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Description
Gabriel Sorzano (1925-2021) was a notable figure in Cuban art and in the Cuban exile community who was active in Cuba, the United States, and Europe. He won several major awards, including Cuba’s First Prize for Gigantic Wood Sculpture in 1958 resulting in a public art commission for the National Theatre in Havana, as well as winning a two-year travel purse to study in Italy from Cuba’s Ministry of Education (1960-61).
Sorzano then emigrated to the United States in 1961, leaving the censorship of the Cuban government for New York City where he worked as an estimator in several major projects, including the construction of the World Trade Center in the late 1960s, as well as JFK Airport’s expansions in the Pan American and TWA terminals. After relocating to Miami in 1973, Sorzano would become one the contributing artists that would be credited with helping to establish Latin American art in South Florida and forging the framework for the current international Miami art market. In this context, Sorzano was particularly associated with the group of Cuban artists that included Miguel Jorge, Lourdes Gómez-Franca, Dionisio Perkins, and Margarita Cano and was active in several key early venues of Cuban art, including Permuy Gallery and Bacardi Gallery.
In 1975 Sorzano won the City of Miami’s Artist in Residency and the following year was commissioned to create the renown Virgen de la Cardidad mural in Miami’s Domino Park in collaboration with fellow Cuban painter and close associate, Ricardo Pedreguera. Sponsored by the City of Miami, the mural became a notable work of public art that was widely published and recognized as a landmark in the area’s history. Sorzano was a participating artist in the 1977 Re-Encuentro Cubano art fair and exhibition, the second ever art fair in the United States held dedicated to Cuban art. The following year Sorzano was the subject of a solo exhibition in Bacardi Gallery, operated by the Bacardi Corporation, and in 1979 was invited to appear in the popular TV program Over Easy hosted by Hugh Downs.
Later in his career Sorzano was commissioned to design the Cerviel: Angel of Strength sculpture to serve as the model for the 1994 Vista Magazine Corporate Achievement Award given to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. He is mentioned in important literature on Cuban art in exile, including the book Cuban-American Art in Exile, and his work is featured in the permanent collection of the Wilzig Museum in Miami Beach.
While known for his vivid depictions of tropical vegetation, this piece shows Sorzano’s work within the field of abstraction. Dating between the 1980s and 1990s,
Untitled, is an exploration of form, color, and line executed on Tyvek paper, a kind of plastic paper that is used for construction, an unusual medium that underscores Sorzano’s knowledge of the architecture and construction industry, and was a preference of Sorzano’s due the way the paint applied onto the paper. Sorzano remained active in painting until his death in 2021 at the age of 96.
Date Digital
2026
Date Original
1980
Format
Acrylic on paper