Statement  My formal painting concerns have led me to use the conservative landscape as my subject and traditional plein-air painting as my process, in my attempts to reconcile the abstract nature of painting with its representational role. From a distance, I draw the viewer into what is first perceived as a dense but conventional space. Up close, however, the images break down; the lush, gestural paint marks, squeezed-out paint patches and areas of raw canvas help, instead, to reinforce the 2-D character of abstract painting as both an activity and an end-product.  ​ By definition, plein-air painting means to work on-site, to experience nature first-hand. For me, this seemingly passé mode of painting is today injected with new relevance and urgency as it helps underscore how removed most of our own experiences and even images of nature have become. In my works, I want the viewer to discover how the landscape reveals itself in cumulative and unexpected ways. Ways that will hopefully create a desire to engage more fully, directly and positively in our own environment and to do so before it is too late.  ​ Birthplace: Havana, Cuba, 1966. Citizenship: United States.of America ​ ​ EDUCATION ​ M.F.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1990. Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine, 1990. B.F.A., Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 1988. ​ ​ SELECTED AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS ​ State of Florida Individual Artist Grant, 2008 MacDowell Colony Fellow, 2008 Joan Mitchell Foundation Award in Painting, 2006 MacDowell Colony Milton and Sally Avery Fellow, 2006 State of Florida Artists Enhancement Grant, 2006 Featured Artist for the State of Florida during National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2004 1999 Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, invited visiting artist, 1999 Lost Maples Ranch (TX) artistís residency fellowship, 1995 Mid-America Arts Alliance/NEA Fellowship Award in Painting, 1994 Vermont Studio Center, Artist in Residency Fellowship, 1994 Kimbrough Award, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, 1992 Charles Addams Memorial Prize in Fine Art, University of Pennsylvania, 1990 Skowhegan Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 1990 Painting and Drawing Teaching Assistant Award, University of Georgia Studies Abroad, Cortona, Italy, 1989 Meadows Fine Arts Scholarship, Southern Methodist University, 1984-88 National Scholastic Art Scholarship, 1984 ​