8 - REINALDO ORTEGA SARDIÑAS (Cuba, 1977).

REINALDO ORTEGA SARDIÑAS (Cuba, 1977). “Steve McQueen’s Utopia with Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger in the Land of Isabella the Catholic.” Series “Cocaine for Isabella the Catholic” (2025–2026). Digital collage printed on canvas, hand-finished with acrylic paint and varnish. Hand-signed by the artist. One-of-a-kind work in this format and with this composition. Comes with a wooden frame and stretcher frame. In excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. Measurements: 66 x 100 cm. As a trailblazer of contemporary pop-surrealism, I create work that subverts the codes of art and popular culture. Through vibrant imagery and the visual language of Pop Art, I appropriate iconic references to deconstruct them, decontextualize them, and return them to the present as an uncomfortable reflection of our reality. I deliberately and indifferently disregard any ideological or cultural legacy from the past, because I do not seek to pay homage, but rather to question, provoke, and rewrite their meanings. I use collage as a starting point—not only as a visual technique, but as a declaration of rupture. It is in that initial pause that an aesthetic rich in unexpected combinations is born; without needing to conform to an established order, these combinations give shape to a visual language that is spontaneous, irreverent, and profoundly contemporary. My work disrupts symbols, dismantles the sacred, and transforms the recognizable into an object of reflection, irony, or contradiction. I do not seek answers; I create friction. Because in the clash between the iconic and the absurd, between the revered and the banal, the distorted mirror of our time emerges. Reinaldo Ortega Sardiñas is a visual artist who graduated from the ISA in 2004 and the ENA in 1996; he lives in Alicante (Spain). He has held solo exhibitions such as *Destellos intransferibles* (University of Murcia, 2019), *Common Dreams Black & White* (University of Alicante, 2018), *Con derecho al cielo* (Alicante and Havana, 2015–2017), and *El destello de lo no permeable* (11th Havana Biennial, 2011). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including the 10th Havana Biennial, the National Digital Art Salon, the Self-Portrait Salon, and shows at venues such as the Fototeca de Cuba, Galería Habana, Fábrica de Arte Cubano, and institutional galleries in Spain and Cuba. His work lies at the intersection of cultural criticism, visual irony, and a contemporary reinterpretation of popular imagery.