Rafael Trelles
"En concreto (gráfica urbana) El documental*" (2004)
"En concreto (gráfica urbana) El documental*" (2004)
Painter, printmaker, installation artist, and set and costume designer. He started his studies under the tutelage of Julio Yort, a Catalan painter living in Puerto Rico. He completed his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Puerto Rico in 1980 and then pursued graduate studies at the Autonomous University of Mexico. He lived in the Canary Islands for some time when he learned about alchemy, mysticism and magic, and returned to Puerto Rico in 1986. In 1994, he was a founding member of several organizations, such as the literary art group “El alfil (imagen y palabra)” (“The Bishop: Image and Word”). In 1996, he received the Merit Award for his excellent trajectory, conferred to him by the National Fund to Finance Cultural Works of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. He released the documentary “En concreto” (“In concrete”) in 2007 in which he presented his interventions in public spaces that he has named “urban graphic art”. His work has been exhibited around the world: in the United States, Spain, Argentina, Canada, Serbia, Portugal, Cuba, Slovenia, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, among other countries. His work draws on Surrealist references, and on mythology and world literature. His painting is a journey to an esoteric and fantastic world filled with amazing characters in dreamlike scenarios where loneliness is felt.