WHAT'S NEW

How to Build an Island brings together a series of small-format acrylic paintings and charcoal drawings that approach the island as a symbolic concentration of Creation and, at the same time, as a representation of the artist’s country of origin: Puerto Rico. The works begin with an image of the island in a primordial state, before its transformation by the structures, systems, and human actions that over time alter and deteriorate its nature. The island thus becomes a space where the natural, the imagined, and the constructed coexist.

The series uses fragmentation as both a visual and conceptual device. The paintings incorporate elements of collage through the layering, separation, and reorganization of forms and images, creating compositions in which each fragment contributes to the construction of a whole. The charcoal drawings explore this same idea through a more direct and gestural approach. Together, the works propose different possibilities for constructing and reconstructing the island: a territory that refers to Puerto Rico, but also functions as a symbolic representation of Creation before it is transformed by human societies and their processes of intervention, deterioration, and decline.