The Art of Susana G. Barral

Born in Havana, Cuba in 1959, Susana G. Barral departed Cuba with her family in 1961 and has not seen her birthplace since. In New York City where the family settled, she attended catholic school where from an early age she demonstrated a special talent and love for art. Moving to Miami in early 1969 proved to be the key that unlocked her unacknowledged connection to her heritage. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Florida International University in Miami in 1985, where her work featured strong spiritual themes and pure color, demonstrating the unusual symbolism of her visual language. Having at one time studied psychology and seriously considered it for a career, she uses its humanistic and personal perspective to imbue her work with suggestions of the hidden elements beyond the obvious. Among her lifelong interests, writing poetry, and an avid love of reading history, myth and the classics fuels the fire of inspiration and impresses meaning into her emotionally charged works of art. Her repertoire focuses primarily on the human figure with the nuances of expression it provides. Nature and the landscape are themes she also explores, taking advantage of the natural beauty, tropical climate and vivid colors of her beloved Miami, similar to the Havana of her birth but unknown to her except through old photographs and stories, as if veiled through the shadow of a dream. The contradictions and analogies between the spiritual and the physical and the inexpressible yearnings of the heart are the themes she tries to bring to life in her work. Expressive form, pure color and the personal element show her indebtedness to the masters of the past whom she loves, such as Van Gogh, the premier painter of emotion, Degas the exquisite draughtsman and colorist, and the Austrian expressionists with their concern for the inner forces that shape emotional individuality, coupled with the ambivalence of the Fin de Siecle era. Susana's paintings have been extensively displayed throughout the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area, where they have been on exhibition in many public and private venues. Profiles featuring her life and work have appeared in numerous publications such as City Link Magazine, El Nuevo Herald, and Florida Art Scene among others. Her work is seen throughout the internet in arts related websites such as Hugemagazine.com, Artist-Info Contemporary Art Database, Miami Mall Art Gallery, ArtNew, and others. Slides of her work are in the University of Dayton's International Artists' Database at the Marian Library Gallery. She is an active member and contributor to many local arts organizations and guilds. Her work is found in many public and private collections. For the future, Susana is dedicated to continuing her path with art as a way of life. Not content with goal oriented thinking and the limitations this creates, Susana considers the Journey of art to be the real jewel.

New Paintings

The art of Susana G. Barral is copyrighted and may not be used for any purpose without permission.


Copyright 1998-99.

Feel free to contact Susana with any questions you may have, for commissions or with suggestions about her website.

Email her at: Sgbarral@aol.com