[1][2] He is among the most significant living contemporary Cuban and Latin American artists due to his career auction records, paint medium innovations, and association with notable cultural events, venues, and celebrity figures in the United States and Cuba.

Grupo Puré, another new wave of young artists, graduates of the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA),[13] included Ana Albertina Delgado Álvarez, Adriano Buergo, Ciro Quintana.

[15] In 1984, Josignacio created the "Plastic Paint Medium" of art by mixing epoxy resins with oil colors and other pigments, resulting in a hard, glossed, 3D finish, a method which would become his identifiable style.

His involvement in this public art project proved to be a significant turning-point for his career as it was during that period that the artist first discovered a method of mixing epoxy resin with oil paint.

[21] This new medium took him two years to develop and refine through experimentation and would come to be known as the “Plastic Paint Medium.”[21] Josignacio held first career solo exhibition, secured by his uncle Gerardo, at the Artistic and Literary Lyceum of the city of Regla on March 2, 1987.

[21] During this period of developing the Plastic Paint Medium, Josignacio was a frequent patron of the renowned Havana restaurant La Bodeguita del Medio and part of the community of artists that would gather there.

[26] This was precipitated by a controversial incident in which one of Mendive's paintings, El Pavo Real, was burned by an anti-Castro activist following his purchase of the piece at an April 22 auction held in the former Cuban Museum of Art and Culture in Miami.

[15] A final career turning point occurred later that year as he was invited exhibit his art internationally in two venues in Mexico City: The Gallery of the National Auditorium and Centro Cultural Los Talleres in Coyoacán.

[citation needed] This latest incident prompted the artist relocate permanently to the United States on September 14, 1989, where he would become a naturalized American citizen.

[30] The following year was a featured artist in Marpad Gallery's major collective exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of the Discovery of America, held in April 1992.

The exhibition featured 37 Latin American artists from Cuba, Costa Rica, Haiti, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Panama, as well as from Spain.

[19] That year Josignacio returned once again to Cuba to display works from his Dancers series, at the request of his childhood friend, Cuban ballerina and choreographer Alicia Alonso.

Executed ten years prior in 2015, The Pact was donated by art patron Antonio Permuy and was considered a notable work in Josignacio's career for marking the historic "Cuban Thaw" in diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba.

The Tampa Museum of Art released a statement marking the acquisition saying "The Pact is a significant work that commemorates the thawing of relations between the United States and Cuba, in addition to highlighting José Martí's historical connection with our community.

The resulting effect achieves a brilliance in color and shine Cuban art critic Yoel Almaguer de Armas compares to painted glass.

[38] The term Plastic Paint Medium was first coined by Dr. Jose Antonio Portuondo who wrote in the catalog for Josignacio's first solo exhibition in 1987.

[48] Like the Abstract Expressionists, his method engages in what he describes as a “dialog” with his works while creating them, allowing himself to be guided to a conclusion rather than tightly controlling the outcome.

[48] As such, he has stated that he is more interested in the organic abstract elements that emerge in his creative process than in the result, which allows for a continual discovery of new aspects to the works after completion.

The 80s Generation group would coalesce around Galería Color-Luz, which was started just after Ms. Soldevilla returned from several years in Paris as Cuba's cultural attaché, bringing European influence.

Her partner in the effort, Pedro de Oraá, an artist, poet and art critic, born in 1931, also wrote a short history of the group.

[52] Josignacio was influenced by the Abstract Expressionists of the New York School (art), especially Jackson Pollock, from whom he originally saw the use of dripping and pouring paint onto canvases.

However, instead of alkyd enamels that Pollack used, Josignacio used his "Plastic Paint Medium" technique of mixing epoxy resins with oil colors and other pigments.

[55] Josignacio learned the centered figure compositions[56] Another influence of Abstract Expressionism is his use and strong incorporation of fluid, largescale color field backgrounds in his works.

[57] In regards to nature, Josignacio has acknowledged using close-up images of fossil rocks, deep-sea flora and fauna, and outer space as references and inspiration for his work.

His collectors have included Madonna, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Andy Garcia, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, four past presidents of Mexico, and leading Latin American art collections including Jorge Mas Canosa, the Bacardi and Fanjul families, Alfredo Martinez, and Antonio Permuy.

[40] In addition to published exhibition catalogs, he has been mentioned in books such as Asbury Park: A Century of Change and included in The Review of Inter-American Bibliography (1998) by Organization of American States.

[70][71] The Vasari Project maintains archives relating to Josignacio's career due to their cultural significance to South Florida and the Cuban community.

On December 23, 2014, Josignacio's The Three Wisest Monkeys (1991) was sold for a hammer price of US$720,000 at Pangaea Auction House in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[36] This sale set Josignacio as the highest achieved auction price by a living Cuban artist globally, surpassing Tomás Sánchez who previously held the record at $540,000.

These commercial works include original furniture, frames, and mirrors made in the mediums of wood, cork, reed, cane, wicker, horn, bone, shell, amber, mother-of-pearl, and meerschaum as well as plastics.