Cuban Artist Alejandro Piñeiro Bello Is the Latest Addition to Pace Gallery’s Roster

Observer caught up with Piñeiro Bello to get his reaction and learn more about his practice.

Following a solo show at Pace in Seoul last September—and his big attention-grabbing moment that was his presentation at the Rubell Museum during last year’s Art Basel Miami—Alejandro Piñeiro Bello has officially joined the mega gallery, bringing his narratives of his home country, Cuba, to a significant global platform.

“It is a dream come true to join the Pace Gallery family; it makes me very, very happy,” the artist told Observer. “Pace is one of the galleries that allows its artists to develop and showcase their artistic language on the global stage, and it is a great honor and responsibility for me to showcase part of the Cuban, Caribbean and Latin American culture through my work.”

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Indeed, Piñeiro Bello’s vibrant abstractions are animated by the spiritual energies of his homeland, Cuba. He employs classical Western art history’s structural qualities while upending the landscape’s expectations through his alchemical use of color and non-linear storytelling. Magmatic tides of colors swirl on the canvas in blustery movements, which suggest a continuous state of change, upheaval and metamorphosis, where the image will always be in formation. Those abstract and semi-abstract compositions take on otherworldly, fantastical qualities in explosions of color, light and elaborate forms, reflecting the artist’s deep interest in the beauty and chaos of the natural world, which then reflects human and societal behavior in the endless tension between creation and destruction that Piñeiro Bello has witnessed in the history of his home country.

The gallery will host a major solo show of his work this fall, “Entre El Día Y La Noche,” which will be the largest exhibition to date for Piñeiro Bello and the first in the U.K., running from September 3 to 28.

“I am thrilled to work with a beautiful team within the gallery: Marc Glimcher, Samantha Rubell and Simone Shields,” the artist said. “Everyone at the gallery is just beautiful people. The human relationship and critical and intellectual exchange have been essential and enriching in this transition.”

The atmospheric and emotional changes throughout a Cuban night and day inspired the paintings soon to be on view in London. “Entre El Día Y La Noche” will feature a series of new paintings, works on paper and a sculpture—each embodying the transition between different moments of light and atmosphere in Cuba, turning into a powerful poetic metaphor of the country’s situation and his people’s energy of resilience.

Now based in Miami, Piñeiro Bello will continue collaborating with KDR Gallery, which first supported his work. “While PACE will represent my work on a global level, I will continue to be represented by my dear friend Katia David Rosenthal in Miami,” he clarified.

“I can’t believe I am showing my work alongside the artists represented by the Gallery: Calder, Picasso, Nevelson, Agnes, Nava, Rothko, Marina Simao, Nara, De Kooning, Dubuffet… wow! There is an endless list of artists I have loved and admired since I was a kid back in Cuba. It is a dream come true, and it means a lot for me and my community.”

Alejandro Piñeiro Bello honed his skills at The National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro, Havana, Cuba (2006–2010) and was later awarded grants from The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation in New York and The Rockefeller Brothers Fund in New York in collaboration with Pioneer Works. He was additionally a resident at the Vermont Studio Center in 2022. Today, his works are held in public collections such as those of The Rubell Museum in Miami; Marquez Art Projects in Miami; NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale; The Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea; The Amorepacific Museum of Art in Seoul; The Brownstone Foundation Collection in Paris; The Chrysler Museum, in Virginia; and the Museum of Latin American Art in Los Angeles.