Fernando Mora
David RIMX Sepulveda
David RIMX Sepulveda loves Rembrandt and the Spanish painter, Joaquín Sorolla. My favorite Puerto Rican artists include: Lorenzo Homar, Rafael Tufiño, Antonio Martorell and José Alicia. I also love the Mexican artists Diego Rivera and Gabriel Orozco.
I think of graffiti writers as purists. They gain their respect by being everywhere and by hitting hot spots. Street artists are more focused on ideas. But the two disciplines will merge.
Puerto Rican Artists
A bevy of well-known Puerto Rican, and other Latinx and black artists released a benefit compilation album on Monday (Oct. 23) to raise funds for Hurricane Maria victims in Puerto Rico.
The album, titled ¡Viva Puerto Rico!, was organized by New York-based Puerto Rican singer-activist Taina Asili, and features previously released music from 20 rising and renowned musicians, including Public Enemy’s DJ Johnny Juice, Grammy-winning singer Lila Downs, hip-hop icons Immortal Technique and Talib Kweli, punk band Downtown Boys and indie stars Hurray for the Riff Raff, among many others.
José Rosa Castellanos
Printmaker and painter. Rosa first studied art under Rafael Tufiño; his training in the graphic arts took place in DIVEDCO, at the Campeche Studio and Gallery run by Domingo García in San Juan, and under Lorenzo Homar at the Graphic Arts Workshop of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. From 1973 to 1986, Rosa was director of that Workshop, where he became a master of silkscreen technique. In his work he captures images and subjects associated with the popular culture of Puerto Rico, such as bar life, politics, and the religiosity of the island’s people, generally in a humorous, amusing manner. In the seventies he developed a novel style characterized by the integration of text into his compositions, using the text as a graphic element. In 1998 he was honored at the Twelfth San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Prints. His paintings have visual parallels with his graphic art, and are characterized by an emphasis on the underlying drawing and by the sharpness of the lines and the figures’ outlines.
Puerto Rico Luxury’s Neighborhood Guide: Santurce – The Arts District
Santurce – The Arts District
History:
Colonial – Santurce was originally settled by the native Indians and later by slaves of African ancestry who arrived from the neighboring Danish West Indies.
1876 – Pablo Ubarri, an engineer from the port town of Santurtzi in Spain’s autonomous Basque Country region arrived on the island to help in the construction of a railroad system and a steam tramway between San Juan and the town of Río Piedras through the center of “Cangrejos” which prompted the gentrification of the district. Many years after his arrival he was granted the title of Count of Santurce (which is the Hispanicized equivalent of Santurtzi) by the Spanish Crown. With his newly acquired title and influence, the district was renamed after his title. The neighboring Condado also received its present-name from Ubarri’s title, as the district’s name literally translates to “county” (which in medieval tradition is land granted by a monarch to a count).
In 1898, the Treaty of Paris granted Cuba independence from Spain, but the U.S. Congress ensured that it would come under U.S. control through the Platt Amendment. As a result, Cuba gained independence, while Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands previously under Spanish control became part of the United States. Guam and the Philippines in the Asia-Pacific region also ceded to the United States.
1904 – The United States Army established the now historical Camp Las Casas, in the area of “Las Casas”. The camp was the main training base of the “Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry” (on January 15, 1899, the military government changed the name of Puerto Rico to Porto Rico and on May 17, 1932, U.S. Congress changed the name back to “Puerto Rico”) The Porto Rico Regiment of Infantry was a segregated U.S. Army Regiment which was later renamed the “65th Infantry Regiment”. The base continued in operation until 1946, when it was finally closed and the Residencial Las Casas now stands. 20th Century- the conurbation of the San Juan metropolis expanded rapidly beyond its walled confines of Old San Juan to incorporate the boroughs of suburban Miramar, Santurce, Isla Grande, and Condado, along the coast, as well as industrial Hato Rey, with its large sports stadium and modern financial district, and the college town of Río Piedras, immediately to the southeast.
1937-1948 – Santurce along with neighboring district Miramar becomes one of the most vibrant areas of the capital.
1970s-1980’s – most of the district had begun to fall into decay, losing the luster and vibrancy it once had. By 1980 the San Juan metropolitan area included the surrounding municipalities to the east and west and had about one-third of Puerto Rico’s total population; that proportion has grown to two-thirds of the population.
The 21st Century – After the September 11 attacks of 2001, Santurce saw a period of economic decline coupled with the financial crisis of the local banking and mortgage system.
2009-today – Santurce begins a period of cosmopolitan revival with a booming dining and music scene, a place where up and coming indie artists have put up their studios and shops.
CUBA Y PUERTO RICO: PUERTO RICAN ARTISTS RELIEF AUCTION
A year after Hurricanes Maria and Irma devastated the island of Puerto Rico, its residents are rebuilding and reimagining their futures. Artists play a vital role in Puerto Rican society and culture. They also face unique challenges when natural disasters hit since many live, work and sell their art from a single space. Artists working in Cuba reached out in a show of solidarity with their Puerto Rican counterparts to organize an auction of fine art prints by many of the leading printmakers currently working in Cuba, Puerto Rico and throughout the diaspora.
In the spirit of friendship and solidarity, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) in collaboration with El Taller Experimental de la Grafica de la Habana, Havana, Cuba; Las Jornadas del Grabado Puertorriqueño, Inc., San Juan, Puerto Rico; BOZARTE LLC and Ancestral Imprint Yoruba Association, Inc., will auction over 75 fine art prints. Proceeds from the auction will be used for a relief fund, administered by Las Jornadas del Grabado Puertorriqueño, Inc. to help Puerto Rican artists affected by the hurricanes.
To date, artworks have been donated by Rosenda Alvarez Faro, Imna Arroyo, Yamilys Brito Jorge, Pablo Amancio Borges Delgado, Ismari Caraballo Milanes, Marie Court, Indiana Cruz Rodríguez, Lizette Cruz, Osvaldo De Jesus Cruz, Carlos Del Toro Orihuela, Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy "Diago", Humberto Figueroa Torres, Nereidní Feliciano, Dania Fleites, Edgardo Hechavarría Ricardo, Martin Garcia Rivera, Aliosky Garcia Sosa, Ian Marcos Gutiérrez, Katherine Guzman, Octavio Irving Hernandez Jiménez, Haydee Landing, Luis Lamothe Duribe, Alexis Leiva Machado “Kcho”, Nitzayra Leonor, Isolina Limonta, Rubildo Lopéz, George Malave. Poli Marichal, Paulina Marquez, Antonio Martorell, Juan Carlos Menéndez, Marcel Molina, Raimundo Orozco, Francisco Rafael Paneca Cano, Hanoi Pérez Cordero, Guillermo Ramírez Malberti, Ada Rosa Rivera, Nilda Rivera, Aziyade Ruiz Vallejo, Fernando Santiago Camacho, Ricardo Silveira, José Omar Torres López, Migdalia Umpierre, Elio Yoel Valdivia, Myriam Vazquez, Yolanda Vazquez, and artists from Taller Boricua and the Rafael Tufino Print Workshop.
EVER
The Argentinian Street Artist named Ever was in Puerto Rico in October for the festival called “Los Muros Hablan” and here are images of him at work on the building-sized mural he completed, entitled “Liberation and Revolution”.
Samuel Lind is a Puerto Rican artist
Samuel Lind is a Puerto Rican artist from the town of Loiza, who lives there in his house and studio.
Carlos Cancio Puerto Rican artist
Carlos Cancio currently lives and works in San Juan. He began to show his work professionally in 1981, and he has presented his work in several cities in the United States, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. He has traveled extensively—recently, to India, where he became more familiar with that country’s art and culture. He has had solo shows at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (1987), the Museum of Art and History in San Juan (1988), and the Museo de las Casas Reales Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic (2004). He has also taken part in group shows in the United States and Puerto Rico. His work is characterized by the use of figuration and its inclusion of pan-Caribbean motifs; his style is poetic.
