For my museum of choice, I decided to check out the Long Beach Museum of Art: Hartman Pavilion.

 

The museum was close by, and admission only cost $6. And on exhibit today were works by Rafael Soriano, which included photographs, paintings and sculptures. Soriano was born on November 23, 1920 in Cuba and died April 9, 2015 in the United States. The cool thing about him is that he is a geometric painter, and he escaped from Cuba during the communist regime because of its dissent towards art. He fled from Cuba to Florida, and continued his art work there, which include many art works based off of surrealism. From geometric painting to painting that is “spiritual”, his finished projects come out just amazing!

Below is a picture of Rafael Soriano

Throughout the exhibit I couldn’t help but marvel at all of his art work! But two of his art pieces I really liked were his gouache on paper “Interior”, created in 1953 (pictured on the left) and his oil on canvas “Frente Al Infinito” (“Facing the Infinite” if translated), created in 1992. (pictured on the right).

First off, both art pieces take on qualities of art works that portrayed surrealism. Both portraits leave a finished and lasting impression on the audience, where people are left to gaze at it and question as to what exactly is going on. Both paintings are abstract in its own nature and incorporate the use of color, texture and contrast. However, as in terms of surrealism,  his “Interior” art piece takes on more geometric properties while his “Frente Al Infinito” takes on a more “Spiritual” reveal. They are abstract in their own ways, which was a constant theme throughout his art work and it is apparent that Soriano was heavily influenced by Surrealist movement.

Here are some more of his art works, and as you can tell they are quite abstract in their own ways.

This one is titled “El Profeta” (“The Profit”)

This one is titled “La Visionaria” (“The Seer”)

This one is titled “Sueno Guardado” (“Guarded Dream”)