Cesar Santos. Manuscripts

28 Feb-25 Apr 2025

Cesar Santos, 'Unconstrained', 2024, Oil on linen

Overview

Cesar Santos is a Cuban-American artist, born in 1982 in Santa Clara, Cuba and raised in Miami, Florida. Manuscripts, the artist’s first solo exhibition in the United Kingdom, offers an encounter with his captivating and intuitive approach to abstraction. Throughout the exhibition, the works are characterised by forms that are tantalisingly close to figuration, yet which, through the artist’s technical mastery and expressive vision, are impossible to fathom as logical elements of reality. The spirit of each painting is infused with Santos’s study of the Old Masters, and with his personal experiences drawn from a rich tapestry of cultures.

The title Manuscripts refers to the improvisation with which Santos begins each painting, emphasising the raw and organic nature of his practice. Also, the term Manuscripts signals that each artwork can be ‘read’ and ‘interpreted’ by viewers to ascertain its significance – a significance that might be fresh and different for each person.