Alián Martínez Rives born in Sancti Spíritus, Cuba, 1988 lives and works in Miami, Florida. Rives received a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Imaging from the University of Miami, a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree in Art and Technology from the New World School of the Arts and the University of Florida in 2021, and a Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Painting from Oscar Fernández Morera Art Academy in 2007. 

Selected Solo exhibitions to include "Transcoding the Museum," University of Miami Gallery (2025), “140, 8 cm3 of Sponge Bought from a Repossessed Man,” Art Basel,  Miami, Florida (2017), “Values Transmuted,” Department of Children and Families, Miami, Florida (2014), "Recycler," General Provincial Museum, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba (2012). 

Selected group exhibitions include "South Florida Cultural Consortium,” FAU Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida (2025), Unspecified Void,” BFA Exhibition, Moore Building, Miami, Florida (2021), “Rising Stars,” New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida (2021), Miami Film Festival, “CINEMASLAM,” MDC Tower Theater, Miami, Florida (2020). 

Rives received the “Ellies Creator Awards” from Oolite Arts (2026), The "South Florida Cultural Consortium Award" (2025), New World School of the Arts Scholarship (2021), the honorable mention from the Miami Film Festival, “CINEMASLAM,” MDC Tower Theater (2020), the “42nd Annual Honors Day Awards” from Miami Dade College (2017), the First Prize “PIXELART,” Third Digital Art Show from Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery (2013), the First Prize “Belquis Ayón” from the Engraving Exhibition Competition at Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery (2010), and work is in Miami Dade Art in Public Places, Miami, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MOCAA), Orlando Art Museum (OMA), Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery, Sancti Spíritus collections. 

Alián's works have recently been exhibited at the Gotland Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany; Le Lieu Center en Arte Actuel, Quebec, Canada; Art Basel Wynwood Art Fair, The Moore Building Art Space, Miami, the United States; CINEMASLAM, Tower Theater Miami, the United States; Collage Habana Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba among other galleries and institutions.

My work emerges between natural and artificial elements, bringing together materials, images, objects, and fragments that originate from different cultural, historical, and spatial contexts. I work across photography, drawing, installation, sculpture, video, and immersive forms, constructing heterogeneous configurations in which organic matter, manufactured objects, archival materials, found elements, and traces of human intervention coexist. Through these assemblages, I examine how meaning changes when materials and cultural forms are displaced from their original contexts and brought into new relationships.

My practice engages the boundaries between cultural memory and everyday experience through materials such as charcoal, ashes, terracotta, wood, paper, stone, textiles, found objects, and artificial materials. I am particularly interested in the tension between the natural and the constructed, the ancestral and the contemporary, the sacred and the ordinary. I use these tensions to explore processes of displacement and transformation within the Caribbean diaspora. Objects and images that once belonged to specific cultural or spiritual systems become fragmented and reconfigured, producing hybrid forms that reflect the instability of identity across territories.

I draw from historical records, archives, personal memory, cultural traditions, and encounters with specific landscapes and places. Rather than treating these sources as fixed evidence, I translate and reassemble them through material processes. A map can become a drawing; an artifact can become an assemblage; charcoal produced through fire can become an image of a landscape; a fragment of a spiritual tradition can become part of a new hybrid configuration. Through these transformations, I investigate how cultural forms survive displacement by changing, accumulating new meanings, and entering into relationships with unfamiliar materials and contexts.

My work is grounded in the logic of cultural transcoding: the movement of meaning between systems of representation, territories, histories, and forms of knowledge. I am interested in what happens when cultural elements are removed from the systems that originally organized them and placed into new configurations. This process does not simply reproduce the original meaning. Instead, it fragments, translates, and reterritorializes it. Assemblage becomes a method for making this process visible, allowing incompatible or heterogeneous elements to coexist without resolving their differences.

My engagement with archives and historical narratives also examines how institutions construct and preserve cultural memory. Museums, archives, monuments, maps, and other systems of classification establish particular relationships between objects, histories, and identities. I respond to these structures by creating speculative reconstructions and material assemblages that question the stability of institutional narratives. Personal memory, collective mythology, historical evidence, and material residue intersect in works that move between documentation and fiction, presence and absence, destruction and reconstruction.

Displacement and itinerancy remain central to this practice. I consider mapping not only as a representation of geographic space but as a way of tracing relationships between people, objects, memories, territories, and cultural practices. Routes of migration, fragmented archives, spiritual traditions, and material histories become interconnected through processes of movement. My works propose alternative maps composed not only of geographic coordinates but of memory, loss, transformation, and cultural exchange.

Influenced by Critical Theory and post-conceptual practices, I investigate how systems of representation shape what becomes visible, remembered, preserved, or forgotten. At the same time, I am interested in the poetic potential of material transformation. Natural and artificial elements carry different histories and forms of agency, and their encounter can produce meanings that neither could generate independently. Through assemblage, I create spaces where these materials negotiate one another, revealing contradictions rather than resolving them.

1988              Born in Sancti Spíritus

                        Lives and works in Miami, Florida.                            

                       axm7802@miami.edu     alianrives.com

                       https://www.linkedin.com/in/alian-rives

EDUCATION

2022-2025            MFA University of Miami, Miami, FL

2019-2021       BFA University of Florida, Gainesville, FL    

2014-2018       AA New World School of the Arts, Miami, FL

2007-2008       Embassy of Spain’s Cultural Office, Havana, CU

2003-2007       BAF Oscar Fernández Morera Art Academy, Sancti Spíritus, CU 

AWARDS

2026     The Ellies, Oolite Arts Awards Creator Award

2026                     Miami Individual Artist Grant

2024                     South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship

2024     Annual Juried Exhibition Award, Lowe Art Museum

2022-2025           University of Miami Teaching Assistantship

2021     Rising Stars Award, New World School of the Arts

2020     CINEMASLAM Award, Miami Film Festival

2020             New World School of the Arts Douglas Turner Award

2019     New World School of the Arts Scholarship

2017     42nd Annual Honors Day Awards, Miami Dade College, Miami, FL

2016     First Prize, “Belquis Ayón Engraving Exposition”, Oscar Fernández Morera     Art Gallery, S. S, CU

2013   First Prize “PIXELART” Third Digital Art Show, Oscar Fernández Morera Art       Gallery, S. S, CU

2011   Honorable Mention, “PIXELART” Digital Art Show, Oscar Fernández       Morera Art Gallery, S. S, CU

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026 “Echoes of the Ancient in Contemporary Voices”, OMA, Orlando Museum of   Art, Florida

2025 “195 World National Anthems Playing Simultaneously”, Living Theater, New York

2025 “Transcoding the Museum”, UM Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, U.S.A.

2023 “Immigrants Cleaning the Fair”, Art Basel, Art Wynwood, Miami, U.S.A.

2022 “Nkishi”, Art Lab Gallery, Corn Center for the Visual Arts, U.S.A.

2021 “Kakotopia”, Moore Building Gallery, Miami, U.S.A.

2019 “Smokemetrie”, General Provincial Museum, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2018 “Organoleptic”, Fayad Jamís Art Gallery, UNEAC, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2017 “140, 8 cm3 of Sponge Bought from a Repossessed Man”, Art Basel, Art Wynwood, U.S.A.

2014 “Values Transmuted”, Department of Children and Families, Downtown Miami, U.S.A.

2012 "Recycler", General Provincial Museum, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2011 "De - Capitación", Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2008 "Paranoid", Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS), Sancti Spíritus, CU

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026 “Faculty Exhibition”, The Chapel Gallery, Coral Gables, U.S.A.

2025 “Techno-Graphies”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, U.S.A.

2025                South Florida Cultural Consortium, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, U.S.A.

2025 "Luster," Ceramics from South Florida, Morean Arts Center, St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A.

2024 “Converging Plateaus”, MOCAA, Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas, Miami, U.S.A.

2024 “Annual Juried Exhibition”, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2023 “MFA Exhibition”, The Bonnier Gallery, Miami, U.S.A.

2022 “New Works”, UM Gallery, Art Basel week, Wynwood Art District, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2022 “Graduate Exhibition”, UM Gallery, Wynwood Art District, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2021 “Unspecified Void”, BFA Exhibition, Moore Building, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2021 “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2020 Miami Film Festival, CINEMASLAM, MDC’S Tower Theater, Miami, Florida, U.S.A

2019 “The Future Ain’t What it Used to Be”, The Kampong, Art Basel, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

“Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2018 “Canchánchara Espirituana”, Gotland Art Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2017 “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2016 “Rising Stars”, New World School of the Arts Gallery, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

2015 “Here and Now”, Performative Action, CasaLin, Art Basel, Miami, U.S.A.

2008 “Expo Parrandas Espirituanas”, Collage Art Havana, Havana, CU

2007 “Havanaart in Quebec”, La Chambre Blanche (Le Lieu Centre en Arte Actuel), Quebec, Canada

2005 “Biennial Visual Art Show”, Oscar Fernández Morera Art Academy, Trinidad, CU

ART RESIDENCIES

2025 Artist Retreat Program, LES Center, Piedmont University, Georgia

2023 Summer North Mountain Residency, Tuscarora Pike, Shanghai, West Virginia

COLLABORATIONS

2016               “The Moment” Ivan Toth Depeña’s installation, Locust Projects, Miami,                                       Florida, U.S.A.

2015                  “Walkabout”, Performative Action, New World School of the Arts, Art Basel,                              Miami, U.S.A.

2013                  “Utopia”, Sancti Spiritus – Dresden, Cuba – Germany

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Eugene Sulzberger, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Raul Duarte, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

Marc Knee, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

PUBLIC  COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MOCAA), Miami, FL 

Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places, Miami, FL

Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Boca Raton, FL

Miami Dade College (MDC), Miami, FL 

Oscar Fernández Morera Art Gallery, Sancti Spíritus, CU

2025     Rives, Alián Martínez. Transcoding the Museum. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press

2024     Yeager, Emily. Bonnie the Bull Shark and the Coral City. Illustrated by Alián Rives. Miami: University of Miami, Johnson Center for Marine                         Conservation. Printed by IA Digital Print. 

2023 Rives, Alián. Waves of a Transcultural Discourse within Video and New Media American Art. Coral Gables, FL: University of Miami Press

2021         Adrienne Arsht Center. (2021, June 16). Arsht Center launches Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) . Retrieved from Adriene Arsht Center Website: https://www.arshtcenter.org/Global/PressRoom/releases/20-21%20SEASON/Institutional/Lasting%20Impressions%20NFTs%20-%20True%20Tickets%20-%20FINAL%20Version%20-%2006182021.pdf

                      Sierz, R. (2021, Jun 28). Emerging Artists Shine at NWSA’s Outdoor Showcase. Retrieved from My Digital Publication: https://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=712448&article_id=4061276&view=articleBrowser&ver=html5

                        New World School of the Arts. (2021, November 24). Highlights from a Remarkable 2020-2021. Retrieved  from MDC News:https://news.mdc.edu/highlights-from-a-remarkable-2020-2021/

2020                   Miami Film Festival. (2020, October 8). Wolfson CinemaSlam Competition 2020. Retrieved from Miami Film Festival: https://miamifilmfestival.com/events/wolfson-cinemaslam-competition-2020/

2019                   New World School of The Arts. (2019, April 29). "Rising Stars 2019” A Stellar Display of Dance, Music, Theater and Visual Arts. Retrieved from New World School of The Arts College: https://nwsa.mdc.edu/nwsa-college-about/latest-nwsa-college-news/924-new-world-school-of-the-arts-%E2%80%9Crising-stars-2019%E2%80%9D-a-stellar-display-of-dance,-music,-theater-and-visual-arts.html

                           New World School of the Arts. (2019). The Future Ain't What It Used to Be. Miami: New World School of the Arts Press.

2013                  Calviño, M. J. (2013). El Arte de las Pequeñas Cosas. Escambray, 7.

                     Guerra, L. G. (2013, February 19). VIII Edición Pexelart 2013. Retrieved from Escambray:        http://www.escambray.cu/2013/concluye-en-sancti-spiritus-viii-edicion-pexelart-2013/#comments

                       Rodríguez, M. J. (2013, December 13). Metáforas del nuevo milenio. Retrieved from Escambray: http://www.escambray.cu/2013/metaforas-del-nuevo-milenio/

2011                  Rives, A. M. (2011). Arte con Arte. (Y. Fleites, Interviewer)

                          Velásquez, J., & Fleites, J. (Directors). (2011). Arte Con Arte [Motion Picture].

2010                   Rodríguez, M. (2010, December 18). Project "20 PLUS 1" . Escambray, p. 7.

                           Rives, A. (2010, October 16). The Rescue of a Memory. (L. Figueredo, Interviewer)