Alián Martínez Rives born in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, 1988 lives and works in Miami, Florida. Rives received a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in Art and Technology from the New World School of the Arts and the University of Florida in 2021. 

Selected Solo exhibitions to include “140, 8 cm3 of Sponge Bought from a Repossessed Man,” Art Basel, Art Wynwood, Miami, Florida (2017), “Values Transmuted,” Department of Children and Families, Miami, Florida (2014), "Recycler," General Provincial Museum, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba (2012). 

Selected group exhibitions include "Graduate Exhibition,” UM Gallery, Wynwood Art District, Miami, Florida (2022), Unspecified Void,” BFA Exhibition, Moore Building, Miami, Florida (2021), “Rising Stars,” New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida (2021), Miami Film Festival, “CINEMASLAM,” MDC Tower Theater, Miami, Florida (2020). 

Rives received the “Douglas Turner Grant,” New World School of the Arts Scholarship (2021), the honorable mention from the Miami Film Festival, “CINEMASLAM,” MDC Tower Theater (2020), the “42nd Annual Honors Day Awards” from Miami Dade College (2017), the First Prize “PIXELART,” Third Digital Art Show from Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery (2013), the First Prize “Belquis Ayón” from the Engraving Exhibition Competition at Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery (2010), and work is in Miami Dade College (MDC), Miami, Casa de la Guayabera, Sancti Spíritus, Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery, Sancti Spíritus, and Vladislav Volkov Pedagogical School, Sancti Spíritus collections. 

Alián's works have recently been exhibited at the Gotland Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany; Le Lieu Center en Arte Actuel, Quebec, Canada; Art Basel Wynwood Art Fair, The Moore Building Art Space, Miami, the United States; CINEMASLAM, Tower Theater Miami, the United States; Collage Habana Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba among other galleries and institutions.

My work emerges in the interdisciplinary space of art and technology, where I synthesize various methodologies and integrate information from other disciplines. My work encompasses the limits of art with daily realities and balances complex structures with heteroclite materials and elements of chance; I use integrative techniques in my chosen media, which include photography, video, immersive experiences, installation art, and sculpture to describe my experience living in the Cuban diaspora. My multidisciplinary approach involves extracting information from historical data and official records. I then translate them into multimedia installations that are visually engaging and conceptually charged. Therefore, I look for elements belonging to a local visual or philosophical culture transferred from a traditional universe in which they are strictly codified and fixed to one in which they are set in motion and placed beneath the gaze of critical reading.

Integrating anthropological exploration with state-of-the-art technology, I delve into the psychological and sociological repercussions of intricate matters within the historical context of arbitrary regimes. Offering a critique of the disruptive manner by which technology mediates interaction, my work conveys a vision of the world considering itineraries and displacement, proposing another kind of mapping in which networks, connections, and links come into play. Artworks grounded in historical records and personal encounters, shedding light on the convergence of the personal and the political, encourage contemplation on how individuals, including artists, participate in both individual and collective dissent as part of their daily routines while referencing visual and tactile manifestations of code that connect and separate us and shape how we behave and perceive life. These engagements with this theme occur within the increasingly globalized dimension of new media and conceptual art, which may situate in the intensified movement of information, code, or data. 

Influenced by post-revolutionary presets in Cuba and the subsequent political unrest, my methodology involves extracting signs and data from their established environment and placing them in the artistic realm. Data network failures and the various ways information flows create reality and destabilize systems serve as the foundation for these proposals. Through the semiotic possibilities of media and conceptual art, I intend to investigate the individual memory and collective mythology of historical events and their broader social, political, and cultural significance. With a poetic and interactive approach, my work offers a critical commentary on the conflict between politics and poetics and the balance between individual agency and powerlessness. 

1988              Born in Sancti Spíritus

                        Lives and works in Miami, Florida.                            

                       axm7802@miami.edu     alianrives.net

                       alianrivesblog                            

                       https://www.linkedin.com/in/alian-rives

EDUCATION

2019-2021       BFA University of Florida, Gainesville, FL    

2014-2018       AA New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL

2007-2008       Embassy of Spain’s Cultural Office, Havana, CU

2003-2007       BA Oscar Fernández Morera Art Academy, Sancti Spíritus, CU 

AWARDS

2020                 New World School of the Arts Scholarship

                         Douglas Turner Grant

2019                New World School of the Arts Scholarship

2017                42nd Annual Honors Day Awards, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL

2013                First Prize “PIXELART” Third Digital Art Show,Oscar Fernández Morera Art                            Gallery, S. S, CU

2011                Honorable Mention, “PIXELART” Digital Art Show, Oscar  Fernández Morera                           Art Gallery, S. S, CU

2010                First Prize, “Belquis Ayón Engraving Exposition”, Oscar Fernández  Morera                             Art Gallery, S. S, CU

2003               Honorable Mention, “May Exhibition”, Trinidad, CU

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017                  “140, 8 cm3 of Sponge Bought from a Repossessed Man”, Art Basel, Art                                   Wynwood, Miami,  U.S.A.

2014                  “Values Transmuted”, Department of Children and Families, Downtown                                     Miami, U.S.A.

2012                 "Recycler", General Provincial Museum, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2011                  "De - Capitación", Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2008                 "Paranoid", Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS), Sancti Spíritus, CU

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 “New Works”, UM Gallery, Art Basel week, Wynwood Art District, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2023 “Nkisi”, Art Lab Gallery, Corn Center for the Visual Arts, Columbus State University, U.S.A.

2023 “The MFA Show: Year 2”, The Bonnier Gallery, Florida, U.S.A.

2023 “Annual Juried Exhibition”, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2022                 “New Works”, UM Gallery, Art Basel week, Wynwood Art District, Miami,                                  Florida, U.S.A.

2022                 “Graduate Exhibition”, UM Gallery, Wynwood Art District, Miami, Florida,                                   U.S.A.

2021                 “Unspecified Void”, BFA Exhibition, Moore Building, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2021                 “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami,                                                      Florida, U.S.A.

2020                  Miami Film Festival, CINEMASLAM, MDC’S Tower Theater, Miami, Florida,                             U.S.A

2019                 “The Future Ain’t What it Used to Be”, The Kampong, Art Basel, Miami,                                     Florida, U.S.A.

                    “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2018           “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2017               “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2016               “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2015               “Here and Now”, Performative Action, CasaLin, Art Basel, Miami, U.S.A.

2011                 “Canchánchara Espirituana”, Gotland Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany             

2008                   “Expo Parrandas Espirituanas”, Collage Art Havana, Havana, CU

2007               “Havanaart in Quebec”, La Chambre Blanche (Le Lieu Centre en  Arte                                      Actuel), Quebec, Canada

ART RESIDENCIES

2023 Summer North Mountain Residency, Tuscarora Pike, Shanghai, West Virginia

COLLABORATIONS

2016               “The Moment” Ivan Toth Depeña’s installation, Locust Projects, Miami,                                       Florida, U.S.A.

2015                  “Walkabout”, Performative Action, New World School of the Arts, Art Basel,                              Miami, U.S.A.

2013                  “Utopia”, Sancti Spiritus – Dresden, Cuba – Germany

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Eugene Sulzberger, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Raul Duarte, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Marc Knee, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

PUBLIC  COLLECTIONS

Miami Dade College (MDC), Miami, FL 

Manuel de Jesus Lara Medical Center, Trinidad, CU

Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery, Sancti Spíritus, CU

Vladislav Volkov Pedagogical School, Sancti Spíritus, CU

 2021         Adrienne Arsht Center. (2021, June 16). Arsht Center launches Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) . Retrieved from Adriene Arsht Center Website: https://www.arshtcenter.org/Global/PressRoom/releases/20-21%20SEASON/Institutional/Lasting%20Impressions%20NFTs%20-%20True%20Tickets%20-%20FINAL%20Version%20-%2006182021.pdf

                      Sierz, R. (2021, Jun 28). Emerging Artists Shine at NWSA’s Outdoor Showcase. Retrieved from My Digital Publication: https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=712448&article_id=4061276&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5

                        New World School of the Arts. (2021, November 24). Highlights from a Remarkable 2020-2021. Retrieved  from MDC News:https://news.mdc.edu/highlights-from-a-remarkable-2020-2021/

2020                   Miami Film Festival. (2020, October 8). Wolfson CinemaSlam Competition 2020. Retrieved from Miami Film Festival: https://miamifilmfestival.com/events/wolfson-cinemaslam-competition-2020/

2019                   New World School of The Arts. (2019, April 29). "Rising Stars 2019” A Stellar Display of Dance, Music, Theater and Visual Arts. Retrieved from New World School of The Arts College: https://nwsa.mdc.edu/nwsa-college-about/latest-nwsa-college-news/924-new-world-school-of-the-arts-%E2%80%9Crising-stars-2019%E2%80%9D-a-stellar-display-of-dance,-music,-theater-and-visual-arts.html

                           New World School of the Arts. (2019). The Future Ain't What It Used to Be. Miami: New World School of the Arts Press.

2013                  Calviño, M. J. (2013). El Arte de las Pequeñas Cosas. Escambray, 7.

                     Guerra, L. G. (2013, February 19). VIII Edición Pexelart 2013. Retrieved from Escambray:        http://www.escambray.cu/2013/concluye-en-sancti-spiritus-viii-edicion-pexelart-2013/#comments

                       Rodríguez, M. J. (2013, December 13). Metáforas del nuevo milenio. Retrieved from Escambray: http://www.escambray.cu/2013/metaforas-del-nuevo-milenio/

2011                  Rives, A. M. (2011). Arte con Arte. (Y. Fleites, Interviewer)

                          Velásquez, J., & Fleites, J. (Directors). (2011). Arte Con Arte [Motion Picture].

2010                   Rodríguez, M. (2010, December 18). Project "20 PLUS 1" . Escambray, p. 7.

                           Rives, A. (2010, October 16). The Rescue of a Memory. (L. Figueredo, Interviewer)