Elías Federico Acostas
Born in Cuba, 1964

• Graduate of the National School of Arts (ENA), July 1983.
• Graduate of the Pedagogical Upper Institute "Enrique José Varona", Havana City, July 1991. 
• Professor of painting and drawing; upper medium level

 “I paint desire to show my ownership to the Fine Arts; because in art, even the technical negotiation has its own meaning.  I incorporate the styles of Picasso, Matisse, Lautrec, Chagall, Cezanne, Paul Klee, Gustav Klimb and Gauguin, all at the same time, but with reconciliation I create my own style. “

Elias Acostas is a well-developed international artist. His style is distinct and captivating, demonstrating an appreciation and amazing representation of the human body.  The form, is strong and powerful, with a blurred distinction between the male and the female.  The energy is seductive and sexy while inviting yet aloof. His art is fresh, smart, and unique making his pieces part of an elite collection. 

His life has been consumed by art from a young age, painting as a young child, and continuing into adulthood.  He was taught by some of the best in Cuba, training in Havana for secondary college.  He now has his own admirers both in students and in fans.  His art has been featured in several publications and he has established a presence in galleries around the world. 

Elias's works have been part of a traveling show throughout Europe, winning awards in Paris, Belgium, Germany, and Spain.  He has composed eleven personal expositions, and participated in more than forty collective expositions globally. 

As well as being a painter, Elias is a poet.  His pieces bring distinct meaning to him as well as the viewer.  Most of his work is created and presented in series, being  presented by color patterns and subject matter.  ‘El Beso’, [The Kiss], is a recently completed series that toured Cuba and Europe before being released to the public. 

"The kiss, that sublime expression of the love, that in our days has lost a little the halo of sacriliage." 

"The eyes are the mirror of the soul, but these, they are oblique, they tend to hide it and they offer certain malice, in the good sense."
-Interview of ‘El Beso’.

“La Visito”
“The Visit”
24x32 inches, oil on canvas
ACO001

“La Visita II”
“The 2nd Visit”
24x32 inches, oil on canvas
ACO003

“La Visita III Musico”
“The 3rd Visit with Music”
24x32 inches, oil on canvas
ACO004

“Nino Sol”
“Sun Child”
12x16 inches, pastel on paper
ACO016

“El Beso I”
“The Kiss I”
16x22 inches, oil on canvas
ACO010

“El Beso II”
“The Kiss II”
16x22 inches, oil on canvas
ACO011

“Archangel”
15x21 inches, oil on canvas
ACO008

“De la Serie I”
“Of the Series I
8.5x12 inches, acrylic on paper
ACO012

“De la Serie II”
“Of the series II
8.5x12 inches, acrylic on paper
ACO013

“Equilibrio”
“Equilibrium”
12x16 inches, pastel on paper
ACO016

“La Anunciacion I”
“The Annunciation I”
12x16 inches, oil on canvas
ACO005

“La Anunciacion II”
“The Annunciation II”
24x39.5 inches, oil on canvas
ACO007

“La Visita I”
“The 1st Visit”
24x32 inches, oil on canvas
ACO002

“Musico”
“Music”
12x16 inches, oil on canvas
ACO006

“Sin-sentido I”
“Meaningless I”
12x16 inches, acrylic on paper
ACO017

“Sin-sentido II”
“Meaningless II”
18x24 inches, acrylic on paper
ACO018

“Sin-sentido III”
“Meaningless III”
18x24 inches, acrylic on paper
ACO019

“Sin-sentido IV”
“Meaningless IV
12x16 inches, acrylic on paper
ACO015

“Une Familiar con Perrito”
“A Family with a dog”
45x57 inches, oil on canvas
ACO020

“Zapapos Azul”
“Blue Shoes”
12x16 inches, oil on canvas
ACO009

Interview with Elias Acostas
Writing and to explain what is painted is more difficult than painting it…

"The painting of the painting"
 
I used to worry about being a good painter, and I worked very hard Time ago worries me to be a good painter, al except him I try.

The kiss, that sublime expression of the love, that in our days has lost a little of the halo of sacrilege that wrapped it in past epochs and has been theme of famous works since "Dafne and Cloe", is again the object of representation. 

Usual to its airtight way to express the messages, we face us to a series whose only reason to be is the search of the compliancy, of an esthetics hedonist I have never done before as an artist. 

I turn my attention against focusing exclusively on the woman.  The prominence has been occupied by couples of lovers in poses that reveal a smooth eroticism.

The construction of the figures continues being conventional, by the preference of a model of lines stylized that reiterates continuously, nevertheless all is observed by the size of the subjects.  No longer are they the figures shown in the previous series, the ones that seemed to have erected in archetype of the empty existential one, but are now athletes. 

Although the facial expression is frozen, an atmosphere of lyricism breathes.  The expressive quality itself transfers all corporal gesture.  The body that is lazy portrays a waste of muscle and  could confuse us to believe that we see something real.  I show nothing of that.  Scenes only of dreaminess whose immaterial translucence becomes a full, ideal space of subjective resonances. 

The location of semitransparent anatomical parts in the composition, represents the ghostly track of the human presence in that place, accentuating the dynamism and the sensuality of the works, that show to these elements touching the erogenous zones, or simply creating sensations of movement. 

The eyes are the mirror of the soul, but these they are oblique, they tend to hide it and they offer certain malice, in the good sense.  

Finally, the perception of these works produces a hypnotic effect in the spectator before the technical virtuosity.  I have here that mimetic capacity, by means of which the artist conforms a shield, that maintains the privacy to extreme. 

~ July 2006, by Elias Acostas, translated