Juan Miguel Suarez

Reynier Llanes was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, in 1985. He attended the city’s school of art (Instructores de Arte) for four years and completed his studies in 2004. 

Llanes was tutored by one of the country’s most recognized realist artists, Juan Miguel Suárez. In 2005 he moved to Havana where he continued his studies and collaborated with various artists. The capital was a thriving mecca of art and culture and the museums were the grounds for inspiration. 

In 2007 LIanes availed himself of an opportunity to emigrate from Cuba and moved to the United States, first settling in Naples, Florida. In Naples, he began to introduce his paintings in a major exhibition entitled “Strange Visitor” at the Kapo Maestro Gallery. In 2009 he relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, where he had the honor of being granted an artist-in-residency at the Jonathan Green Studios. 

Llanes was recognized with a "Mayor’s Purchase Award" for a piece now in the art collection of the city of Charleston. In 2011 he received first place at the MOJA Arts Festival Juried Exhibition. In 2012 Oxford American recognized him as one of the "New Superstars of Southern Art." Llanes' art was nourished by the rich Southern culture and he began to collaborate with various museums and art centers. His work was featured in a traveling exhibition "The Vibrant Vision Collection" at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia, and the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston.

Llanes is also an avid art collector in his own right, focusing on works by artists from Cuba, and particularly those from his native province of Pinar del Río. A selection of works from his collection was exhibited at City Gallery in Charleston in 2013 and in the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach in 2015. His first solo exhibition in Miami took place at Miami Dade College West. This exhibition was entitled “Preserving Cultural Heritage” and it featured a large collection of coffee paintings. 

In 2017 Llanes met Bill Meek of the Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, marking the beginning of a great professional and personal relationship. In the same year, the artist presented his series “Marble Trace” at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. During the following year, the school offered Llanes an artist residency opportunity. He was also invited to showcase his work in a solo exhibition at the University of Houston for the Latino Art Now! Conference in Houston, Texas. 

Llanes' art can be found in the permanent collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, the Snite Museum of Art and other institutions. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries all over the East Coast, among them the Naples Museum of Art in Naples.

Find original Reynier Llanes paintings and other art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Jack Meier Gallery)

Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.

While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.

Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.

Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.

Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.

Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.