Waldo Díaz-Balart

Waldo Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (10 February 1931 – 5 February 2025) was a Cuban painter and sculptor who later lived in Madrid, Spain.

Life and career Born in Banes, Cuba, Díaz-Balart was the son of the mayor of Banes, Rafael José Díaz-Balart. Díaz-Balart studied accounting and political science and economics in Havana before moving to New York City to pursue art studies in 1959. From 1959 to 1962 he studied art in the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1967 he became a lecturer in many cultural centres and universities of the United States, Poland, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands. He acted in two movies by Andy Warhol, The Life of Juanita Castro (1965) and The Loves of Ondine (1968). He was friends with fellow artist Andy Warhol and actor Louis Waldon.

Díaz-Balart lectured frequently and his work – explorations of color and light in geometric paintings and light sculpture – has been widely exhibited. In 1966 the Studio Gallery in Washington, D.C., presented a solo exhibition of his work. In 1967 he presented an exhibition at the Iris Clert Gallery in Paris. In 1967 he joined Mass Art Inc. in partnership with Sujan Souri, Dorian Godoy, and Philip Orenstein. The company manufactured the first inflatable chair designed by Philip Orenstein which is now included in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In 1964, he exhibited in the Pan American Union Building in Washington, D.C., and in 1968 in the Gallery of Modern Art, New York. In 1970, he participated at the first San Juan Bienal del Grabado Latinoamericano (Biennial of Latin-American Engraving) at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in Puerto Rico.

He had his first major exhibition in 1972, at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. He later returned to Madrid before 2011. He also briefly lived in Paraguay.