Edel Alvarez Galban (born 1967), also known artistically as A. Galban, is a Cuban American visual artist and physician. His work has been featured in national and international fine art exhibitions and events as well as in public art, published literature, and televised Latin American media. He has been noted as a significant figure of Contemporary Cuban art in Central Florida by helping to establish its presence above South Florida in the 21st century. Galban's work has been exhibited in the United States, Cuba, Mexico, and Costa Rica and is part of the permanent collection of the

Tampa Museum of Art The Tampa Museum of Art is located in Downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida. It exhibits modern and contemporary art, as well as Art in Ancient Greece, Greek, Ancient Rome, Roman, and Etruscan civilization, Etruscan antiquities. The museum open ...

and the Alvin Sherman Library.

Biography and career

Edel Alvarez Galban was born on September 28, 1967, in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. He showed early artistic inclination in his youth, although his initial professional intent was to pursue a medical career in Cuba. However, in 1993 Galban was denied permission from the Castro government to practice medicine, therefore he redirected his aspirations back to his passion for the arts. The following year he completed fine arts education from the Federico Engel Art School in Havana where he studied sculpture and draftsmanship. In 1995 Galban permanently emigrated to the United States where he joined the

Cuban exile community in Miami Cuban immigration has greatly affected Miami-Dade County since 1959, creating what is known as "Cuban Miami." However, Miami reflects global trends as well, such as the growing trends of multiculturalism and multiracialism; this reflects the way ...

. There he continued his medical studies and enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

as a medic where he served for three years. He also continued to pursue and establish his art career. During his Miami period, Galban became connected to significant figures of the Cuban exile art community such as painters Hortensia Gronlier,

José Mijares José Manuel Mijares (born October 29, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. Mijares pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals, and San Francisco Giants. Professional career Minne ...

, and

Cundo Bermúdez Secundino Bermúdez y Delgado or simply Cundo Bermúdez (September 3, 1914 – October 30, 2008), was a Cuban painter. Biography Born in Havana, Cuba, he died of a heart attack in his Westchester home on October 30, 2008. In 1926, Bermudez wa ...

. In 2001 Galban completed his medical degree from Colegio Universitario San Judas Tadeo Escuela De Medicina and relocated to

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the List of municipalities in Florida, fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the sta ...

, which then became the permanent base for both his art and medical professions. Since relocating to St. Petersburg, Galban gradually emerged as among the most visible Cuban artists of the region as well as a proponent of Cuban art throughout Central Florida, having frequently exhibiting his work throughout

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

and Clearwater, as well as supporting other Cuban artists.

Recognition

Galban's work has been exhibited in several international cultural centers and art markets, including New York City, Miami,

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Coral Gables Coral Gables is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida and is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Cora ...

and Puerto Rico. His work has been featured in prominent venues, events, literature, and television as well as sold on Bonhams New York. Through his career, Galban's art has been covered by several media outlets including

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe countie ...

El Nuevo Herald ''El Nuevo Herald'' is a newspaper published daily in Spanish in Southeast Florida, United States. Its headquarters is in Doral. ''El Nuevo Heralds sister paper is the ''Miami Herald'', also produced by the McClatchy Company. About ''el Nuevo ...

, U.S. News & World Report,

Diario Las Americas Diario (Italian, Spanish "Diary") and ''El Diario'' (Spanish, "The Daily") may refer to: Newspapers, periodicals and websites :''Alphabetical by country'' * ''El Diario'' (Argentina) * ''Diario'' (Aruba) * ''El Diario'' (La Paz), Bolivia *'' Diari ...

, ''Arts Coast Magazine'', ''ArtBust Miami'', ''SocialMiami'',

Miami New Times The ''Miami New Times'' is a newspaper published in Miami, Florida, United States, and distributed every Thursday. It primarily serves the Miami metropolitan area, and is headquartered in Miami's Wynwood Art District. Overview It was acquired ...

, ''Coral Gables News'', ''Revista Enfoque'', ''Caritate Magazine'', ''The Artisan'' Magazine, The ''Biscayne Tribune'', ''Norte America.Mx'', ZoePost, ''Akeru Noticias'', ''Yucatán Cultura'', and ''Art Miami Magazine''. In non-print media, Galban was the focus of a July 2, 2022 episode of the Editorial Akerú Publicaciones video series ''Hagalo con arte''. On February 1, 2024, Galban was interviewed by Miguel Galicia on Performance Radio. His artwork is also featured on the Latin American television show Raymond y sus Amigos. Galban has exhibited alongside several internationally established artists including Clyde Butcher, Josignacio, ,

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 Jorge Dans, as well was collected by prominent collectors including artist Hortensia Gronlier, Froilán Escobar, former

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

coach

Joe Maddon Joseph John Maddon (born February 8, 1954) is an American former professional baseball manager (baseball), manager and coach. He has managed the Tampa Bay Rays, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). After playing ...

, philanthropist Rob Canton, and Antonio Permuy. Galban's work has featured in the Miami, Orlando, and Tampa installments of the ''Nude Nite'' exhibition, the largest exhibition of nude-themed art in the United States. In 2014 Galban was the subject of a solo exhibition in Puerto Rico's Museo de Artes de San German. The following year, in 2015, he was selected to participate in the Make-A-Wish Foundation's ''Beautiful Worries'' art exhibition. In 2022 Galban was the featured artist of the International Ballet Festival of Miami, which included a solo exhibition of his work, titled ''Visages de L’art'', in the Adrienne Arsht Center as well as the commission to design the events poster for that year. In 2023, Galban was awarded the

National Endowment of the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

Beyond Placemaking grant of US$10,000. Among Galban's culturally significant works is the painting ''La Noche Bella No Deja Dormir'' (2021). Depicting Cuban national hero

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; 28 January 1853 – 19 May 1895) was a Cuban nationalism, nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in ...

, the piece was selected in 2023 to be converted into a

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

mural in the Clearwater Main Library. It is also featured on the cover of the book of the same name by Froilan Escobar. A significant collaboration in Galban's career has been his work with the award-winning Latin American author and painter Froilán Escobar, which have ranged from the visual arts and into published literature. Galban's work has been the subject of the books ''Agalban: The Colors of Life'' (2022) and ''Agalban El color del deslumbramiento'' (2023). His work has been featured in published literature by prominent Latin American authors, such as Froilan Escobar and

José León Sánchez José León Sánchez Alvarado (19 April 1929 – 15 November 2022) In 2024, Galban initiated and co-curated the ''Flora & Fauna'' exhibition, held in The Gallery at Creative Pinellas, the former site of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art. The exhibition was co-curated by Tarin Mohajeri and established a high profile with the inclusion of several prominent and internationally-established artists such as Josignacio,

, and Jorge Dans. ''Flora & Fauna'' was covered by ''The Artisan Magazine'',

, as well as television media. In September 2024, a piece from Galban’s ''Fleur du Mal'' series 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 Marta Cazañas Permuy (September 22, 1938 – October 4, 2017) was a Cuban-American fine art patron, art collector, curator, art dealer, and promoter based in Coral Gables, Florida. She was an influential figure in the establishment of the Latin ...

Legacy Collection. The library’s permanent collection also features work by

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

Peter Max Peter Max (born Peter Max Finkelstein, October 19, 1937) is a German-American artist known for using bright colors in his work. Works by Max are associated with the visual arts and culture of the 1960s, particularly psychedelic art and pop art. ...

, and

Dale Chihuly Dale Chihuly ( ; born September 20, 1941) is an American glass artist and entrepreneur. He is well known in the field of Glassblowing, blown glass, "moving it into the realm of large-scale sculpture". Early life Dale Patrick Chihuly was born on ...

. The piece was subsequently unveiled with an exhibition at the library in October 2024. In December 2024, Galban was featured in ''Forbidden Fruit'', the largest documented exhibition of Cuban erotic art, held during Miami Art Week 2024 as part of

Art Basel Miami Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel (Switzerland), Miami Beach (US), Hong Kong and Paris. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers, and ...

2024. That month Galban was also added into the permanent collection of the

with his work ''Lagrimas de la Habana'' (2023).

Analysis

Galban's artistic style is eclectic. Despite beginning his studies in sculpture, Galban transitioned into painting to better express and work with color. He is known professionally in the arts as AGalban, an abbreviation of both his last names per

Spanish naming customs Spanish names are the traditional way of identifying, and the official way of registering a person in Spain. They are composed of a given name (simple or composite) and two surnames (the first surname of each parent). Traditionally, the first ...

, and it is also how he typically signs his work. He draws influence primarily from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

as well as

Cuban art Cuban art is an exceptionally diverse cultural blend of North American, South American, European, and African elements, reflecting the diverse demographic makeup of the island. Cuban artists embraced European modernism, and the early part of the ...

and design. His Spanish influences include

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

, and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

, whereas his Cuban influences include Mario Carreño and other members of the Cuban Vanguardia movement. Galban's backgrounds are produced first as textural, abstract, and

mixed-media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art inc ...

color fields. Another defining element of his work include his use of symbolic and conceptual elements. His human figures are typically

cyclops In Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, the Cyclopes ( ; , ''Kýklōpes'', "Circle-eyes" or "Round-eyes"; singular Cyclops ; , ''Kýklōps'') are giant one-eyed creatures. Three groups of Cyclopes can be distinguished. In Hesiod's ''Th ...

— having only one eye – whereas he conceptually replaces the missing eye with the eye of the viewer. Rendered in a Cubistic style that divides the face, the missing eye also represents the expression "beauty is in the eye of the beholder," as well as acknowledging the role of shifting perspectives that various audiences of viewers have in influencing the impact of an artwork. He frequently works in series, and his ongoing series’ include: ''Personas'', ''Lucias'', ''Les Fleurs du Mal'', ''Gaudi y yo'', ''Jardines Invisibles'' (with Froilan Escobar), ''El bufón'', ''Eva y Mariela'', ''Caracol Erotico'', ''Mi Divina Comedia'', ''Cancionero'', ''Cuba se va, Seavolve'', ''El Monte'', ''Los Feos'', ''Desojando Margaritas'', ''Locuras'', ''4 Estaciones en Bicicleta'', ''Sábanas Blancas'', ''Club 27'', ''Miseria y Propaganda'', and ''Illusion of Distortion''. Galban's work has been critiqued by several art critics including Raysa White, Antonio Permuy, Armando de Armas, and Osiris Gaona. Commenting on Galban's art and use of character studies, leading Contemporary Cuban artist Josignacio has critiqued: “ albanenters the soul of his paintings and portraits through the eyes, his colors and shapes take us directly to them and once in that silence he betrays the mood and state of mind of his characters."

Select works

File:Flor_De_Mal_2020_by_AGalban.jpeg, ''Flor de Mal'' (2020) File:Bicycling_in_Fall_by_AGalban,_2021.jpg, ''Bicycling in Fall'' (2021) File:Miseria_Y_Propaganda_by_AGalban,_2023.jpg, ''Miseria y Propaganda'' (2023)

Select Exhibitions

* 2001 – Solo exhibition, Escuela de Medicina San Judas Tadeo, Costa Rica * 2005 – Collective Exhibition, Ybor City Community College * 2006 – Collective Exhibition, Barebrush Gallery, Chelsea, New York City * 2010 – ''Muestra de amor y erotismo'', Amarte Gallery * 2013 – ''Pinceladas de Amor'', La Barrica, Puerto Rico * 2014 – Solo Exhibition, Museo de Artes de San German, Puerto Rico * 2015 – ''Art Is Everywhere'', Miami, FL * 2015 – ''Beautiful Worries Art Exhibition'', Make-A-Wish Foundation * 2015 – ''Nude Nite'', Tampa, FL * 2018 – ''Nude Nite'', Tampa, FL * 2021 – Solo Exhibition, Casa Clinic, Clearwater, FL * 2022 – Miami Power Team Art Festival 2022, Miami, FL * 2022 – ''Xplicit'', House of Shadows, Tampa, FL * 2022 – "Bloom", Artloft galleries, St. Petersburg, FL * 2022 – ''Jardines Invisibles'', Hernan Gamboa Gallery, Miami, FL * 2022 – Solo exhibition, ''Visages de L’art'', XXVII International Ballet Festival of Miami * 2022 – ''Rostros del Arte'', Miami Hispanic Cultural Art Center * 2023 – ''El Arte: Echoes of Cuba'', Clearwater Public Library * 2023 – ''Mixed Messages'', Soft Water Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL * 2023 – ''Illusion of Distortion'', Solo Exhibition, Embassy Suites in Hilton Tampa Airport * 2023 – 9th Annual Arians Family Foundation Charity Auction, Clearwater, FL * 2024 – ''Flora & Fauna'', The Gallery at Creative Pinellas, Largo, FL * 2024 - ''Artwork by Edel Alvarez Galban'', Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa, FL * 2024 - ''Forbidden Fruit'', the World Erotic Art Museum (WEAM), Miami Beach, FL

Personal life

Alvarez Galban is married to Rebecca Lauren. He has two children: a daughter, Lucia, and son, Lennon. He resides in St. Petersburg, Florida.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez Galban, Edel 1967 births Living people Artists from Havana Cuban artists 20th-century Cuban painters 20th-century Cuban male artists 21st-century Cuban painters 21st-century Cuban male artists Cuban contemporary artists 21st-century American painters American male painters Cuban emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States American primary care physicians Cuban male painters Artists from Florida Painters from Florida People from St. Petersburg, Florida 21st-century American male artists

Biography and career

Recognition

Analysis

Select works

Select Exhibitions

Personal life

See also

References