Adriano Nicot

Adriano Adolfo Fernandez Nicot is a Cuban-American painter and poet based in Miami, Florida. He is known for a distinctive Neo-Expressionist style and is closely associated with the prominent Cuban artists Antonia Eiriz, Manuel Vidal Fernández, and Hilda Vidal Valdés. After becoming established in Cuba, Nicot relocated to the United States in the late 1990s. His work has since been featured in several books, exhibitions, and institutional collections in the US and in Latin America.

Background and early life

Nicot was born on October 9, 1964, in Havana, Cuba during the early years following the Cuban Revolution. His parents were both born in Cuba and shared recent European backgrounds. His father, Adriano Adolfo Fernández Santarén, was a Cuban financier from Havana whose parents arrived in Cuba from Leon, Spain. His mother, Margarita Nicot Verdecia, was a computer programmer born in Guantanamo, Cuba of French ancestry that had migrated to Puerto Rico before arriving in Cuba. His French heritage from his mother's family is significant for his descendance from Jean Nicot, after whom Nicotine is named. Per Spanish naming customs, both his paternal and maternal family names are used with his mother's family name appearing last. As he pursued his artistic career, his name would be simplified accordingly and he became known professionally as Adriano Nicot.

Nicot displayed an interest and inclination toward the arts early in his childhood and was supported by his parents in his artistic pursuits. In interviews Nicot has recounted that he began actively drawing and sketching by the age of five, after which his father would regularly provide him with sketching paper." A key moment in his artistic development came when Nicot was eight years old and had been found to draw on a wall of their residence. As well-established figures in Cuba's visual arts community, the Vidals also helped secure and support Nicot's first solo and collective exhibitions and would exhibit alongside him to draw further attention. Manuel Vidal wrote the foreword to the catalog of Nicot's September 1994 exhibition Encuentros Cercanos while Hilda first exhibited alongside him the following year in the exhibition Mujer Multiple at Havana's Palacio de Convenciones. Also in 1994, Nicot was commissioned to paint a public art mural in the Casa de Cultura Centro in Havana. Another prominent instructor of Nicot was Belkis Ayon, who taught him engraving.

Nicot and his family relocated to Miami in 1999 and continue exhibiting extensively, earning additional awards internationally, and other visibility for his art and creative projects, including the publication of his poetry. The exhibition was hosted and organized the following year by the Arte Libre group in collaboration with the North Miami Beach Library. “Brose Forever” featured over 40 international artists, including Nicot, from the United States, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, and Pakistan. The fundraiser was in support of the foundation's mission to assist under-served and at-risk children, underprivileged families, and senior citizens based in Florida.

In 2022 Nicot was selected to be featured in the Pompano Beach Cultural Center's Culture and Identity of Our America collective exhibition. The exhibition opened on October 14 as part of the Center's Hispanic Heritage Month activities in collaboration with the Latin American Art Pavilion (LAAP).

In 2024 Nicot was selected to participate in the high profile Flora & Fauna exhibition, held in the former Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, making it Nicot's first exhibition in Tampa Bay. Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Flora & Fauna also featured other prominent artists including Josignacio and Edel Alvarez Galban, and received coverage from The Artisan Magazine and Diario Las Americas, as well as television coverage.

In December 2024 Nicot participated in the Art Basel-affiliated collective exhibition Forbidden Fruit. Held during Miami Art Week 2024, the event was also notable for being the world's largest documented exhibition of Cuban erotic art, spanning four generations of artists. Following the exhibition opening, Nicot's featured works were accepted into the permanent collection of the World Erotic Art Museum (WEAM) in Miami Beach.

In 2025 Nicot produced the cover artwork for the poetry collection Con los pies en la tierra by Rolando Lorie, recipient of the 2017 Silver Pen from Entre Líneas Publications and past honoree of the UNESCO Cultural Center (2015) and the International Latino Book Awards (2022).

Selected exhibitions

Nicot has been highly active in exhibiting his art at a range of venues and has participated in over sixty solo and collective art exhibitions in Cuba, the United States, and Peru since launching his professional art career in the early 1990s. Nicot's first solo exhibitions were the pair of shows titled La Violencia de las Horas I & II (The Violence of the Hours) at Havana's Galeria Kahlo. The foreword to this first exhibition (Part I) was written by another notable Cuban art figure, Carlos Guzman, director of Havana's Galeria Kahlo. As a member of the UNEAC, Manuel Vidal wrote the foreword to the catalog of Nicot's September 1994 exhibition Encuentros Cercanos (Close Encounters).

Throughout his exhibition career Nicot has exhibited with several other notable Latin American artists, including Antonia Eiriz, Manuel Vidal, Hilda Vidal, Josignacio, Tomas Sanchez, Zaida del Rio, José Bedia, Belkis Ayon, Yamilet Sempe, Emilio Hector Rodriguez, Sandra Ceballos, Clara Morera, Carlos Artime, Miguel Fleitas, Miguel Rodez, Edel Alvarez Galban, and others. He has been curated by Hortensia Montero, Anthony Ardavin, Niten, Ana Juncadella Barbosa and David Fernández among others.

Selected individual exhibitions

2017 Rompiendo Marcos, Sarracino Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, US 2010 Absolute Adriano, Logo Projects in conjunction with Ocean Ophthalmology Group, Miami, FL, US. 2009 Diego Quispe Tito, Sala de Exposiciones Mariano Fuentes Lira de la Escuela Superior Autonoma de Bellas Artes, Cusco, Peru 2009 Current Works, Bakehouse Art Complex, Swenson Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 2001 Current Works, Blue Angel Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 1996 La Expresion del Jazz, Galeria Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, Havana, Cuba. 1995 Encuentros Cercanos (I & II), Galeria Arte 7 & Centro Cultural Cinematografico Yara, Havana, Cuba. 1994 La Violencia de las Horas (I & II), Galeria Kahlo and Facultad Internacional de Cine Radio y Television del Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana Cuba.

Selected collective exhibitions 2025, Forbidden Fruit, Wilzig Museum, Miami Beach, Florida, US 2024, Flora & Fauna, The Gallery at Creative Pinellas, Largo, Florida, US 2023, Roots of an Identity, Baily Contemporary Arts Center (BaCA) and Latin American Art Pavilion (LAAP), Pompano Beach, Florida, US 2022,Culture and Identity of Our America, Pompano Beach Cultural Center, Pompano Beach, Florida, US 2018 Rooster, Gallo, Galo, Gallus, Milander Center for Art and Entertainment, Hialeah, Florida, US 2017 Obrapia Art Gallery, Miami, Florida, US 2017 3 en el Bunker, The Bunker, Coral Ridge, Florida, US 2016 La Mano Hispana, Milander Center for Art and Entertainment, Hialeah, Florida, US 2016 For the Love of Art, Douglas Historic Building, Coral Gables, Florida, US 2016 IART1 Gallery, Coral Gables, FL, US 2015 Victor Clarke Recital Hall, Coral Gables, Florida, US 2015 The Car, The Culture, Amstrong Ford of Homestead, Florida, US 2014 Latin Views, A Biennal Exhibition, Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art, Groton, Connecticut, US 2014 IF – THEN, Galeria Xinqo, Art Basel 2014, North Miami, Florida, US. 2014 Manifest/Destiny, Little Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, Florida, US. 2014 I Will Walk for You, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, Florida, US. 2014 Synergy: Artists in Collaboration, MDC Galleries of Art + Design, Kendall, Florida, US. 2013 More than Meets the Eye, The Art Link, Art Basel 2013, Miami, FL USA 2013 Galeria Xinqo, North Miami, Florida, US. 2012 Litte Haiti Cultural Center, Miami, Florida, US. 2012 ArtCenter / South Florida, Miami Beach, Florida, US. 2011 LZ Fine Art Galeria, North Miami, Florida, US. 2011 Caridi Gallery, North Miami, FL, US. 2010 Arte X Comida, Leal's Fine Art Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 2010 Lucky You! 2, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, Florida, US. 2009 Masters’ Mystery Art Show 2009, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Miami Beach, FL, US. 2009 Semana Binacional de Salud de las Americas, Osorio Arts & Graphics, North Miami, Florida, US. 2009 Grand Opening of The Children's Gallery and Art Center, Inc., Homestead, Florida, US. 2009 Human Image and Portrait, Art Expressions Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US. 2008 Galeria Xinqo, The Revenge of Abstraction, North Miami, Florida, US. 2008 8 on 8, Maria Sonia Martin Art Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 2008 World Artistic Spirits at NOMI, North Miami Public Library, North Miami, Florida, US. 2008 Collective Exhibits of Cuban Painters, Ancient Times Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 2008 Masters’ Mystery Art Show 2008, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Miami Beach, FL, US. 2008 Suyu #3, Suyu Art Gallery, North Miami Florida, US. 2007 Eye to Art, Idesigns, Coral Gables, Florida, US. 2007 Kick off Basel, Obini Studio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 2007 Las Voces del Caribe, Galerias Prinardi USA, West Palm Beach, Florida, US. 2006 Voices For Children Foundation, First National Bank of South Miami, Miami, Florida, US. 2000 Homenaje a Reinaldo Arenas, Blue Angel Gallery, Miami, Florida, US. 1996 Jovenes en la Plastica, Galeria Imagos, Havana, Cuba. 1995 Fragmentos desde la Ventana, Galeria Arte 7, also featuring Alejandro Garcia, Carlos Guzman y Fernando Ruiz, Havana, Cuba. 1995 Galeria Juan David, Havana, Cuba. 1995 Exposicion Los Monstruos de la Razon, Salon de Arte Cubano Contemporaneo, Havana, Cuba.

Artwork and analysis Nicot is a Neoexpressionist. His style is a distinct exponent of the movement that has become known for elements such as rejecting the use of sharp, clear lines and instead using often tenebrous color and texture to define form.

Nicot describes his creative process as highly experimental. In interviews as well as artist statements, Nicot has explained that he never plans his pieces before beginning them and instead allows them to develop in their own spontaneous and intuitive manner. Nicot further clarified that his art seeks to “deliver a marked message of color, strength, highs and lows.” He has cited his mentor Antonia Eiriz, the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, and prehistoric art as major influences and inspirations for his work. writing that "In Nicot’s hands, chickens, chairs, and babies alike are imbued with a heavy yet inexplicable symbolism." El Nuevo Herald has stated that Nicot uses the densely layered paint texture to evoke a sculptural sensorial quality in two dimensions and that Nicot "recovers the connection that existed between German Expressionism and the primal forces of art and/or its connection with the mythical." In explaining Nicot's portrait series, Anthony Ardavin, who curated Nicot's 2009 solo exhibition Current Works by Adriano Nicot at the Bakehouse Art Complex, said "the characters he paints are extraordinary because despite the total economy in their features they emanate an energy against which it is impossible to remain indifferent," In her analysis of his oeuvre, Cuban art historian and author Hortensia Montero similarly describes Nicot's work as psychological, conceptual, and existential in nature with emotional and dramatic features that converge to create a symbolic language seen throughout his career. She writes “His rejection of conventional ideas leads him to discover enriching alternatives for his own language.”

Throughout his career Nicot has won art awards in Cuba, the United States, Latin America, Germany, and Israel.

In September 2024, Nicot’s piece Blasa y Melanio was accepted into the permanent collection of the Alvin Sherman Library, one of the largest libraries in the state of Florida, as part of the Marta Permuy Legacy Collection. The library’s permanent collection also features work by Salvador Dalí, Dale Chihuly, Peter Max, and Neith Nevelson. The piece was subsequently unveiled with an exhibition at the library in October 2024 during Hispanic Heritage Month.