Pedro Avila Gendis (b. Camaguey, Cuba). He graduated in Fine Arts at Ignacio Agramonte Cultural Center (Camaguey, 1975). He has exhibited his work in Miami, Los Angeles, Wien, Havana, Lisbon, Madrid, San Salvador, and Buenos Aires, among other cities. His work is part of several public art projects located at the University of Havana, Faro City (Portugal), Marina Hemingway (Havana), and the hotels Oasis, Turquesa and Villa Cuba, in Varadero, Matanzas. His work is part of several private collections in the U.S., Cuba, Spain, Portugal, Austria, among other countries. He received the award “Targa d’Oro Citta di Gubbio 2010.” 5th Ressegna Internazionale di Arte Pittorica, Gubbio, Italy. “The abstract expressionism of Pedro Avila Gendis is translated into gestures, stains and colors as a reflection of mental and emotional states, which at first glance appear to ignore reality, but which in essence constitute another way of representing it. His oeuvre is more closely associated with ‘lyrical abstraction,’ specifically to the Informalism and Tachism that arose in Europe after World War II. Avila Gendis reaffirms himself through the act of painting. Although on canvas, he materializes and immortalizes his reaction to external stimuli, his work is not reduced to pure spontaneous gestures. In his work, rationality is the essential ingredient. His pieces evidence the imprint of the creative process. A keen observer can perceive the different stages of the same, the different planes that arise on the canvas, how the color is balanced to communicate emotions, how the transparencies and textures are experimented with and exploited to the maximum. For Avila Gendis the act of painting is an intellectual exercise in communicating emotionally and psychologically with the viewer.” Fragment retrieved from the essay written for the exhibition “Shared Secrets” by Raisa Clavijo.