"The Listener" Drawing

I am Aurelio Milera, a Cuban-born artist trained at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro in Havana, with additional studies in digital art at Escola Joso in Barcelona. My work blends realism, magical realism, and fantasy, often influenced by modernist masters like Klimt and Mucha, Russian academic tradition, and American illustration. I create exclusively from imagination, drawing on a vast inner world shaped by my connection to nature, memory, and cultural identity. My main collection, Yctyogenesis, explores ecological collapse and imagined hybrid beings, reflecting the tension between survival and self-destruction in humanity’s relationship with the environment. Alongside this, I develop series rooted in magical realism, art nouveau stylization, and pop-art illustration. Born under Cuba’s communist regime, my personal and artistic journey has been marked by struggle, resilience, and displacement — from Havana to Barcelona to Los Angeles. These experiences fuel the emotional depth of my work. Each painting is both a reflection of my inner world and an invitation for viewers to consider themes of transformation, loss, and renewal. Today, I continue to create across oil, watercolor, acrylic, and digital media. Whether exploring ecological themes, mythic narratives, or ornate figurative works, my goal is to spark reflection and connect with viewers through beauty, imagination, and meaning.