Zaida del Rio (1954)

Zaida del Rio, painter, drawer, illustrator, engraver, mural painter and poet. She graduated from the Superior Institute of Art (ISA), Havana in 1987 and from the Fine Arts School in Paris, France in 1989. Member of Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and International Association of Plastic Artists (AIAP).

Zaida is one of Cuba’s most respected living female artists today. She gathers inspiration from her most profound desires for an equitable world in balance with Mother Nature. Dancing figures, in which femininity is a principle element, navigate through dissimilar worlds and universes. The skill and grace of her brush take over her shapes, with a combination of spirituality and hedonism that become melded into one. The portrayal of women, transformed into birds at one point of her creative activity, the world of Afro-Cuban religion Santeria, and the luxuriant tropical vegetation, all constitute distinctive motifs in paintings where the almost impressionistic brushstrokes are combined with sketches of strong or thin filigree-like brushstrokes.

Her artwork can be found in the collections of National Museum of Fine Art, Havana, Cuba; Salón Internacional de Gráfica. Roma, Italia; National Museum of Fine Art, Cuenca, Ecuador; Guayasamín Foundation, Cuenca, Ecuador; UNESCO, México, D.F.; Museo de la Cerámica, La Habana, Cuba; Museo de la Danza, Cuba; Museo Mapri, Pinar del Río, Cuba; Museo de Santa Clara, Villa Clara,Cuba; Casa de las Américas, La Habana, Cuba; Chateau Lormont, Bordeaux, Francia.

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