Born in Las Villas, Cuba 1937

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BIOGRAPHY

 

Artist Orlando Naranjo is a self-taught painter born in Calabazal de Sagua, Las Villas, Cuba. The artist is inspired by colorful palette's full of energy and giddy transparency of the Cuban geography, using reds, yellows, browns, and blues, dazzling in his paintings, to remind the world of the splendors which we live in and the vibrant substance that we are. The artist also uses, flowers, fruits, forests, animals, rivers and women, all inspired by poetry with a spell of the pristine, from an unpolluted environment , all expressed on his paintings with a sense of security, enjoyment and attractive reality, with in the perfection of his work.

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Naranjo won his first drawing contest in 1952 with a scholarship in Washington DC, USA. At a young age he moved to Havana where he participated in his first collective exhibition in 1967 and later his first solo exhibition in 1970, he also participated in numerous collective and solo exhibitions through out Cuba and the United States. Naranjo's works can be found in various galleries throughout the United States. Naranjo's paintings are currently held in private collections in Spain, Poland, Cuba, Venezuela, former Soviet Union and the United States. In the fall of 2012 he was one of the painters chosen to participate in Fans Forever at the Miami Dade College Museum of Art, a unique exhibition featuring artist-designed fans by prominent artist of Cuban descent. Through out his career, his work has been exhibited beside renowned Master painters such as: Wilfredo Lam, Amelia Peláz, Rener Portocarrero, Mario Carreño, Gina Pillón, Mariano Rodriguez, Cundo Bermudez and Servando Cabrera Moreno.

 

Renowned Cuban poet, novelist and playwright, Reinaldo Arenas wrote a pictorial on Naranjo saying: "Un cuadro de Naranjo es una invitacion que incita" (A painting by Naranjo is an invitation that provokes). 

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

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• 2009  La Bodeguita Miami, Miami, Florida

• 2003  Eliassons Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida

• 1979  Liceo Habana Centro Gallego, Havana, Cuba

• 1979  Dept de Arte Seccional de Cultura, Havana, Cuba

• 1978  Galeria de Arte de Ministerio de Educacion, Havana Cuba

• 1971  Galeria de Arte del Ministerio de Salud Publica, Havana, Cuba

 

 

COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS

       

       2019  La Galeria Fine Art, Miami, Florida

       2018  Miami Lakes Town Hall, Miami Lakes, Florida

• 2018  La Galeria Fine Art, Miami, Florida

• 2018  Frame on Wheels, Miami, Florida

• 2018  Santa Fe Colonial Gallery, Miami, Florida 

• 2017  La Galeria Fine Art, Miami, Florida

• 2017  Cuban Nostalgia, Plaza de los Artistas, Miami, Florida

• 2016  Santa Fe Colonial Gallery, Miami, Florida 

• 2009  Artbox Auction “Union Bank”, Coconut Grove, Florida

• 2008  Bodeguita Miami, Miami, Florida

• 2007  GDS Fine Art, Coral Gables, Florida

• 2006  Artbox Auction “Bank of America”, Coral Gables, Florida

• 2003  Eliassons Art, Coral Gables, Florida

• 2003  Fraga Gallery, Miami, Florida

• 2002  Latin Brush Strokes Gallery, Naples, Florida

• 2001  Latin American art Museum, Miami, Florida

• 1999  GDS Fine Art, Coral Gables, Florida

• 1999  Nova Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida

• 1999  Sea Coast Towers, Miami, Florida

• 1998  The Wirtz Gallery, Miami, Florida

• 1998  I've Been Framed Gallery, Miami, Florida

• 1997  Galeria Amalia Mahoney, Chicago, Illinois

• 1996  InterArte of America, Miami, Florida

• 1991  Artist Pro Genesis II, Miami, Florida

• 1989  ACCA 89, Miami, Florida

• 1984  ACCA 84, Miami, Florida

• 1980  Salon Nacional de Dibujo, Havana, Cuba

• 1976  Salon Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, Matanzas, Cuba

• 1973  Salon Nacional de Dibujo, Havana, Cuba

• 1970  Galeria Foxa Vedado, Havana, Cuba

• 1969  Galeria INIT 2 y 19, Havana, Cuba

• 1968  Galeria INIT 2 y 19, Havana, Cuba