Brewing Espression Exhibition Opening Soon

The exhibition features forty-five paintings by the Cuban-born, Miami-based painter Reynier Llanes. Painted on canvas and paper, all the works in the exhibition share an unconventional medium in common: expresso coffee has been used like watercolor to create a series of lyrical works in rich earthy tones. Reynier’s subject matter can be described as magical realism. The visual symbols and metaphors that can be discerned in his paintings are an opportunity for Reynier to process his own life experiences, as well as the archetypes of mythological stories and the phases of life and emotions that are known to all. 

The exhibition includes portraits, figure studies, landscapes, and still lifes that often involve surreal combinations of images. Each painting in the exhibition is displayed alongside a poem by a contemporary poet from the greater Miami community and other places where Reynier has lived and worked. The exhibition will be celebrated with a public reception on the evening of Friday, November 15th, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the gallery. The public may visit the exhibition by appointment on weekdays after November 11th by contacting the Ignatian Center for the Arts.

About the Artist

Reynier Llanes was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, in 1985. After graduating from the Instructores de Arte School of Pinar del Rio in 2005, Reynier moved to Havana to train with Juan Miguel Suarez, Cuba’s leading realist painter. Reynier emigrated to the United States in 2007. Since then, he has lived and worked in Naples, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina, where he was honored with a residency at Jonathan Green Studios. Llanes moved to Miami in 2015.

Llanes is represented by Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. He has had solo exhibitions at the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston (2024), the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida (2023), and The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio (2022). His work is held in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, the Cornell Arts Museum at Rollins College, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, and the Flint Institute of Arts, among others.