidentally discovered that mixing epoxy resin with oil paintings was an excellent medium to paint with.

This new medium took him two years to develop and master. When he was ready his Uncle Gerardo got him his first personal exhibition at the Artistic and Literary Lyceum of the city of Regla on March 2, 1987. This was the first time that a complete paintings exhibition was made with only the plastic paint medium and had been displayed worldwide.

In 1988, Josignacio as a member of the "Asociación Hermanos Saíz" was commissioned by their directives to make the design of one of the Havana Carnival's Floats. As soon as he finished the design, he presented it to the commission and they canceled him arguing that they needed to give the Float design to another Cuban painter, Manuel Mendive; the reason was that in Miami one of Mendive's paintings titled "El Pavo Real" had been burned by an anti-Castro militant a member of the Bay of Pigs Brigade 2506 and at that moment was necessary to give the revolution's support to the victim artist.

Since then his artwork had been on display at more than 20 exhibitions before finally being invited to exhibit his art in Mexico City on May 10, 1989.

With no explanation being given to him, all his planned shows at The Gallery of the National Auditorium and Los Talleres de Coyoacán were cancelled by orders of the Cuban embassy in Mexico City. After this turning point, he made the decision to come to the USA on September 14, 1989 and has resided there since then. Josignacio is an American Citizen.

Influences

Since his youth Josignacio has been influenced by the abstract expressionists of the New York School; however, Karel Appel and Wassily Kandinsky have had a special focus. In his childhood Josignacio had been more motivated by color than by forms, a distinguishing factor in his artwork that was often noted among his peers and family. The only exception to his art was his self-portrait, which he did according to academic style. In his first exhibition, his entire collection of paintings were all abstracts. It was from this point of time that his future as an abstract/neo-figurative painter had been decided.

Social causes and charity work

Josignacio has contributed to social causes. Most recently Josignacio is known for raising funds for the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims. For both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Andrew, Josignacio helped raise funds for the victims. In 1992 after Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida he organized an auction with more than 100 Cuban painters for victims of the tragedy. In the early 90's Josignacio helped raise funds for AIDS organizations such as "The Project Genesis." Since 1996 Josignacio has helped raise funds for the Miami Children's Hospital. His most recent donation was to Hedge Funds Care, an international charity, whose sole mission is preventing and treating child abuse and supported largely by the hedge fund industry.

Since 2010 Josignacio have being supporting several Russian Charity Organizations, mostly those focused on children with autism, disabilities or special needs by fully donating his artworks to be sold. According to art historian/art critic/marketing analyst and expert in Russian Affairs Mr. Mikhail I. Kuznetsov “Contemporary artist Josignacio have become one of the most sought after donors due to his compassion, generosity and the high interest of the top Russian art collectors, a very favorable combination to our charities, most of his works easily surpass the one million dollars mark”

Art in public places

On November 25, 2011, Josignacio unveiled an 8-foot x 12 foot mural titled 'Tree of Life' in Asbury Park, New Jersey at the Asbury Park Transportation on Main Street. The 'Tree of Life' was an original triptych art that consisted of three consecutive paintings that represented a convergence of the past, present and future to create an image of humanity. The 'Tree of Life', then valued at $180,000, was dedicated to the children of Asbury Park, NJ and was commissioned by The Caring Canvas, a premier traveling art gallery. The triptych mural artwork is permanently located at the Asbury Park Transportation Center on Main Street in Asbury Park, NJ.

On January 13, 2017, La Casa de Artes y Tradiciones Chinas acquired Josignacio's artwork titled "Fénix" a 105.5 x 55 inches, plastic paint medium on wood to be on public display at their permanent collection.

Awards

Auction records & trends

On December 17, 2014, President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Cuban art sales are believed to be booming as a consequence of thawing political relations between the United States and Cuba.

On December 23, 2014, a painting by Josignacio titled "The Three Wisest Monkeys", dated 1991, was sold for a hammer price of $720,000 USD at Pangeaea Auction House in Las Vegas. Notably, this painting set Josignacio as the most expensive living Cuban artist in the world by surpassing Tomas Sanchez, who previously held the record at $540,000. (Source: Artprice.com™ database)

On April 11, 2015, President Obama met with his Cuban counterpart, Raúl Castro, for substantive talks in Panama City, Panama. According to CNN, this was the first time "the two nations' top leaders have sat down for substantive talks in more than 50 years."

On July 20, 2015, the United States and Cuba both reopened their embassies with one another in their respective capital cities.

On December 15, 2015, a painting by Josignacio titled "The key of Success", dated 2011, was sold for a hammer price of $475,000 USD at Miami Auction Gallery in Miami, FL.

On February 16, 2016, the United States and Cuba signed an airline transportation agreement allowing commercial flights between the two countries. (Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article60623741.html)

On March 10, 2016, a painting by Josignacio titled "Music is Timeless", dated 1989, was sold for a hammer price of $3,481,205 USD at McCarthy-Williams Auctions in London. This painting is now the most expensive painting in the world by a living Latin artist (as well as a living Cuban artist).

On July 7, 2016, a painting by Josignacio titled "Rostro", dated 1989, was sold for a hammer price of $2,329,200 at McCarthy-Williams Auctions in London.

Year over year auction sales data for Josignacio reveals a sharply upward sales trend of artwork for the artist. Furthermore, it is expected that as the economic ties between the United States and Cuba grow, that the contemporary Cuban art will appreciate as is reflected in the upward trending auction sales of Josignacio. Accordingly, due to increasing demand it is likely that new auction records will be set in the future.

Documentary

Exhibitions

The key artwork of the exhibition as well as the Signs Series titled "Fénix" was acquired by the Casa de las Artes y Tradiciones Chinas for display in its permanent collection.

Despite the controversy of the homosexuality’s delicate theme in the communist’s Cuba, a collection of seven nonfigurative large format guitars curated by Journalist and writer Yoel Almaguer de Armas and Lic. in Art History Diana Rosa Crespo were exhibited in the Karl Marx Theatre. In the typical Josignacio’s forms and colors, they based their selection in order to match the seven colors of the rainbow; a cure was made to symbolize the colors of the flag that characterizes the world movement LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) That are precisely the colors of the actual rainbow. The Rainbow Flag, also known as the LGBT flag, is the representation of the gay and lesbian community since the late 1970s. The flag was designed by artist Gilbert Baker and popularized in 1978. These pieces are part of Josignacio’s extensive series of guitars called “Rainbow Guitars” and he did this show in support of the rights of equality and acceptance of those discriminated against in his native Island and bravely leaded precisely by Mariela Castro Espin, the daughter of Raúl Castro Ruz, the actual president of Cuba. Mariela currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) proof that its government is showing their intentions in opening the human rights issues. The reason for the title "Seven Adagios for Sappho and Ganymede": Josignacio uses the musical term adagio because it is a musical piece whose tempo is slower, as well as slow has been the process of acceptance of LGBT movement and two characters, the real Sappho of Mytilene, also known as Sappho of Lesbos, a Greek poet who has historically been identified by many as the symbol of female homosexuality and the mythological Ganymede who became the lover of the God Zeus.

Additional exhibitions

From 1987 to 1989 Josignacio had his artwork on display at the following Galleries for exhibition:

Writings and essays