Sandra Ramos

She is known for works featuring her character of the Cuban Pioneer girl, who is composed of a self-portrait and an appropriated portion of an old illustration from 1895' L' illustration French magazine.

Ramos currently lives in Miami, Florida, and serves as an artist in residence at Bakehouse Art Complex.

Previously, she was a resident artist at The Foutain Head Art Studios.

Sandra Ramos (born Oct, 1969) is a Cuban contemporary painter, printmaker, collagist, video and installation artist who explores nationality, gender, and identity in her work.

From 1984 to 1988, Ramos studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", which was attended by Camilo Cienfuegos and Jose Martí, and from 1988 to 1993 attaining a degree in printmaking at the Superior Institute of Art in Havana where she was in contact with artists including José Bedia, Leandro Soto and Carlos Cárdenas.

Many people left Cuba, including her then-partner who left in 1992.

Ramos stated, "It was a very hard time for me… I had to decide whether I was going to follow him or not." Ramos decided to stay.

The personal experiences that derived from these hardships are what propelled the content of her work, which communicated a sense of isolation, grief, and loss.

Ramos had her first solo exhibition in 1993, “Manera de matar las soledades” at el Centro de Desarrollo de las Artes Visuales (CDAV) in Havana, Cuba.

and also had her first solo international show and representation at Nina Menocal Gallery in Mexico DF.

Ramos' career as an artist began during Cuba's "Special Period" following the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USRR) and the embargo that the United States imposed on Cuba.

In 1993 Sandra Ramos became a teacher at the ISA - Higher Institute of Art, a job that she held up until 1998.

Since then, she has continued her involvement in the art world.

According to her website, she has been curator of the 7 editions of La Huella Múltiple event and other Cuban contemporary art exhibitions.

She imparted conferences and workshops in international institutions and universities such as the CUNY Graduate Center of New York, the Wake Forest University of Winston-Salem, the George Mason University of Fairface County, the University of Havana, the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris, the Barbican Center of London, the School of the Fine Arts Museum in Boston, Lowe Art Museum and University of Florida in Miami, Fuchu Art Museum, Tokyo.

She is also a renowned curator in Cuba, and she won a national award for her curatorial work on the exhibition La Huella Múltiple (Multiple Fingerprint) in 2003 from the Consejo Nacional de las Artes Plásticas (CNAP) in Havana, Cuba.

Sandra Ramos Lorenzo was born in Havana, Cuba to two native Cuban parents, and she now lives in Miami, Florida.

She was heavily inspired to become an artist by the painter Gloria González, the grandmother of Ramos's close childhood friend, curator Wendy Navarro.

Ramos has two siblings living in their family home in Miramar, Havana.

Her sister, Liane, gives tours of Ramos' Havana studio and runs small xylographic workshops as her assistant.

Ramos' brother Ruben also helps to run a printmaking workshop at the studio.

In 2003, the artist hinted at the way in which her experiences of living in Cuba affected her art by saying, "My work is too related to my life there and my life would change a lot if I left."

Ramos' attempted to enter the United States in 2004 for her first solo gallery exhibition in the U.S. at the Fraser Gallery Georgetown.

However, her visit was forbidden by the U.S. department of state because "in a bid to increase pressure for democratic change in Cuba by drying up the flow of hard currency to the Castro regime, the U.S. government had tightened restrictions on travel by Cuban artists to the United States."

Ramos’ works have been incorporated into the permanent collections of many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pérez Art Museum Miami (Acuario from 2013), and the Fuchu Art Museum in Japan.

Ramos' work is also a part of the Rodríguez Collection at the Kendall Art Center in Miami, Florida.

Ramos’ works featuring her character Ariadne have sold for as much as 833% above their estimated value.

Ramos uses a variety of mediums for her art, which include, paintings, etchings, collage, installations, and digital animation.

However, the medium for which she is most renowned is woodblock printing.

Ramos first learned engraving techniques at her high school and still uses some of the same techniques.

Most commonly Ramos produces images using aquatint, an etching technique that only produces areas of tone rather than lines.

When speaking about what artistic medium she prefers, Ramos stated: "While engraving (woodblock) continues to be my favorite medium, I wanted to expand the expressive and communicative potential of my work through a new digital medium. Digital animation allows me to elevate my storytelling capabilities by creating a temporal continuity for my small vignettes".

Ramos has been explicit about how her art, not only intersects with social, political, and global issues, but also is made with intent of making a critical statement about the future.

She does this by using a paradox of contradictions of idealism.

In her art, she expresses deep feelings of loss and mourning that are associated with choices of her family, friends, and her partner in life.

In February 2014, Ramos moved to Miami, Florida to work as an artist in residence at The Fountain Head Art Studios, and, in September 2016, she began a second residency at the Bakehouse Art Complex also located in Miami, both of which she still maintains.

In 2014, Sandra Lorenzo Ramos Studios released the book Sandra Ramos: bridging the past, present and future, which was the first major English publication about Ramos, authored by the artist with contribution from Diane W. Camber, Jack Rasmussen, Hamlet Fernández, Holly Block, American University, and the Bass Museum of Art.

This book was released in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

In 2020-21, Sandra Ramos finished a Master's in Fine Arts at San Francisco Art Institute.

She is now working as an art professor at FIU.