Collection

In 1960, at the age of 12, he emigrated to Puerto Rico with his parents as a consequence of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. In 1968, he was drafted into the United States Army for a term of 2 years and 9 months, serving in the Vietnam War with two tours totaling 18 months. After his military service, he moved to Miami, where he received an Associate Degree from Miami-Dade Community College in 1973. He then returned to Puerto Rico to settle permanently. From 1973 to 1977, he worked in various media, mostly in advertising. In 1977, he became independent as a photographer and has since presented his work individually in various galleries of major institutions in the country, such as Casa Aboy, the Interamerican University (Bayamón Campus), Polytechnic University, the Puerto Rico Photographers Association, the Art Gallery of the University of the Sacred Heart, among others. Collectively, his work has been part of important exhibitions presented in prestigious institutions and museums in Puerto Rico and abroad, such as the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts in Mexico City, the Museo del Barrio in New York, the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Caracas, Venezuela, among others. Locally, his work has been displayed in the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (most recently in "Human Geography" and "Puerto Rico, Plural"), the Museum of History, Anthropology, and Art of the University of Puerto Rico, the Museum of the Americas, the Museum of the Arsenal de la Puntilla, the Carnegie Library, and others. In 1983, his work was published by EnFoco in "Primera Luz" alongside the works of María Angelica Fernández, Carlos Arnaldo Meyners, and Hernán "Tito" Guzmán. This work was simultaneously presented in a group exhibition at the Cayman Gallery in New York in February 1983, curated by Charlie Biasiny-Rivera. Later, in 1986, his work was published again in "Nueva Luz," another EnFoco publication. In 2000, he presented "Generations II, Puerto Ricans at the End of the Century" at the headquarters of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture. This informal ethnographic portrait collection was displayed as a traveling exhibition at the Photojournalism Workshop, the Interamerican University, the Polytechnic University, and the American Airlines "Admiral's Club" at the Isla Verde International Airport, where it was exhibited for 3 months to thousands of travelers. "Generations..." was also accompanied by texts by writer James Stevens-Arce and, in 2003, was submitted to the "Documentary Work" competition sponsored by Duke University in North Carolina, where it was selected as a semi-finalist from over 125 participants from around the world. His work has received numerous awards, including recognition in the second and third editions of the Puerto Rico Photography Biennial, three awards from the Puerto Rico Photojournalists Association, and was named "Best Photography Exhibition" for 2007 by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA - Puerto Rico Chapter) for his solo exhibition "Iconography of an Era, 21 Artists" at the Art Gallery of the University of the Sacred Heart. He was also awarded at the First Commercial Art Salon, sponsored by the UNESCO Chapter of Puerto Rico. In 2017, he published the book "Iconography, 5 Years of Portraits" with the University of Puerto Rico Press. This is a compilation of iconographic portraits of members of Puerto Rican society, published over five years (1986-1991) in a Sunday supplement of a local newspaper. He has served as a jury member in various photography competitions and exhibitions throughout his career.