• Home
  • Work
  • About
  • Contact
Menu

Manuel Santana

  • Home
  • Work
  • About
  • Contact
dad5.jpg

Painter/printmaker/sculptor and the child of a Mexican immigrant, Manuel Santana was born in Los Angeles in 1927. 

Santana moved to Santa Cruz County in 1961, where he started two successful restaurants – Manuel’s in Aptos and Jardines de San Juan in San Juan Bautista.

As a young man, Santana studied art at Los Angeles State College and at Los Angeles County’s Otis Art Institute.  He also studied art privately with Martin Lubner, Morton Dimonstein, and Arnold Mesches. In 1989, Santana began actively painting and sculpting again and spent less and less time in the management of his restaurants.

Manuel traveled many times to Oaxaca, Mexico to develop his skills in lithography.  He was asked by the government of Mexico to develop an exhibition for a thirteen city tour, titled “Impressiones – Arte de Manuel Santana”.  A quote by Galvez de Aguinaga from the book for the Impressions tour illuminates his art:

“Manuel Santana’s work seamlessly incorporates Mexican traditions with his

Judeo-Christian education – juxtaposing these two very dissimilar worlds – shape

his consciousness, finding a common expression on his canvases, which explode

into a multitude of colors and forms. Viewers can stare at seemingly haphazard

compositions for hours and then realize the images morphing into strokes of paint

coming together unexpectedly to form objects of animals, faces, and images that

inhabit these complex, emotional, impressionistic paintings.  The artist describes

these intense feelings overflowing from his canvases as expressions of the terrors

that plague our modern world, with the overwhelming colors and the vivid expressions speaking to both global and personal crises.”

Manuel Santana was chosen as the 2008 Artist of the Year by the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission and they hosted a profile performance featuring Santana’s work on July 18 at the Museum of Art and History in Santa Cruz, California.  Santana passed away at the age of 81 on July 8, 2008 – a week before the opening of the exhibit.   

Manuel Santana

1927 – 2008

List of Exhibitions:

1994 – “Dialogs in  Color” one person show, Pajaro Valley Arts Council & Gallery

1995-2007 – Open Studios of Santa Cruz County, Santana Gallery (periodically)

1997 – Art of Remembrerance: El Dia de los Muertos, Pajaro Valley Arts Council & Gallery

1998 – One person show, Pacific Grove Art Center

2001 – Mi Casa es tu casa 2001 – Pajaro Valley Arts Council & Gallery

2002 – Art Show, Cultural Council of Santa Cruz – Santa Cruz County Government Center

2003 – Public Exhibit, County of Santa Cruz Health Services Agency

2005-2006 – “Impressiones – Arte de Manuel Santana” 13 State Capital Cities tour of the

         Republic of Mexico (Oaxaca, Aguas Caliente, San Luis Potosi, Monterrey,

         Coyoacan -Mexico City, Tijuana, Queretaro, Saltillo, Morelia, Guadalajara)

2006 – One man show, Mohr Gallery – Community School of Music & Arts, Mountain View, CA

2007 – One person art show, Galleria Tonatzin, San Juan Bautista

2007 – The Kettle Three – Three person art show (with Al Johnson & Hildy Berstein)

2008 – Eight Over Eighty – Eight person art show, 2006 – Pajaro Valley Arts Council & Gallery

2008 – Artist of the Year, Santa Cruz County Arts Commission

2012 — Retrospective, Personal Art Studio, Santa Cruz, CA

2013 – Past Artists of the Year, Pajaro Valley Arts Council & Gallery

2015 – Aqui Estamos / We Are Here, Cabrillo Gallery, Aptos, CA

Selected Private Collections: Lou Harrison, Dennis Russell Davies.