Jorge Varona
Bio
Varona, a local Miami artist, was born in Havana, Cuba, on October 2, 1955. He migrated to the USA was a young child and had the benefit of getting his education in the states.
His attention to detail in his work can be described as drawing with “meticulous accuracy”
According to Dr. Carol Damian, FIU: “The realism of Jorge Varona’s world pays tribute to the work of artists who, for generations, hac focused on genre subjects of ordinary people in ordinary pursuits of a variety of reasons – their symbolic virtues, their sympathetic views, their charm and , in modernism, the artist is free to produce a work of art that is utterly real since it is the product of artistic decision, not academic tradition.”
EDUCATION
1995 AA, Accounting
1977 University of Miami, School of Architecture
1978 University of Miami, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Coral Gables, FL
1980 Brooklyn College, Graduate Program, Brooklyn, NY
1984 Colorado State University, Master of Fine Arts, Ft. Collins, Colorado
1995 Florida International University, Art Education Accreditation, Miami, FL
AWARDS
1978 Bell’s Artist Award, Lowe Art Gallery, Coral Gables, FL
1982 Oscar B. Cintas Fellowship, Oscar B. Cintas Foundation United Nations
1984 Painting Award, Creative Arts Symposium, Colorado State University, Ft.
Collins, CO
2004 Award of Distinction, DEA, Received in each exhibition
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1978 Three Cuban Artists, Bacardi Gallery, Miami, FL
1980 Meeting Point Gallery, Coral Gables, Miami, FL
1980 Brooklyn College, New York
1984 Creative Art Symposium, Ft. Collins, Colorado
1984 Clara Hattan Gallery, Ft. Collins, Colorado
1984 Barbara Greene, Coconut Grove, FL
1987 Mainstream America: The Collection of Phil Desind, Youngstown, Ohio
1988 Hortt Bienniel, Juried Regional Show, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
1989 Portraits and Self-Portraits, Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture, Miami, FL
1989 31st Annual Hortt Memorial, Juried Regional Show, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
1995 Heim America Gallery, Fisher Island, FL
1996 Comenoz Gallery, Key Biscayne, FL
1997 37th Annual Invitational Art Show, Miami, FL
1998 Las Americas the Florida Museum of Hispanic and Latin American Art
Coral Gables, FL
2000 Sotheby’s Art Auction, Key Biscayne, FL
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1978 Mini Gallery, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
1984 Big Five Club, Miami, FL
1997 Capricorn Gallery, Bethesda, Maryland
2000 Jorge Sori Fine Arts, Coral Gables, FL
Statement
I create in a world of hyperrealism. An internal search in which I like to dig deeper than what is in plain sight, a meta world beyond the obvious. I also expose the textures and tactile qualities of objects. As a visual storyteller l challenge the viewer to join me in this quest. Recently I've ventured out into acting and creating music. Never not creating.
Jorge Varona
