Cesar Santos (born July 10, 1982) is a contemporary Cuban-American artist and portrait painter. He is better known for his body of work “Syncretism”, a term he uses to describe paintings where he presents two or more art tendencies in aesthetic balance. He has completed numerous commissions and his work is held in private as well as public collections around the world. Santos’ work has been displayed at the Annigoni Museum in Villa Bardini Florence, Beijing Museum in China, Museum of Contemporary Art in Sicily and the National Gallery in Costa Rica. Santos is part of the Living Masters’ Gallery at the Art Renewal Center in Glenham. Santos studied visual arts at the New World School of the Arts, but was dissatisfied by the modernist approach of the school. He dropped out and travelled to Italy in search of training in the art of painting. He joined the Angel Academy of Arts in Florence and studied the techniques and methods of the Renaissance, 18th century, and the French ateliers of 19th century under Michael John Angel, student of Pietro Annigoni. Santos’ work reflects both classical and modern interpretations within one painting; his work has been influenced by the Renaissance as well as Contemporary Art. While initially most of his work was on still life such as his painting Camera in 2008, humans and life-form became the focus of his work in the later years of his career depicted by his series Syncretism and subsequent work. Syncretism is a philosophical vision intending to reconcile different doctrines, a social mechanism that attenuates the confrontation between antagonistic tendencies competing for the same space. Nudes characterize much of his work.
