Mercedes Cobas Gelis

Cuban artist born on September 24, 1947. Gelis began to paint at a very young age. She obtained her undergraduate-level degree in fine arts, pottery, and stone sculpture in 1968 at Jos Joaquin Tejado University in Santiago, Cuba. After graduating, she taught visual arts for five years in her home town. She has been living in Havana for the past ten years, where she has pursued her artistic career. Her husband and children are also painters. Her early paintings were naturalistic, but she later adopted the style of naive art. Her canvases reflect all that the Caribbean represents: warmth, color, landscapes and religious syncretism. Her works have been showcased in several one-woman or collective exhibitions in various Cuban cities and abroad, namely, in Barcelona, Spain. Her works are found in collections in many nations, including Canada, the U.S., Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Australia, Ecuador and China.