My encounter with the creative process began as early as age five. It was
a strange and uneasy urge to create with objects found around my house in
Puerto Rico. I have remained
a self taught artist, finding my images as if dictated from somewhere else.
Popular and ethnic music, religion and the unconscious of America became
the foundation of my artistic life.
My life in New York during the 1970's was a period of experimentation as
an "outsider" artist, painting, writing, music and designing for underground
shops, a true journey of cross-cultural experience and an adaptation
to a cosmopolitan reality.
I moved to Paris in 1984 where I resided 8 years. In France, I became
aware of the value of art-brute and the work of self taught artists becoming
part of l’Ecole Latinoaméricaine de Paris, a movement of
Central and South American self taught artists.
The deeper I went into my artistic research in Paris, the closer I got to
my roots. I found the freedom I needed to explore my origins and thus integrate
my different experiences.
I returned to New York in 1992 where I am currently working.
In my paintings I establish a poetic new world of the imagination, of unknown
trees, mythical characters, visions, and rituals intertwined in modern reality.
The Puerto Rican experience is suffused with a sense of mystery, superstition,
and magic. My identity manifests itself in a highly subconscious process
of painting. I rely on my intuition to create my next image. Symbolism plays
an important part in this language. The paintings evolve over and over again
from an initial idea. There is a constant element of chance and synchronically.
It is a celebration of life in a dream-like state.
