Xavier Cortada

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Xavier Cortada (born 1964 in Albany, New York) is a Cuban-American painter residing in Miami, Florida. His work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and cultural venues across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Antarctica

At the University of Miami, he was inducted into the Iron Arrow Honor Society, the highest honor awarded at the university. Cortada holds three degrees from the University of Miami – a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Administration and Juris Doctor. The Cuban-American artist’s work and writings are preserved in the Xavier Cortada Collection of the University of Miami Libraries Cuban Heritage Collection. He has been honored in the Congressional Record and with Xavier Cortada Day Proclamations by the City of Miami, Miami Beach, and Miami-Dade County.

Cortada has received numerous awards for his volunteer work, including the Millennium International Volunteer Award from the U.S. Department of State/USA Today (for his work in Spain, Portugal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya Tanzania, Colombia, Bolivia, Honduras and Guatemala) and the Florida International Volunteer Corps 1999 Outstanding Achievement Award (for his work in Costa Rica and Panama).

In February 2000, Cortada was invited by the Holy See to participate in the Vatican’s Jubilee Day for Artists and met Pope John Paul II. In 2004, Mr. Cortada, a former alter boy, announced that he would no longer attend Mass until the Catholic Church changed its position on homosexuality, he felt he could no longer attend a church that discriminated against him.^[1]

In 2006, the artist received the National Champion for Children Award from the Child Welfare League of America.Cortada has created art for the White House, the World Bank, the Florida Supreme Court, and the Museum of Florida History. In his hometown, Cortada’s commissioned work hangs in City Hall, County Hall, the Miami Children’s Museum, and the facade of the Juvenile Courthouse.

Cortada has worked with groups across the world to produce numerous large-scale murals and community art projects, including: eco-art installations on Miami Beach, International AIDS Conference murals in Switzerland and South Africa, peace murals in Northern Ireland and Cyprus, and child welfare murals in Panama and Bolivia.

In 2007, as a recipient of the National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program, he created site-specific installations at the South Pole.