It’s bold to walk into spaces where language and image overlap, where what we see is also what we read, and what we read is what we begin to feel. Raúl Cordero, the Cuban‑born painter working today from Mexico City, treads precisely in that space—with a skill and clarity that feels rare.
Roots & Trajectory
Raúl Cordero was born in Havana in 1971 and formally trained in Cuban institutions (like the Academia San Alejandro and Instituto Superior de Diseño) before enhancing his conceptual horizons at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
Over his career, Cordero has consistently sought to push beyond expectations for “Cuban art,” crafting a voice that is cosmopolitan, reflective, interdisciplinary.
His work is represented by major galleries (Mai 36 Galerie in Zürich, Fredric Snitzer in Miami, Richard Taittinger in New York) and appears in important collections around the world—from the Centre Pompidou (Paris) to LACMA, MOCA (Los Angeles), PAMM (Miami), and many others.
What He Paints & How He Sees
One of the first things viewers notice in a Cordero painting is the “blur”: forms pushed to the edge of clarity. Figures, interiors, objects—they all hover between being seen and being recalled. In that subtle disturbance lies much of what his work invites: attention, hesitation, reflection.
Within (or behind) that blur, textual fragments appear. Words—partial, dotted, distorted—are embedded, sometimes overt, sometimes elusive. They disrupt the viewer’s passive seeing, inviting a reading, a linguistic echo, a cognitive pause.
Cordero often speaks of three “ranges” in his imagery:
- The wide open view—the landscapes, the broad visual field
- The world we inhabit—objects, interiors, bodies
- The metaphoric or quantum realm—the energies, vibrations, invisible forces beneath appearances
This layering gives his paintings both a surface and a depth: they speak to what we see in everyday life, and also to what underlies it—memory, language, blur, the invisible.
What Makes Cordero’s Work Compelling
- Intellectual & poetic fusion: His paintings are never just decorative: they carry reflection, philosophy, and an awareness of how we navigate visual culture.
- Tension of clarity & ambiguity: By refusing full resolution (in form or text), he lets the viewer linger in uncertainty—a place of emotional and perceptual richness.
- Global reach with personal voice: Though his path crosses continents and institutions, his work feels grounded in personal vision—not predicated on trends.
- Dialogue across media: Cordero’s practice doesn’t limit itself to canvas. He also works in installation, video, text, and even has engaged with crypto / NFTs, extending his inquiry into how image and language manifest in different realms.
Final Thoughts
Stepping into a Raúl Cordero painting is to enter a space of negotiation. You want to read, but the image resists. You want to see, but the text disrupts. In that productive tension, the work opens a field where perception, memory, language, and feeling meet.
Indie Art & Culture 