Ernest - Mirada Abisal

Ernest M. is a young Cuban artist trained in the city of Manzanillo, Granma, in the eastern part of Cuba. He currently lives and works in Havana, where he continues to develop a constant pictorial production and an artistic career largely centered on researching the human figure and its relationship with the aquatic environment.

In recent years, the artist has developed a series dedicated to immersion, water, and the human figure, turning these elements into one of the most recognizable features of his pictorial language. Women suspended beneath the surface, faces cut by reflections, fish, movements of the hair, optical distortions, bubbles, and changes of light appear repeatedly in his compositions, not as mere decorative resources, but as part of an increasingly defined visual universe.

One of the most interesting aspects of his painting is precisely the treatment of water as both a pictorial and psychological element. Ernest manages to represent the water surface, reflections, and light-induced distortions with brushstrokes that range between figuration, expressive realism, and moments close to hyperrealism. However, his intention does not seem to be limited to faithfully reproducing a scene: he uses those distortions to transform the face and the human body, creating images that sit between the real, the dreamlike, and the introspective.

His palette is clearly dominated by deep blues, turquoise, greens, and marine tones, which frequently contrast with reds, ochers, oranges, and warm tones applied to skin, fish, flowers, or reflections. This chromatic opposition gives a strong visual presence to the works and makes the figure emerge from the underwater background even when it seems completely integrated into it.

Also characteristic is the way the artist works composition. In many of his paintings, the line of flotation cuts directly through the face or body of the subject, dividing the image into two realities. In others, the viewer observes the scene completely submerged. That choice generates a sense of silence, suspension, and isolation that recurs throughout his work. Water thus becomes a boundary, a refuge, and a space of transformation.

Within the series there are compositions of a more intimate and contemplative character, while others present a freer, gestural, and expressive painting. This variety allows us to observe the evolution of an artist who constantly experiments within a recognizable theme without being limited to a single formula.

Another notable aspect is the materiality of the works. The photographs allow appreciation of the overall structure of the compositions and their chromatic richness, but the painting gains a considerably greater dimension when viewed in person, where the variations in brushwork, color overlays, texture, and the small changes in light with which depth is constructed can be perceived more clearly.

The repetition of certain elements—the female figure, the fish, the partially submerged face, the floating hair, the surface reflections, and the intense blue of the water—is helping to shape a recognizable artistic identity. In a young creator, this coherence is especially meaningful, as it demonstrates the will to build a continued body of work rather than just isolated pieces.

Ernest currently maintains an active artistic output and continues to develop his career through exhibitions and projects both in Cuba and in Spain and other international contexts. His works have progressively found buyers and collectors outside of Cuba and are currently part of private collections and galleries in various countries of Europe and Latin America.

His paintings are also regularly offered at Catawiki auctions, where his work has been well received by the public and collectors.

Acquiring a work by Ernest means approaching the work of a young Cuban artist still in full growth, but who already possesses especially valuable elements within an emerging trajectory: a clearly identifiable theme, continuity in his pictorial research, growing mastery of color and the representation of water, and above all, the search for a distinct visual identity.

His aquatic series currently represents one of the more personal avenues of his production and stands as a good example of how a seemingly everyday motif can be transformed, through painting, into a reflection on the body, identity, silence, beauty, and perception.

Water does not simply function as a setting in Ernest’s work: it acts as a second language that fragments, transforms, and reconstructs the human figure.

Artwork by the artist Ernest executed in oil on high-quality professional canvas.
Dimensional size 60 x 80 cm of painting.
Original edition.
The shipment will be made via United Parcel Service (UPS) for Spain and Europe, and via FedEx for the rest of the world.
The work will be rolled and protected with several layers of packaging, bubble wrap, and placed in a sturdy tube.
Once the work is paid for, three days are required for the packaging process and delivery to the shipping company.
The piece should reach you within ten days, depending on the destination country.
This lot contains visualizations produced with AI. Please consult the original photographs to verify the real condition of the work.

This realist-style painting with a surreal atmosphere presents a frontal portrait of a woman submerged in an aquatic environment, characterized by an intense range of blues. The serene and expressive gaze of the subject immediately connects with the viewer, while sunlight filtering through the surface creates refined golden and caustic patterns on her skin and shoulders. The dark hair floats gracefully around the face among fine bubbles and watery highlights, creating a perfect counterpoint to the floral-patterned mantle that surrounds her figure. In the lower left plane, a koi or golden carp with vibrant orange and white tones adds chromatic balance, narrative fluidity, and a sense of mystical harmony with the marine nature."