Waldo Saavedra

Visual Artist
Waldo Image

About me

My work emerges from the beauty of things and a relentless drive to explore. Through mixed techniques that combine traditional painting with various distinctive elements and symbols that emphasize the communicative nature of the piece, I seek to create visual narratives that connect with the viewer on both an intellectual and visceral level. Each work is a dialogue between chaos and order, between the conscious and the unconscious, reflecting the tensions and harmonies that define our human condition.

"With his ability to navigate different media—painting, drawing, installations—he has not committed himself to a single definition or mode of being in art, but instead draws upon and utilizes his entire repertoire according to each expressive need. In his favor, beyond an open-minded artistic will, he possesses a special intuition for design, an enviable talent for shaping visual narratives, and a ‘hand’ that has ensured the excellence of his already prolific work.

The expressiveness of this creator is fundamentally hybrid. Signs identifiable with expressionism, new figuration, or pop art emerge powerfully through his forms. But beyond these cataloguing aesthetic clues, there are recurring elements that speak of his origins, of his deep sense of being an islander and a man of the coast."

María Guadalupe Álvarez

"His creative vision has developed within figurative neo-expressionism, surrealism, and magical realism. Within these movements, he has created balanced compositions with suggestive color palettes, in which he expresses themes where the conscious or subconscious anecdotes of his aesthetic discourse prevail."

Guillermo Ramírez Godoy

Projects

cien años de soledad
"Cien años de soledad" (A hundred years of solitude)

Oil on canvas (work in progress)

Work

Portada
"Persistencia de un sueño sobre una pared de Dios" (Persistence of the Dream on God’s Wall)

Oil/mix on canvas

Painting exhibition: "El hombre hizo a Dios a su imagen y semejanza” (Man made God in his own image and likeness)

Raul Anguiano Museum, Guadalajara, México

Painting exhibition: "El hombre hizo a Dios a su imagen y semejanza” (Man made God in his own image and likeness)

Raul Anguiano Museum, Guadalajara, México

"Tu espíritu" (Your spirit)

Oil on canvas

"Dios Madre" (Mother God)

"Jesús Faraón" (Jesus Pharaoh)

"El Restaurador" (The Restorer)

Oil on canvas 120 x 100 cm

"Jesús Icaro" (Jesus Icarus)

Oil on canvas

Con el alma robusta
"Heme aquí con el alma robusta" (Here I am, with a robust soul)

Oil on canvas 120 x 82 cm.

Wish you were here
Wish you were here "Tango Cubano"

Oil on canvas 140 x 200 cm

La Torre de Babel
"La Torre de Babel" (Tower of Babel)

Oil on canvas 200 x 105 cm

Hara falta luz
"Hará falta luz" (There will be a need for light)

Sin titulo
"Sin título" (No title)

Oil on canvas 200 x 230 cm

Stage work & design by Waldo Saavedra for Vicente Fernández last concert 2016

Aztec Stadium, CDMX Mexico

Eagle Aztec Stadium
Eagle01 Aztec Stadium
Eagle02 Aztec Stadium
Eagle05 Aztec Stadium
Eagle06 Aztec Stadium
Eagle07 Aztec Stadium
Eagle09 Aztec Stadium
Eagle Aztec10 Stadium
Eagle11 Aztec Stadium
Eagle12 Aztec Stadium
GOD Mural
"GOD"

A 14 × 15 meter Itinerant Mural, exhibited at Plaza de la Liberación in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México and at the ICAIC Building in Havana, Cuba

GOD
GOD Mural
"GOD"

Itinerat Mural (Detail)

GOD Mural
"GOD"

Itinerat Mural (Detail)

GOD Mural
"GOD"

Mural (Detail)

TheOdyssey

Aztec Stadium

Stage work & design by Waldo Saavedra for Vicente Fernández's last concert at Aztec Stadium, México.

Born in Havana, Cuba in 1961, Waldo Saavedra’s passion for art emerged early in life. As a child, his remarkable talent for drawing and painting was already evident.
At the age of eight, he held his first exhibition at the public library of Caibarién, the coastal town in Las Villas Province where he grew up.
His earliest artistic influences were a striking paradox: the vibrant fantasy of Walt Disney and the classical mastery of Romañach.

Over time, his imagination was further shaped by the giants of art history—René Magritte, Rembrandt, Picasso, Dalí, Goya, Velázquez, and Rothko—figures who would appear and disappear like constellations throughout the unfolding arc of his creative life.
In 1979, he moved to Havana to study civil engineering, but destiny intervened.
A friend, Emilio Escobar, and his unstoppable passion for painting led him to change course and pursue a degree in Fine Arts at the Instituto Superior de Arte de La Habana, graduating in 1987.
After completing his studies, he began teaching drawing and painting at the 20 de Octubre School of Visual Arts in Havana. In parallel with his teaching career, Saavedra flourished as an illustrator for the cultural magazine Caimán Barbudo, and designed stage sets for numerous theatrical productions and concerts of the Nueva Trova Cubana—particularly those of Amaury Pérez and Silvio Rodríguez. During this time, he also designed covers for books and music albums.
While still pursuing his bachelor’s degree in visual arts, he began exhibiting individually in important galleries in Havana, starting in 1984 with "A todos" at Galería 23 y C and "Reminiscencias" in 1986, among others.
In 1989, he traveled to the state of Jalisco, Mexico, where he currently resides and has his studio.

He received recognition at the “26 de Julio” Poster and Graphic Design Contest in Havana, Cuba, in 1979, and was awarded First Prize in Painting in Caibarién, Cuba, in 1981.
In 1992, he won First Prize at the José Guadalupe Posada Drawing Salon, and in 1993 received an Honorable Mention at the II José Clemente Orozco Biennial in Guadalajara. In both 1994 and 1995, he was awarded First Prize with Honorable Mention at the October Salon in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.
After his arrival in Mexico, his work was featured in numerous exhibitions, including:
1990: "Waldo Saavedra" at Galería Azul in Guadalajara, and at Galería Río Rita in Tijuana, Baja California.
1992: "Historias de Santos" at the Ex Convento del Carmen in Guadalajara.
ArteBa Contemporary Art Fair, Buenos Aires, Argentina:
"Historias Marítimas" (1996)
"Corazón inmigrante" (1998)
"Waldo Saavedra: Paintings and Drawings" (2001)
2000: "Hecho en México" at the Center for the Development of Visual Arts in Havana, Cuba.
2001: "Waldo Saavedra" at Contrast Gallery in Switzerland.
2003: "El curso" at the Museum of Journalism and Graphic Arts in Guadalajara, Jalisco.
The films

"The history of cinema" Mural at Colima University

Aztec Stadium

Waldo Saavedra’s Yellow Brick Road

"Las ausencias que pesan" was exhibited at:
The 8th Havana Biennial, Cuba (2003)
Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito, Ecuador (2003)
FIL Guadalajara (2002)
In 2005: "Man Created God in his Own Image" at the Raúl Anguiano Museum in Zapopan, Jalisco
In 2008: "A ti Patrona" at the Pinacoteca of the University of Colima.
In 2008 and 2011: "GOD" a 14 × 15 meter itinerant mural, exhibited at the ICAIC Building in Havana Cuba and at Plaza de la Liberación in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
In 2018: "Cien años de Soledad" (One Hundred Years of Solitude) featured in the Equinos exhibition at the Hospicio Cabañas in Guadalajara, Mexico
In 2023: "Aguantar la respiración" (Holding One’s Breath) at the González Gallo Cultural Center in Chapala, Jalisco

Interview for Rúbrica, Secretariat of Culture of Jalisco

The odyssey of Waldo Saavedra is one of endless transformation—across landscapes, disciplines, and states of mind. His work moves between intuition and intellect, the intimate and the universal, affirming through color and form a voice born of island light yet tempered by continental shadow.

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Get in touch

Email :
contact@waldosaavedra.com