Pedro Pablo Oliva was born in 1949 in the province of Pinar del Rio, east of Havana, where he still resides, although the international reception for his work forces him to travel frequently.
He started his studies at the local school of painting in Pinar del Rio, and then at the National Art School, from which he graduated in 1970 together with Nelson Dominguez, who shared Oliva's definite tendency to neo-expressionism, although their styles are completely different. Insofar as it concerns aesthetic tendencies, the two could be related also to the master draftsman Roberto Fabelo, who graduated two years later from the same school - there is definitely something that unites the three, in their deformation of characters and dramatization of reality.
Oliva, who was of small-town origins, initially took from country themes the inspiration for an entire series of works which find a parallel in Chagall, especially in the poetic, dream-like atmosphere which sublimated every-day situations of common people. This dream-like atmosphere eventually gave way to an increasing dramatism, in which were reflected the echoes of a difficult childhood full of uncertainty and fear, and which was populated by objects and characters (deformed children, broken toys, graceless dolls treated without the customary care) from a much earlier time.
Throughout, the common element is a sense of defenselessness, in a world permeated by a strong tragic-comic undertone; a circus of pitiful conditions which now and then reached and broke through the simplicity of a small country village.
The artist often experiments with mixed media techniques and with different surface treatments: multiple layers of heavy paper torn and scratched with his own hands, as in the series "Consejos de mama" ("Mom's Advice"), where we see again the development of issues which find their origin in childhood.
In presenting his dramatic subjects in an oblique, partly surreal and partly realistic way, Oliva produces works which possess the intrinsic qualities capable of placing them in our time and space, yet without any fear of going out of fashion.
Pedro Pablo Oliva graduated from the National Art School in 1970, and in 1976 his works were included in the "Salon of Young Artists" at the National Museum. He has exhibited at the Poliforum Siqueiros, Mexico (1991); the International Exhibit of Sevilla (1992), the Bernheim Gallery, Miami and Panama (1992-1993), and the Miami Art Fair (1993); he has also participated in group exhibitions in Colombia, Sweden, Italy, POland, Germany, France and other countries.