MIAMI, FL.- Cuban-born artist Leonel Matheu has been a prominent figure on the national and international arts scene for over twenty years. Matheu’s Crossroads of the Dystopia opened earlier this month at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.

Crossroads of the Dystopia, is Matheu’s first major survey exhibition. His works range from colored pencil drawings, ink on paper, oil on canvas, to video, multimedia installations and public installations. Curated by Janet Batet, the exhibition presents more than twenty years of work and provides a comprehensive overview of Matheu’s most distinctive imagery. In describing his body of work, curator Batet says that, “If a single symbol could summarize the iconic work of Leonel Matheu, it would be the enigmatic head-a sort of dome-that appears as a constant throughout his work. It serves as a self-portrait and collective portrayal of a nation marked by diaspora and dystopia. This symbol embodies the symptoms and stigma of contemporary global society. With a masterful use of the synthetic graphic design language, Matheu builds up a personal and yet universal iconography that he interweaves in intimate fables of our daily existence. Spirituality, technology, passion, solitude, dreams, chimeras, and deceptions are at the core of his thoughtful body of work."

Matheu graduated from the Institute of Graphic Design of Havana in 1987. In 1992 he settled in Miami, Florida, and currently resides in Los Angeles. His artwork is included in the collections of various art museums, among them, MOCA-Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University in Miami, The Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, The Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, The Young at Art Museum in Davie, Georgia Museum of Art at University of Georgia in Athens, The Mobile Museum of Art in Alabama, and The University Art Museum at Radford University, Virginia.

Frost Art Museum Director Dr. Carol Damian says that, “The Frost is extremely pleased and proud to have the opportunity to showcase the intriguing and wide-ranging body of work by this acclaimed artist.”

Crossroads of the Dystopia is on exhibit at the Frost from July 12 through October 19.