JESÚS GASTELL is a mid-career artist who lives and works in Cuba. Gastell earned a BFA from Escuela Nacional de Artes (ENA 1983) and graduated from the prestigious Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA 1988) in Havana with a degree in Drawing and Painting.
Instead of only establishing himself as a master of representation, Jesus Gastell uses his extraordinary abilities to reveal the hidden connections between "the real" and our cultural perception of it. His artwork operates as a continuous exercise of questioning models, assuming the nature of intellectual pleasure as an illuminating experience.
JESÚS GASTELL SOTO Estudio de Arte Km 8 ½ Carretera a Soroa Candelaria, Artemisa, Cuba Solo Exhibitions 2013 Illusionada. Unpack Studio. Toronto, Canada 2007 Poética en el límite. Museo de Arte Pinar del Río (MAPRI). Pinar del Rio, Cuba 2007 El peso de la Isla. Universidad Hermanos Saíz. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 2005 Afinidades electivas. Hotel Armadores de Santander, supported by the Oficina del Historiador. Havana, Cuba 2001 Mundos Paralelos. Provincial Centre of Visual Arts. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 1999 Huellas del alma. Municipal Museum of Candelaria. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 1989 El mito del héroe en que vivo. Cienfuegos Art Gallery, Cuba 1983 Dos Egresados Exponen. Alejo Carpentier Art Gallery. Camaguey, Cuba Selected Group Exhibition 2012 Pensando desde El Paisaje. Casa Guayasamin. Landscape Contest. Oficina del Historiador. Havana, Cuba 2011 IX Edizione Premio Internazionale di Pittura ISOLE Sardegna-Cuba. Sardinia, Italy 2011 Odiseas y Caminos. Provincial Centre of Visual Arts. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 2011 Parábolas de un sueño Pinareño. Galería L. Havana, Cuba 2010 Landscape Salon: Homage to Esteban Chartrand. San Francisco de Asís Convent. Havana, Cuba 2009 First Show of Contemporary Art. Centre of Visual Art. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 2009 Paisaje a la Vista. 40th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Museum of Colonial Art. Museo de Arte Colonial. Oficina del Historiador. Havana, Cuba 2009 Landscapes. Collateral Project at the XI Havana Biennial. Hotel Habana Libre, Havana. Cuba 2008 Derechos de la naturaleza. Casa Alejandro de Humboldt. Oficina del Historiador. Havana, Cuba 2008 Pinar del Río: Visual Epilogue. Galería Collage, FCBC. Havana, Cuba 2008 Contemporary Cuban Art. Cultural Centre of the City of Essen, Germany 2006 Jet lag. Collateral exhibition at the IX Havana Biennial. Galería Carmen Montilla. Havana, Cuba 2005 2+2, no siempre es paisaje. Galería Villa Manuela. Havana, Cuba 2004 Naturaleza viva. Palacio de Lombillo. Old Havana, Cuba. Presented by Eusebio Leal Spengler. Historian of The City of Havana 2003 Contando a la Izquierda. VIII Havana Biennial. Mariano Rodríguez Gallery, Villa Panamericana. Havana, Cuba 2003 First National Landscape Salon. Víctor Manuel Gallery, Havana, Cuba 2002 National Salon of Award Winners. Centre for the Development of Visual Arts. Havana, Cuba 2002 El Paisaje Pinareño. Antología de 12 paisajistas pinareños. José Martí Memorial, Havana, Cuba 2000 Cuatro entre Paredes. Provincial Centre of Visual Art. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 1997 Haceres. VI Havana Biennial. Revista Tablas Gallery, Havana, Cuba 1995 Ten Cuban Artists. Centro Cultural Ricardo Palma. Lima, Peru 1995 Vestigios. Centre for the Development of Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba Awards 2008 First Prize. XI Tiburcio Lorenzo Salon. Pinar del Rio, Cuba 2004 First Prize. XI Edition of Winter Salon “Atilano Armenteros”. San Luis, Pinar del Rio, Cuba 2001 Second Prize. XVIII Provincial Salon "20 de Octubre". Provincial Centre of Visual Art. Pinar del Río, Cuba 1991 Award from Fondo de Bienes Culturales. Provincial Salon ''Fidelio Ponce'', Camaguey, Cuba 1984 Second Prize. Provincial Salon of Visual Arts, Pinar del Rio, Cuba Collections USA, Canada, China, Germany, Spain, Holland, Peru, Sardinia, Italy, Japan and Cuba Education 1988 Instituto Superior de Artes (ISA). Havana, Cuba Membership Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC).