Ernest (XXI) - Ascensión Subacuática

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

In recent years, the artist has developed a series devoted 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 pierced by reflections, fish, hair in motion, optical distortions, bubbles, and changes in light repeatedly appear in his compositions, not as mere decorative resources, but as part of an ever more defined visual universe.

One of the most interesting aspects of his painting is precisely the treatment of water as a pictorial and psychological element. Ernest manages to represent the water surface, reflections, and the distortions produced by light through brushstrokes that oscillate 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, ochres, oranges, and warm tones applied to skin, fish, flowers, or reflections. This chromatic opposition gives the works a strong visual presence and makes the figure emerge from the aquatic background even when it seems completely integrated into it.

Also characteristic is the way the artist works composition. In many of his paintings, the flotation line crosses directly through the face or body of the character, 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 in his work. Water thus becomes a boundary, refuge, and space of transformation.

Within the series there are compositions of a more intimate and contemplative character, while others present more free, gestural, and expressive painting. This variety allows us to observe the evolution of an artist who continually experiments within a recognizable theme without being confined 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 achieves a considerably greater dimension when viewed physically, where variations in brushwork, color superpositions, texture, and small changes in light that build a sense of depth 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 sustained body of work and not merely isolated pieces.

Ernest currently maintains active artistic production and continues to develop his career through exhibitions and projects both in Cuba and in Spain and other international contexts. His works have gradually found buyers and collectors outside of Cuba and are currently part of private collections and galleries in different European and Latin American countries.

His paintings are also regularly offered at Catawiki auctions, where his work has received a positive reception from the public and collectors.

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

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

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

Artwork by the artist Ernest created in acrylic on high-quality professional canvas.
60 x 80 cm painting.
Original edition.
The shipment will be carried out through United Parcel Service (UPS) for Spain and Europe, and through 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 will reach you within ten days, depending on the destination country.
This lot contains AI-generated visuals. Check the original photographs to verify the actual condition of the work.

This captivating acrylic-on-canvas painting depicts a female figure wearing a vibrant red bikini, submerged in a vibrant underwater environment. The painting stands out for its dramatic use of light; sunbeams penetrate the undulating surface of the water, creating caustic light patterns that reflect on the woman’s skin and the seabed. She is in a graceful upward pose, with her hair flowing freely, surrounded by bubbles and a richly detailed coral reef. The scene is populated by several colorful tropical fish (orange and yellow) that add dynamism to the composition. The color palette is intense, with deep ocean blues contrasted with the red of the bikini and the warm tones of the fish and sunlight.