Francisco Gordillo Arredondo was born in Havana, Cuba in 1964 where he still lives. He was educated at the Academia de Bellas Artes s de San Alejandro in 1988.
He has been described as `a mediator between two worlds`, by Dr Ivor Millor from Depaul University in Chicago. He further writes: Francisco Gordillo Arredondo has assumed responsibility for revisioning the presence of Africa in Cuba. As a descendant of Kongo founders and Santeria practitioners, Gordillo has translated his personal vision of his family inheritance into his paintings. This cutural treasure is at the same time part oft his collective mythology and memory of Cuba´s African.
Inspired by folkloric legends of the orishas, Gordillo portrays divinities as intermediaries between an earthly presence and spiritual transcendence. Popular orishas like Shango and Echu are portrayed, and their significance is explained by text panels. Gordillo’s stylistic interpretation, a powerful blending of expressionism and surrealism, reinforces the mystical, visionary and healing elements inherent in Santería and the cult of the orishas.

