In addition to fascinating color combinations, Ana Albertina Delgado’s paintings are unified by recurrent characters. Alliance for the Arts Gallery Manager Julio Julio Gonzalez Batista explained.
“You can spot characters from one painting to a completely different painting from a completely different series, and you'll spot the exact same character undergoing a completely different narrative.”
The artist links these characters to each other through narratives that revolve around human relationships.
“A lot of them have motherhood themes, about just passing down her own rituals to her daughter,” Batista observed. “A lot of carnal themes, too, just completely related to the human body. Through all of the different stories that she tells, that's the one that you'll find in every single one. It's just related to the human body and the human experience.”
For Delgado, color is more than a pictorial tool. It’s the vehicle through which she identifies and builds each character’s persona and narrative.
“I see her treatment of color as just this thing that is attached to the narratives that she's trying to produce,” said Batista. “For example, in the works that feel more otherworldly, she'll use blues and pinks. Whereas, the ones that feel a little bit more human, she'll use more yellows and greens. So, I think that they're more related to those specific narratives that she's trying to tell in each painting.”
“Crossed Strands” closes in the Alliance for the Arts main gallery Feb. 28.
MORE INFORMATION:
In her work, Ana Albertina Delgado employs her pictorial language to express her characters, who are ambiguously connected through their enigmatic abilities and capacity for seduction, often expressed through sexuality, as they explore the mystery of life.
Like a skilled fiction writer, Delgado isolates the distinguishing qualities of her subjects and then amplifies those qualities – visually and thematically – in a way that celebrates humanity’s potential. While indistinctly, she draws influence from urban mythology, as well as traditional country stories and myths.
“I intend to build mental human scenarios within my work, interweaving stories that reveal what is possible,” said Delgado in her artist's statement.
“Her paintings reveal the oddness of everyday life and the rebellious spirit that lurks within us all,” stated arte aldia in a 2024 article titled “The Mystery of Life in Ana Albertina Delgado’s Work.” “Viewers can find themselves identifying with her subjects, no matter how extreme. Delgado’s bold use of color and accomplished pictorial technique is attention-grabbing; the richness of her thematic exploration secures it. Each painting is a narrative, a novel on canvas, complete with lead players, supporting cast, and flowing alongside the remarkable technical currents a dynamic plot that entertains, enlightens, and enchants.”
Delgado was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1963.
She began her arts studies in 1979 at the San Alejandro National School of Fine Arts in Havana, the oldest fine arts high school in Cuba. She graduated in 1983. She then entered the Higher Institute of Arts (ISA), where she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in visual arts, graduating summa cum laude in 1988.
In 1986, she co-founded the artistic group "Pure" alongside four colleagues: José Buergo, Ciro Quintana, Ermy Tano, and Lázaro Zaavedra. "’Pure’ made significant contributions to Cuban culture by introducing innovative aesthetic concepts, collaborative artwork creation, and social critique themes,” noted the arte aldia article. “Delgado's specific contribution was addressing women's issues in Cuban society, combining empathy, motherhood, and societal positivity. She incorporated elements from Afro-Cuban and countryside culture avoiding clichés and revitalizing the fantastic aspects of Latin and Caribbean cultures, with a close link with modern painting intertwined with mythos, creation and death.”
Delgado was a prominent figure (and one of the few female artists) in the generation of the '80s in Cuba, participating in numerous group exhibitions across the globe, including Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, Finland, Germany, France, Spain, and the United States. As one of the artists responsible for developing contemporary art on the island, she was featured in major local and international exhibitions, including Kuba OK (1990), The Nearest Edge of the World. Art and Cuba Now (1989-1994); and Los Hijos de Guillermo Tell (1991).
In 1991 Delgado finished a year-long course in silkscreen techniques at the Taller de Serigrafía René Portocarrero screen-printing workshop.
She moved to Florida in 1993 and obtained U.S. citizenship in 1999.
Delgado’s work has been part of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas for several years and has been featured in numerous group exhibitions both within galleries and at art institutions across South Florida.
She was recently featured by Art Ovation Hotel in Sarasota in “The Human Mysteries & The Indifference of the Universe.” Her work is included in several museum collections such as the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Cuba, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.
She has received several awards and was recently a finalist of the prestigious CINTAS Foundation Fellowship in Visual Art (2021).
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
