--- title: Heyder Reyes description: Visual artist exploring migration and identity through figurative painting and symbolic imagery. url: https://www.artsume.com/a/heyderreyes type: artist createdAt: "2026-10-09" updatedAt: "2026-10-22" disciplines: - Painting - Drawing - Sculpture - Installation - Mixed Media location: Miami, FL, United States website: https://heyderreyes.com birthYear: 1991 --- # Heyder Reyes *Visual artist exploring migration and identity through figurative painting and symbolic imagery. | Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Installation, Mixed Media | Based in Miami, FL, United States* ## Artist Statement My work explores migration, memory, identity, separation, and resilience through figurative painting and mixed media. A recurring symbol in my practice is the antique diving helmet, which represents both protection and isolation. Through symbolic figures and environments, I examine displacement, belonging, adaptation, and the emotional distance that can exist between a person and the world around them. ## About Heyder Reyes is a Cuban-born visual artist based in Miami. His practice spans painting, mixed media, installation, and sculpture, exploring migration, memory, identity, separation, and resilience. His work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions in Cuba, Mexico, and the United States, including recent projects in Miami. Reyes is known for his recurring use of the antique diving helmet as a symbol of protection, isolation, adaptation, and psychological survival. ## Curriculum Vitae ### Education - **2016** - Storyboard, ICAIC Animation Studios, Havana, Cuba, 2015-2016 - **2010** - Art Instructor, Specialty in Fine Arts, E.I.A. 13 de Marzo, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, 2006-2010 ### Solo Exhibitions - **2026** - *Beyond Borders (Between Memory and Dreams)*, Casa Atelier Art Residency, Mindspace_US Wynwood, Miami, FL, United States - **2022** - *Ingrávidos*, Noche Blanca cultural program, Galería 60, Mérida, Mexico - **2017** - *Punto de vista*, Asociación Hermanos Saiz, San José de las Lajas, Cuba - **2015** - *De la historieta a la animación*, Vitrina de Valonia, Office of the Historian of the City of Havana, Havana, Cuba - **2014** - *Tierra chiquita*, UNEAC Remedios y Caibarién, Villa Clara, Cuba - **2013** - *Leo, Luego existes*, Centro Cultural Dulce María Loynaz, Havana, Cuba ### Group Exhibitions - **2026** - *Group Exhibition*, Miami Design District, Miami, FL, United States - **2025** - *Great Big Little Art Show*, The Local Gallery, New London, CT, United States - **2023** - *The Collective - Basel Art Week Edition*, The House of Art Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, FL, United States - **2021** - *Dominios*, Arístides Fernández Gallery, Güines, Cuba - **2021** - *Review 2*, José Suárez Quidiello Gallery, UNEAC, Bejucal, Cuba - **2020** - *Alquimia*, Provincial Center for Visual Arts Arístides Fernández, Güines, Cuba - **2018** - *Convergente*, Provincial Center for Visual Arts Arístides Fernández, Güines, Cuba - **2017** - *El Experimento*, Visual Arts Development Center, Havana, Cuba - **2016** - *Proyecto Colectivo ITEMS II*, ICAIC Cinematographic Cultural Center "Fresa y Chocolate", Havana, Cuba ### Awards, Grants & Fellowships - **2019** - AHS Award, III Small Format Exhibition "La Tetra", Casona Sur Gallery, Melena del Sur, Cuba - **2017** - AHS Award, II Small Format Exhibition "La Tetra", Melena del Sur, Mayabeque, Cuba - **2015** - Award, III National Salon of Plastic Arts José Luis Posada Medio, Museum of Humor, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba - **2014** - First Prize in Personal Caricature, XIII National Hall of Humor and Satire, Museum of Humor Eduardo Abela, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba - **2014** - Comic Award and additional distinctions, IV National Youth Humor Hall "El Loquito", Museum of Humor Eduardo Abela, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba - **2013** - Second Prize, General Humor, XIII International Graphic Humor Hall Eduardo Abela, Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba - **2012** - First Prize in Personal Caricature, XII National Hall of Humor and Satire, Museum of Humor Eduardo Abela, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba ### Commissions - **2025** - *For the North (triptych)*, Morton Subastas, Mexico City, Mexico, Contemporary Art Auction, Morton Subastas, Mexico City, Mexico. Oil on canvas and gold leaf, Lot 144. - **2022** - Miami Marlins, Commissioned artwork created in conjunction with the Miami Marlins organization honoring Sandy Alcantara for the Cy Young Award. ### Collections - Private collections, Cuba - Private collections, Germany - Private collections, Mexico - Private collections, Panama - Private collections, Portugal - Private collections, Switzerland - Private collections, United States ### Positions - **2019–2021** - Specialist in Fine Arts, Arístides Fernández Provincial Art Gal - **2012–2014** - Fine Arts Instructor, Güines, Mayabeque, Cuba ## Portfolio ### For the North (2026) *oil on canvas, gold leaf* Para el norte explores migration, displacement, and the search for belonging through three helmeted figures presented as contemporary icons. Gold leaf evokes both sacred imagery and the value placed on hope, while the oars suggest movement, crossing, sacrifice, and the difficult journey toward an uncertain future --- ### Rite (2026) *oil on canvas with silver leaf* This monumental work takes the form of airplane wings, symbolizing the yearning of Cuban youth to leave the island. The work encapsulates both personal memory and collective experience: the farewell at the airport, the painful separation from family, and the emotional toll of leaving one’s homeland without return. For Cubans, flight becomes synonymous with freedom and emancipation from a failed system. The piece emphasizes ritual as repetition generations defined by the act of departure. --- ### Midpoint (2026) *oil on canvas and silver leaf* A recurring dream inspires this work: a child floating on luggage in the ocean. It symbolizes a transitional state between what is left behind and what is yet to come. The suitcase represents both fragility and hope, embodying the uncertainty and courage of migration. --- ### Soul support (2024) *oil on canvas, silver leaf* Soul Support explores love as a source of strength, trust, and emotional refuge in times of separation and uncertainty. Two figures submerged in a vast ocean represent couples or loved ones facing distance, instability, and circumstances beyond their control. The sea becomes a metaphor for life’s difficulties, while the figures suggest commitment, resilience, and the hope of reunion. The work speaks about the kind of love that sustains us when everything around us feels uncertain. --- ### Memento mori (2024) *oil on canvas, silver leaf,* Memento mori reflects on mortality, identity, ambition, and the structures that shape contemporary life. The suited figure, concealed beneath a mechanical diving helmet, becomes a symbol of psychological protection and social constraint, confronting the tension between material success, vulnerability, and the inevitable passage of time. --- ### The Wait (2024) *oil on canvas* This work portrays the anguish of separation family members left behind, especially mothers waiting indefinitely for their children to return. The abandoned helmet symbolizes absence, while the open door evokes the possibility of reunion. It is a universal testimony of love, absence, and the unbreakable human bond that endures despite distance. ## Links - **Website:** https://heyderreyes.com