Painting The Collective Unconscious

"The mystical life is at the centre of all thatI do and all that I think and all that I write."

- Conde

Substitute "write" for "paint" and this quote could very well have come from the mouth of Luis Enrique Toledo del Rio.

The 26 year old Cuban artist creates lush alternate worlds, rife with symbolism, beauty, mystery and magic on canvas. Born on October 31st, (though completely unaware of the date's symbolic value outside of Cuba until recently), perhaps his affinity for the esoteric was a fait accompli, if you believe in such things.

"My work." He smiles then continues earnestly. "I have always said, my work is a virtual door to another world. It is the inner world we do not know ourselves. A place of magic, surrealism, all encompassing situations of being, such as time travel, where wishes are made and come true... It is an exploration of my subconscious."

Luis Enrique channels images of butterfiles in bottles, golden eggs in nests often sat atop his subject's heads, human marionettes on red strings, broken pocket watches frozen in time, and youth perpetually suspended between childhood and adulthood.