Orlando Naranjo (b.1937)Las Villas, Cuba Orlando Naranjo is a self-taught painter born in Calabazal de Sagua, Las Villas, Cuba. The artist is inspired by colorful palette's full of energy and giddy transparency of the Cuban geography, using reds, yellows, browns, and blues, dazzling in his paintings, to remind the world of the splendors which we live in and the vibrant substance that we are. The artist also uses, flowers, fruits, forests, animals, rivers and women, all inspired by poetry with a spell of the pristine, from an unpolluted environment , all expressed on his paintings with a sense of security, enjoyment and attractive reality, with in the perfection of his work.?Naranjo won his first drawing contest in 1952 with a scholarship in Washington DC, USA. At a young age he moved to Havana where he participated in his first collective exhibition in 1967 and later his first solo exhibition in 1970, he also participated in numerous collective and solo exhibitions through out Cuba and the United States. Naranjo's works can be found in various galleries throughout the United States. Naranjo's paintings are currently held in private collections in Spain, Poland, Cuba, Venezuela, former Soviet Union and the United States. In the fall of 2012 he was one of the painters chosen to participate in Fans Forever at the Miami Dade College Museum of Art, a unique exhibition featuring artist-designed fans by prominent artist of Cuban descent. Through out his career, his work has been exhibited beside renowned Master painters such as: Wilfredo Lam, Amelia Peláz, Rener Portocarrero, Mario Carreño, Gina Pillón, Mariano Rodriguez, Cundo Bermudez and Servando Cabrera Moreno. SOLO EXHIBITIONS??2009 La Bodeguita Miami, Miami, Florida2003 Eliassons Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida1979 Liceo Habana Centro Gallego, Havana, Cuba1979 Dept de Arte Seccional de Cultura, Havana, Cuba1978 Galeria de Arte de Ministerio de Educacion, Havana Cuba?1971 Galeria de Arte del Ministerio de Salud Publica, Havana, Cuba COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS 2019 La Galeria Fine Art, Miami, Florida2018 Miami Lakes Town Hall, Miami Lakes, Florida2018 La Galeria Fine Art, Miami, Florida2018 Frame on Wheels, Miami, Florida2018 Santa Fe Colonial Gallery, Miami, Florida 2017 La Galeria Fine Art, Miami, Florida?2017 Cuban Nostalgia, Plaza de los Artistas, Miami, Florida2016 Santa Fe Colonial Gallery, Miami, Florida 2009 Artbox Auction “Union Bank”, Coconut Grove, Florida2008 Bodeguita Miami, Miami, Florida2007 GDS Fine Art, Coral Gables, Florida2006 Artbox Auction “Bank of America”, Coral Gables, Florida2003 Eliassons Art, Coral Gables, Florida2003 Fraga Gallery, Miami, Florida2002 Latin Brush Strokes Gallery, Naples, Florida2001 Latin American art Museum, Miami, Florida1999 GDS Fine Art, Coral Gables, Florida1999 Nova Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida1999 Sea Coast Towers, Miami, Florida1998 The Wirtz Gallery, Miami, Florida?1998 I've Been Framed Gallery, Miami, Florida1997 Galeria Amalia Mahoney, Chicago, Illinois1996 InterArte of America, Miami, Florida1991 Artist Pro Genesis II, Miami, Florida1989 ACCA 89, Miami, Florida1984 ACCA 84, Miami, Florida1980 Salon Nacional de Dibujo, Havana, Cuba1976 Salon Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado, Matanzas, Cuba1973 Salon Nacional de Dibujo, Havana, Cuba1970 Galeria Foxa Vedado, Havana, Cuba1969 Galeria INIT 2 y 19, Havana, Cuba1968 Galeria INIT 2 y 19, Havana, Cuba Renowned Cuban poet, novelist and playwright, Reinaldo Arenas wrote a pictorial on Naranjo saying: "Un cuadro de Naranjo es una invitacion que incita" (A painting by Naranjo is an invitation that provokes). Excellent