BIOGRAPHY

Edgar Soberon was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba in 1962. He and his family left the island for Madrid, Spain in 1971 where they lived for three years before establishing permanent residence in New York City. Soberón attended Parsons School of Design in New York on scholarship graduating with honours in 1987. Soberon was called back to Parsons in the early 90s and served on the faculty with the Foundation and Printmaking departmens, 1992-2002.  In 1996 he was awarded the distinguished  Teaching Excellence Award by the New School University and Parsons for his outstanding contributions in art education. Soberon's works can be found in numerous private collections and museums in the United States and abroad. Since 2002 Soberon lives and works in the town of San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Mexico.

STATEMENT

The central focus of my work over the years has been still life works. I first became interested in the subject after visiting the Prado museum in Madrid, Spain and seeing the works of the Spanish masters of the Golden Age, namely Juan Sánchez Cotán, Francisco de Zurbarán and Juan Van der Hamen.
I began to study the genre of still life, works which I found mysterious in their direct simplicity and approach to everyday reality. This new found interest lead me to an in-depth study of master works and I began to slowly teach myself the process of picture making, which is always ongoing in the life of a painter and something which was somewhat neglected in modern art education. 

I have painted still life works ever since and have  found the subject endless, perhaps even inexhaustible given the complexity of the everyday world that surrounds us. It is from this complexity, which often borders on chaos that I attempt through close observation to salvage a few things from the world that surrounds me. These mundane things become the impetus for the making of a picture, I seek a certain order and balance in my works, while at the same time retaining the tensions that are implicit in the process of seeing, thinking and making.

I have found that still life work opens a wide range of possibilities for the infinite arrangement, selection and manipulation of both the reality at hand and the formal elements of painting; light, color, composition, etc. In this sense it is the most abstract form of realism one can practice, at once formal while at the same time firmly anchored to reality. This apparent ambivalence or duality found in still life bridges the gap in my work between traditional illusionistic space and flat modern abstract space. It has come to represent in my experience the essence of what paintings communicate: that which is still, visual and silent, an echo of our existance, the trace of our passing.

EDGAR SOBERÓN

CURRICULUM

Education
1983-1987	BFA, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY.
1986 1986 Exhibitions 2014 2013 2010 2009-2010               2007 2005-2013	American College in Paris / Parsons School of Design, Paris, France Summer Program, Parsons School of Design, Sienna, Italy. Harnett Biennial of American Prints, Harnett Museum, University of Richmond Museums, Richmond, Virginia "Pulling the Devil's Tail", Artist Print Exhibition, Fischer Gallery, Horace Mann School, Bronx, New York, NY Nicki Solomon Fine Art, Art and Design of the 20th and 21st Century, Boston Print Fair, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA The Magic of Still Life, Group Exhibition, Galeria Santiago Corral, Valle de Bravo, Edo. de Mexico, Mexico Group Exhibition, Gallery Bergelli, Larkspur, San Francisco Presentation of the Cover issue May, 2010, Marin Magazine Movements in Stillness: The Still life paintings of Edgar Soberón, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL. Solo exhibition of paintings and prints Panorama Latinoamericano, Group Exhibition, Artspace, Virginia Miller Gallery, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, April – May 2007 Tools in Motion: Works from the Hechinger Collection, traveling museum group exhibition; Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Sept- Nov 2005 Museum of Texas Tech University, Texas, Nov 2005- Mar 2006 Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art,  Apr – May 2006 Mariana Kistler Museum of Art at Kansas State University, Kansas, Jun- Aug, 2006 Young Latin Americans: Group Exhibition, Artspace, Virginia Miller Gallery, Coral Gables, Miami, Florida, 2005
2003-2004	Newer Genres: Twenty Years of the Rutgers Archives for Printmaking Studios, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli  Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey
2003	Edgar Soberon: Naturaleza Muerta, Galería Casa Museo Pedro Friedeberg, San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Mexico
2001	Galería Acquavella, Feria del Arte Internacional, Caracas, Venezuela
	Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico
1999	Silent Things, Secret Things: Still Life from Rembrandt to the Millennium, Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
	Reflections of Time and Place: Latin American Still Life in the 20th Century, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York / Museo del Barrio, New York, New York.
	Group Show, Associated American Artists, New York, New York
	Naturalezas Muertas, Centro Cultural El Nigromante, San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Mexico. Solo exhibition of paintings and prints.
1998-1999	Edgar Soberón: Cuban Reveries, Associated American Artists, New York, New York. Solo exhibition paintings.
1998	On Paper, Associated American Artists, New York, New York. Group exhibition.
	Edgar Soberón: Recent Still Life Prints, Gallery 2/20, New York, NY
1997	Exploring Metaphor: The Hechinger Collection, National Building Museum,Washington
	Galería Palomas, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Group exhibition
1996	Small Prints, Joint Faculty Print Exhibition, University of West England, Bristol
	Inprints, The Cork Gallery, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
1995	Group Exhibition, LRC Gallery, Nicolet College, Rhinelander, Wisconsin
1994	Galería Palomas, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, Group exhibition
	Three Artists' Works on Paper, NAW Gallery, New York, New York
1992	Visions In The Poetry of Maya Islas, Drawings and paintings, Ollantay Center for the Arts, Queens, New York
1989	Small is Big, Small Works Exhibition, Parsons Gallery, New York, New York
1988	Tribute to Artistic Achievement, Broadway Gallery, Passaic Community College, Passaic, N.J.
Appointments 1989	Parsons School of Design, New York, NY, Printmaking Facilities, Supervisor.
1992-2002	Foundation Program, Parsons School of Design New York, Drawing Instructor
1992-2002	Printmaking Department, Parsons School of Design New York, Printmaking Instructor
Awards
1995-1996	Distinguished University Teaching Award, New School University / Parsons School of Design, New York, New York
1983-1987	Deans List Honors, Parsons School of Design, New York, New York
1986	Brunschwig and Fils Scholarship, American College in Paris / Parsons School of Design, Paris, France
1980	Augustus St. Gaudens Medal Award for outstanding draftsmanship, Board of Education New York, New York

Bibliography: Books and Catalogs

Lupina Lara Elizondo, Monica Lavin Maroto, Naturaleza Muerta, Obras Maestras en la Historia del Arte, Promoción de Arte Mexicano, Mexico, D.F. 2013

Edward J. Sullivan, The Hermetic Universe of Objects, Movements in Stillness: The Still Life Paintings of Edgar Soberón, (exhibition catalog) Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery Alabama. Foreword by Mark M. Johnson, Museum Director, 2009-2110
Trudy V. Hansen, "Evolving Forms / Emerging Faces", Trends in Contemporary Printmaking, Recent Acquisitions; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1997
Maya Islas, Merla, illustrations and translation by Edgar Soberón. Editorial Betania, Madrid, Spain, 1991
Ellen J. Landis, Bernard Barryte, Peter Frank. Silent Things, Secret Things, Still Life from Rembrandt to the Millenneum (exhibition catalog), Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico, 1999-2000
Edward J. Sullivan, Clayton Kirking. Latin American Still Life: Reflections of Time and Place (exhibition catalog), Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York and Museo del Barrio, New York, New York, 1999-2000
Edgar Soberón: Still Life Paintings. Published by the artist with introduction by Pedro Friedeberg. Designed by Ernesto Ferrand, printed in Mexico, 2007.
Lupina Lara, Resumen Magazine: Issue #112, July/August 2011. Published by Promoción de Arte Mexicano, Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico, D.F.

Public Collections

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama

Museo del Barrio, New York, New York
The Hechinger Collection, Landover, Maryland
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum
Rutgers Archives for Printmaking, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC
Casa Larios, Miami, Florida
TIAA Co., New York, New York
Condado Plaza, San Juan, Puerto Rico
El Convento, San Juan, Puerto Rico