David Beltrán
Cuba, 1978
Lives and works in Havana, Cuba and Madrid, Spain.
He is a Cuban artist who works in various media such as photography, painting and installation. He began studying at the Elementary School of Plastic Arts in Havana "October 20" in 1989, continuing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Havana "San Alejandro" 1993-97, and later concluded his studies at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) in 2003, also in Havana.
He was part of the "Edgar & David" duo (2000-2005), developing his first works in Sites Specifics and installations and at the same time being a member of the Enema Collective guided by the Cuban artist Lázaro Saavedra. This collective had as its starting point the interpretation of some "classic" performances of art history, transforming an individual experience into a collective experience.
In 2005 Beltrán was also a member of the group "La Teoría Dorada de Popeye", a multidisciplinary project with a rock band format using the aesthetics of actionism and Noise music genre as an icon representing a generation unsatisfied with its time.
In 2007 Beltrán began to work independently, exploring work between the media of painting and photography. In his extensive photographic series "Fragments of Infinity" he proposes a kind of "Found Paintings", fragments captured from reality which, modified by their scale, framing or rotation, have remained empty of content and history, thus losing any link to their origins. This series is also a reference to painters recognized by Art History and also to artistic movements of the avant-garde.
In spite of their abstract appearance, some of his works are records of an action. This is the case of "Sentimientos Sumergidos", "Soplos de Vida" and "Pinturas Quemadas". These works record the result of the experience of living a feeling, sensing or breathing a color for a certain time and also burning it.
In 2016 he begins his project "Archaeology of Color" in collaboration with the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba, the Department of Restoration of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid and with photographic archives of the Prado Museum. Combining art and science, establishing a close link between plastic arts and restoration, the latter being so important and close to the artistic milieu and very little recognized by it. It is also another way of reviewing Art History and rethinking a medium as long-standing as painting.
Among other spaces, Beltrán has shown his work in: Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, during the 13th Havana Biennial, 2019; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba, 2017; Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba, 2018; Fundación Ludwig de Cuba, Habana Gallery, Havana, Cuba, 2002; 8th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba, 2003; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Triennale Bovisa, Milan, Italy, 2008; Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba, 2011 and 2014; Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba, 2014; Museo de Arte de Caguas, Trienal Poligráfica, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2015; ESMoA, Los Angeles, USA, 2017; PAMM, Miami, USA, 2017.
Solo exhibitions at Freijo Gallery:
· 2023 Hidden Geometry of Thoughts 2 - LZ46 Program
· 2020 Archaeology of Color
Group exhibitions at Freijo Gallery:
· 2020 So far, so close, Freijo Gallery's 10th Anniversary virtual exhibition, at Virtual Freijo.