Sandra Ramos

Sandra Ramos (born Oct, 1969) is a Cuban artist, a contemporary painter, printmaker, collagist, video and installation artist who explores nationality, gender, and identity in her work. She is known for works featuring her character of the Cuban Pioneer girl, who is composed of a self-portrait and an appropriated portion of an old illustration from 1895' L' illustration French magazine. Ramos currently lives in Miami, Florida, and serves as an artist in residence at Bakehouse Art Complex. Previously, she was a resident artist at the Fountainhead Art Studios. She is also a renowned curator in Cuba, and she won a national award for her curatorial work on the exhibition La Huella Múltiple (Multiple Fingerprint) in 2003 from the Consejo Nacional de las Artes Plásticas (CNAP) in Havana, Cuba.

Early life and education Sandra Ramos Lorenzo was born in Havana, Cuba to two native Cuban parents, and she now lives in Miami, Florida. She was heavily inspired to become an artist by the painter Gloria González, the grandmother of Ramos's close childhood friend, curator Wendy Navarro. Ramos has two siblings living in their family home in Miramar, Havana. Her sister, Liane, gives tours of Ramos' Havana studio and runs small xylographic workshops as her assistant. Ramos' brother Ruben also helps to run a printmaking workshop at the studio.

From 1984 to 1988, Ramos studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", which was attended by Camilo Cienfuegos and Jose Martí, and from 1988 to 1993 attaining a degree in printmaking at the Superior Institute of Art in Havana where she was in contact with artists including José Bedia, Leandro Soto and Carlos Cárdenas. In 2020–21, Sandra Ramos finished a Master's in Fine Arts at San Francisco Art Institute. She is now working as an art professor at Florida International University.

Career Ramos had her first solo exhibition in 1993, “Manera de matar las soledades” at el Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales (CDAV) in Havana, Cuba. and also had her first solo international show and representation at Nina Menocal Gallery in Mexico DF.

Ramos' career as an artist began during Cuba's "Special Period" following the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USRR) and the embargo that the United States imposed on Cuba. Many people left Cuba, including her then-partner who left in 1992. Ramos stated, "It was a very hard time for me… I had to decide whether I was going to follow him or not." Ramos decided to stay. The personal experiences that derived from these hardships are what propelled the content of her work, which communicated a sense of isolation, grief, and loss.

In February 2014, Ramos moved to Miami, Florida to work as an artist in residence at The Fountain Head Art Studios, and, in September 2016, she began a second residency at the Bakehouse Art Complex also located in Miami, both of which she still maintains.

In 2014, Sandra Lorenzo Ramos Studios released the book Sandra Ramos: bridging the past, present and future, which was the first major English publication about Ramos, authored by the artist with contribution from Diane W. Camber, Jack Rasmussen, Hamlet Fernández, Holly Block, American University, and the Bass Museum of Art. This book was released in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

Exhibitions (selection) Ramos' work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Pan American Art Projects in Miami, the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, the Phoenix Art Museum, The David Rockefeller Center at Harvard University, Arizona State University Art Museum, and Accola Griefen Gallery in New York City.

Collections (selection) Ramos’ works have been incorporated into the permanent collections of many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pérez Art Museum Miami (Acuario from 2013), and the Fuchu Art Museum in Japan. Ramos' work is also a part of the Rodríguez Collection at the Kendall Art Center in Miami, Florida. Ramos’ works featuring her character Ariadne have sold for as much as 833% above their estimated value.

Style and technique Ramos uses a variety of mediums for her art, which include, paintings, etchings, collage, installations, and digital animation. Ramos first learned engraving techniques at her high school and still uses some of the same techniques. Most commonly Ramos produces images using aquatint, an etching technique that only produces areas of tone rather than lines. When speaking about what artistic medium she prefers, Ramos stated: "While engraving (woodblock) continues to be my favorite medium, I wanted to expand the expressive and communicative potential of my work through a new digital medium. Digital animation allows me to elevate my storytelling capabilities by creating a temporal continuity for my small vignettes".

One common motif in her work is using a character of the Cuban Pioneer girl. The artist presents it as a young girl whose visage seems innocent, guiltless, and unaware of life's struggles. The character's face is a self-portrait of the artist that is utilized in a surreal context similar to that of the protagonist from Alice in Wonderland. The artist appropriates this fictional context to make commentary on life in contemporary Cuba. Her work lends itself to be a narrative that plays on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, but instead her character is a childlike explorer of Cuba under the Fidel Castro regime.

Political Controversy

After a fiery debate on July 15, 2021, Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago labeled Ramos a communist sympathizer and the popular “Illuminate Coral Gables” 2022 art show, of which she was a part, was canceled. Mayor Lago stated, “I will continue to support the arts, but not at the expense of democracy and liberty."