Juan Gonzalez (artist)

Juan González was born in Camaguey, Cuba, in 1942. He spent his early life in Cuba until fleeing to the United States in 1961 as a part of the Cuban exile resulting from the Cuban Revolution.[1] González initially resided in Knoxville, Tennessee[2] before relocating the following year to Miami where he joined other exiled Cuban artists and members of the Cuban diaspora. González then enrolled in the University of Miami where he initially studied architecture before transferring to fine art in 1966 where he won a Kennedy Scholarship.[3]

In the late 1960s, while González attended University of Miami, he was taught the airbrush painting technique by fellow Cuban artist and then-neighbor[4] Baruj Salinas, which González then used to achieved the large-scale Realism style that would soon gain him recognition by leading art institutions.[5] In 1969, Salinas introduced González to Jesus and Marta Permuy.[5] González' pivotal career breakthrough came in 1972 shortly after earning his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Miami. That year cemented his association with the emerging hyperrealism movement when he participated in the Lowe Art Museum's Phase of New Realism exhibition. Within months, González traveled to New York City where he held a successful solo exhibition at the Allan Stone Gallery[1] and also participated in a group exhibition at Whitney Museum of American Art.[6] By the end of 1972 González made arrangements to permanently relocate to New York City and have the Permuys assume the lease of his Coral Gables art studio. This led to it being converted into the Permuy Gallery, one of the first Cuban art galleries in the United States, with which he maintained a relationship and exhibited.[7][8]

After establishing himself in New York, González participated in a 1974 group exhibition in Nancy Hoffman Gallery which led to a successful solo exhibition there in 1975.[9] Following that exhibition, Nancy Hoffman Gallery would subsequently go on to manage and represent González in New York for the rest of his career. During this period González would twice win the Cintas Fellowship (1974, 1976)[10] and also became a professor of fine art at the School of Visual Arts.[1] By the end of the 1970s, González had exhibited in The Art Institute of Chicago (1974, 1977), Northeastern University (1977), Boston University (1977), University of Southern California (1979), as well as internationally in Caracas, Venezuela (1972), London, England (1976).[9] In 1979 González was appointed to serve as a panelist on the New York State Council on the Arts.[9]

Throughout the rest of his career, González would continue to see his profile rise as he participated in several traveling solo and group exhibitions, win prestigious awards, and have his works added to the permanent collection of renown institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[9] In the early 1980s he further exhibited internationally in Colombia (1981) and Japan (1983) and was appointed to serve as a panelist on the New York State Council on the Arts.[9] The 1980s and '90s would also see González win the National Endowment for the Arts three times (1980, 1985, 1991).[9] He also maintained significant ties to the emerging South Florida art market and continued to exhibit there while residing in New York. In 1982 González would participate in a join exhibition with Baruj Salinas. The show was noteworthy due to both artists being by that point firmly established Cuban art figures as well as sharing a common background in Miami as the springboard for their later success. Held in Miami-Dade College, the exhibition was noted by critics for the jarring contrasts in their styles as González work showcased his hyperrealist detailing while Salinas' work displayed his signature Abstract Expressionist-influenced style.[11]

González also remained connected with his ex-wife, Josefina Camacho, and her second husband Marcos Pinedo, who had become major fine art collectors and dealers in the area. The Pinedos would often represent González in South Florida and through them he participated in the landmark 1983 "Miami Generation" exhibition which gave that group of Cuban artists their name and helped solidify the region's growing status in international fine art.[12] González would become one of the Miami Generation's most recognizable figures.[13] In the mid-1980s, González exhibited in the Smithsonian Institute (1985–87) and won three consecutive New York Foundation for the Arts grants (1984–87).[9] Later in the decade he exhibited in the Pratt Institute (1988–89) and designed elaborate sets in New York for two productions of plays by famed Spanish poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca, "Blood Wedding" (1988) and "As Soon as Five Years Pass" (1991).[2] Through the 1980s and 1990s González continued to teach and lecture at the New York School of Visual Arts, a post he held for nearly twenty years.[1] In the 1990s he exhibited in Ecuador (1991), again in Japan (1991–92), Italy (1993), as well as several universities and museums, including Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (1991–92).[9]

González died on Christmas Eve of 1993 in New York City at the age of 51 from complications stemming from AIDS. His death was covered by major media outlets including The New York Times[1] and The Miami Herald.[14] His funeral was held in Church of the Little Flower, a prominent regional landmark in Coral Gables.[14]

González career was the subject of the 1980 book Juan González: A Twentieth Century Baroque Painter[15] (republished in 1991) as well as an in-depth, career-spanning retrospective book, Dreamscapes: The Art of Juan Gonzalez, by Irene McManus, which was published by Hudson Hills Press on the year of his death.[2]