69 Vilva (Elio Vilva-Trujillo) "Orishas menores: Jimaguas." 2011. Mixed media on canvas. 18"x24"

E. VILVA [Elio Vilva Trujillo], b. 1957, Trinidad, Cuba where he still lives. He graduated as a teacher specializing in grammar and literature and has worked as a junior high school teacher. All of his art depicts the Orishas (or gods) of Santeria, and each painting or watercolor also explains the characteristics of the particular Orisha. Vilva has done extensive research on the religious iconography of African origin in Cuba and shapes his detailed drawings and paintings of the Santeria “orishas” and their traits unlike any other artist in Cuba. He says that for him his works “are more art than religion, but I want to show that many dreamlike, spiritual, nightmarish and magical factors intervene in the creation of a work of art.”