René Francisco
René Francisco Rodríguez (born 1960, Holguín, Cuba)is a contemporary artist graduated from the Higher Institute of Arts (ISA) in 1987. Outstanding among his outstanding solo exhibitions with Eduardo Ponjuán, as a duet, are: Ven y dame una mano [Come give me a hand], which took place in the Art Center 23 y 12 (Havana, 1992); Arte y Confort [Art and Comfort], called for by the Nina Menocal Gallery in Mexico D.F. (1993); and Call Malevich, at the Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf and Kunstverein Lingen (Germany, 1996). His solo work is positioned with exhibitions like Tubosutra, exhibitied at the Galería Habana in 1999, and at the Goch Museum of Germany in 2001. In 2003, he held the exhibition Ajuste de cuentas [Settling of scores] at the National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba; and, at the Foto Graphik Galerie Käthe Kollwitz, in Berlin, the one entitled Ca(sz)a persona. beuys. He is a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). He has made incursions in the field of promotion and curatorship of group exhibitions like Sentido común [Common sense] (Galería Habana, 2003) and, since 2005, he has excelled as a curator of Cuban art for the CIFO Foundation. He has received awards like the Honorific Doctorate in Fine Arts granted by the San Francisco Art Institute of San Francisco and the UNESCO’s Award by the work with the DUPP Gallery during the 7th Havana Biennial in the year 2000; the Order for National Education and the Order of National Culture, both in 2008. In 2010, he received the National Award of Plastic Arts, highest award granted by the National Council of Plastic Arts of Cuba. His work is part of important private and institutional collections around the globe.
