Cesar Santos

In 2013, Miami Herald praised Santos for his ability to juxtapose two opposite ideas in one painting writing about The Artist's Accomplice that "his new show at Oxenberg juxtaposes the sensuous and finely rendered female nudes that characterise much of his work with rough burlap surfaces of an antique artist's mannequin."

The American Arts Quarterly used a painting from Syncretism for their Winter 2012 cover and reviewing the work wrote that "Santos' more conceptual juxtapositions are firmly rooted in mainstream art history... Santos's humor overtakes the dialogue between past and present, and the painting topples over into frivolousness."

Santos has been featured in art magazines and TV programmes all over the world. His work has been reviewed by several media publications. In 2011, The American Artist reviewed his painting Temperance and wrote that "The pose in this painting is not an unusual one, but the image is intriguing and speaking with artists uncovers the subtle agenda that adds depth to this portrait."

In 2010 Santos moved to New York City, where he started working on Syncretism, which received critical acclaim and became one of his best known works. The collection includes several paintings in which he combined the iconic images of Pollock, Calder, Picasso and many others. "Syncretism is a philosophical vision intending to reconcile different doctrines, a social mechanism that attenuates the confrontation between antagonistic tendencies competing for the same space." The body of work attempts to accommodate the foremost trends of the past six centuries. While in New York, he participated in Metropolitan Museum's 2010 contest "It's Time We Met" and received first place for his photograph Dancers. In 2014, he received first prize in the portrait competition at the Grand Central Academy in New York. Santos participated in the Art Basel week at the Concept Art Fair, where he was award the first prize.

Santos moved to Stockholm, Sweden in 2008 where he started teaching and giving workshops at the Atelier Stockholm. Alongside his work as an artist and a teacher, he trained for boxing at the Narva Boxningsklubb. Subsequently, he participated in the Angered Centrum Box Cup and won the gold medal.

While initially most of his work was on still life such as his painting Camera in 2008, humans and life-form became the focus of his work in the later years of his career depicted by his series Syncretism and subsequent work. Nudes characterise much of his work. Miami Herald wrote in a review of The Artist's Accomplice that "Santos' process is a fluid one. He tries new techniques and integrates any that help him work more effectively." He works primary with oils on linen, which helps him in achieving what he calls a "neo-academic" technique. Boston Globe wrote an article about a painting competition where Santos won the grand prize; the newspaper in part quoted him: "Like a poet will be able to write a sentence . . . we have to be able to write what is in front of us visually," he said. "[You] control your tools so that you can express your feelings."

In 2006, Santos completed his training in Florence and returned to Miami. Initially he started painting still life pieces, but he felt that something was missing from his work and began incorporating the figure into his compositions. In 2007, he was commissioned to create the official poster for the Miami International Ballet Festival. He made the poster entitled Danza Impossible, which received positive reviews and the next year he was commissioned to make the poster for Miami International Film Festival 2008.

While studying visual arts at the New World School of the Arts, Santos was also studying acting from the year 2000 to 2004 under Teresa Maria Rojas the founder of Prometeo, a theater program at the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus. During this time, he pursued acting professionally and acted in a number of theatre productions and television shows. However, dissatisfied by the modernist approach of the school, he dropped out and travelled to Italy in search of training in the art of painting. He joined the Angel Academy of Arts in Florence and studied the techniques and methods of the Renaissance, 18th century, and the French ateliers of 19th century under Michael John Angel, student of Pietro Annigoni. Upon leaving the United States, Santos also gave up his career in acting.

Cesar Santos (born July 10, 1982) is a contemporary Cuban-American artist and portrait painter. He is better known for his body of work "Syncretism", a term he uses to describe paintings where he presents two or more art tendencies in aesthetic balance. He has completed numerous commissions and his work is held in private as well as public collections around the world.

Santos was born in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba on July 10, 1982. As a child, he was passionate about boxing. He competed in kids boxing tournaments at a municipal level. He also started studying art at a young age, impressed by his uncle Raul Santos Zerpa, a prominent Cuban painter in the 1960s. In 1995, he immigrated with his family to the United States where he was accepted into the Design and Architecture Senior High. After graduating from the Design and Architecture Senior High, Santos enrolled at New World School of the Arts for an Associate of Arts Degree given by the Miami Dade College.