Reynier Llanes was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba in 1985. He attended the city’s school of art (Instructores de Arte) for four years and completed his studies in 2004. Llanes was tutored by one of the country’s most recognized realist artists, Juan Miguel Suárez. In 2005 he moved to Havana where he continued his studies and collaborated with various artists. The capital was a thriving mecca of art and culture and the museums the grounds for inspiration. In 2007 LIanes availed himself of an opportunity to emigrate from Cuba and moved to the United States, first settling in Naples, FL. In Naples he began to introduce his work in a major exhibition entitled “Strange Visitor” at the Kapo Maestro Gallery. In 2009 he relocated to Charleston, SC where he had the honor of being granted an artist in residency at the Jonathan Green Studios. Llanes was awarded a «first purchase award» for a piece now in the art collection of the city of Charleston 2011 at Moja Art Festival Juried Exhibition Award. In 2012 Oxford America recognized him as one of the «New Superstars of Southern Art.» The art of Reynier was nourished by the rich southern culture and he began to collaborate with various museums and art centers. His work was featured in a traveling exhibition The Vibrant Vision Collection at the Morris Museum in Augusta, GA and the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC. Llanes is also an avid art collector in his own right, focusing on works by artists from Cuba, and particularly those from his native province of Pinar del Rio. A selection of works from his collection was exhibited at City Gallery in Charleston in 2013 and in the Art Museum in Myrtle Beach in 2015. In 2015 Llanes relocated with his family to Miami in order to take advantage of the city’s international art market and vibrant cultural life and to be closer to his home country. South Florida is, of course, home to a large community of intellectuals, collectors, and fellow artists who have welcomed Llanes into their cosmopolitan scene. His first solo exhibition in Miami took place at Miami Dade College West, this exhibition was entitled “Preserving Cultural Heritage” and it featured a large collection of coffee paintings. In 2017 he met Bill Meek of the Harmon Meek Gallery in Naples, FL marking the beginning of a great professional and personal relationship. In the same year Llanes presented his series “Marble Trace” at the North Western State University in Louisiana, the following year they offered him an artist in residency. He was recently invited to showcase his work in a solo exhibition at the University of Houston for the Latino Art Now Conference in Houston, Texas. His art is on permanent exhibition in the Denver Art Museum – Denver, CO, Cornell Fine Arts Museum Rollins College, Snite Museum of Art – South Bend, Indiana, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL, The Arkansas Arts Center, Museum of Fine Arts – Little Rock, Arkansas, Museum of Art – DeLand’s – DeLand, FL and Museum collection of Franklin G. Burroughs – Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC. His work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries throughout the east coast, among them the Naples Museum of Art in Naples, FL.
