1985-1989 - National School of Art (ENA), Havana, Cuba.
1982-1985 - Matanzas School of Art, Cuba.

Professional Works

2011 - Working under representation of Agora Art Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A.
2003 - Founded Fine Art Deco, Inc. (Artistic Decoration Company), Miami, U.S.A. (Currently President of FAD)
2001-2002 - Curator for the Project of the Cuban-American Museum of Freedom Art (CAMFA), Miami, U.S.A.
1997-1999 - Member of The Hermanos Saíz, National Artistic Association, Cuba.
1995-1999 - Member of UNEAC, Artists and Writers Cuban National Association, Cuba.
1994-2003 - Member of GRUPO LAM, Independent Artists Group, Cuba.
1991-1994 - Professor at Matanzas School of Art, Cuba.
1989-1991 - Fine art professor at "XX Aniversario" Artistic Association, Jaguey Grande, Matanzas, Cuba.

Brief History

The artist Octavio Guinart was born in Matanzas City, Cuba, on may 31st, 1970, coming from a peasant family; he lived the first six years of his life in the country, this is the reason for his love of nature and all what it contains, which is frequently expressed in his artworks.
Since very young, graphic expressions caught the artist attention, using simple elements to create and enrich the base of his future works, expanding out during the following six years of elementary education, away from his birth place, but very tight to the environment which saw him to grow up. After completing this education level, he opted and got a scholarship to study at Matanzas Provincial School of Art, starting his first steps as an artist; after three years of art studies, ready and wishing to go on, the young artist got a scholarship to study at The National School of Fine Arts, in Havana, completing in this school four years of artistic learning and so ending his career and graduated in the summer of 1989, as a professional artist and fine arts professor.
Halfway through this year, started to work as a fine arts professor for an artistic association called XX Anniversary, located in the Province of Matanzas, where he worked for a period of two years. Afterwards he started to work as a drawing professor for the same school, in which he discovered for the first time, the fine arts world (Matanzas School of Fine Arts). For two years he passed on the knowledge he had acquired in the past to the new group of students, up to the beginnings of 1994 when the artist decided to become independent, denomination given in the country to those artists who are not working with the government, but legally registered within it.
In the middle of this year, during a project that was carried out in cooperation with other artists, is decided to keep working together in the future as a group, that is how the Independent Artists Group called "Grupo Lam" was born; title taken from the studio's name where the group originally used to work and the name of the worldwide known Cuban artist Wilfredo Lam, but at the end of the same year Grupo Lam, with six members, became an official institution. The idea of working together brought to the artist new experiences from the professional and human point of view.
Since 1997, after a reorganization of Grupo Lam, now with three members, a new period started in the artist life, because of the international spreading of more ambitious projects, bringing his artworks first to North America (Canada) and then to Europe, avoiding in this way, the circle of censure and mental imprisonment, from which was target lately, caused by the sociopolitical content, that his artworks showed every time more emphasized; even only been a detailed representation of the environment around, his work was the shooting weapon against him; but this time of persecuted creator by a dictatorial regime did not last long, ended with the artist migrating to the United States of America in January, 1999.
This new and different situation put a deep mark in the artist life and his work, changed the direction of his sharp artistic creation, after all, up to now several projects have been materialized, among them, one of the most important, being named curator for The Cuban-American Museum of Freedom Art (CAMFA); he is working very hard for the development of such prestigious institution in the City of Miami. Other important project Octavio is part of, is the foundation in 2003 of Fine Art Deco, Inc. (Artistic Decoration Company), developed in South Florida, USA. That is to say, that his work continues going on through the rough path of life.