Rabindranat Díaz-Cardona
San Sebastián, PR, 1972
Biography Details
Painter and creator of installations. In 1996 he obtained a Bachelor's degree with a concentration in painting from the School of Plastic Arts and Design of Puerto Rico and in 2002 he completed a Master's Degree in Painting from Hunter College of the City University of New York. Between 1994 and 1996 he began to exhibit his work with the group of artists Grupo X, directed by the painter Domingo García; he is recognized as one of the most original young painters; his first solo exhibition (1996) was awarded by the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Chapter of Puerto Rico, as the best first exhibition of an artist in Puerto Rico. In 2014, under the direction and curatorship of Abdiel Segarra, he exhibited Imagine r survivor at the Museum of the Old Arsenal of the Spanish Navy of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in San Juan, where he managed to gather a good part of his work from his 20 years artistic career. A large part of his work belongs today to private and institutional collections, and has been exhibited in galleries, museums and alternative spaces in countries such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spain, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. In his work the narrative is a substantial element.
Artist Statement
"Narrative is a fundamental aspect of my pictorial work. With it I tell stories of love, of action and fear, of anxieties and social discontentment. These narratives, in general, surge from what I perceive and imagine, sometimes ontological and autobiographic. I am not looking to transmit ideas that are too clear or defined. I am more interested in there being convoluted plots that disrupt what is established. I am interested in placing together narrative elements of different origins, sometimes in a spontaneous and capricious manner, to establish sense games, stylistic crossings, and discursive tensions. The characters in my paintings are like antagonists that, skillfully and frailly, cross a plot that in the end will always result incomprehensible. I use humor and parody in my work to convey to the narrative a more joyful and less tormented air."
Rabindranat Diaz-Cardona, 2006
Formation
Education
2002
- Master's of Painting. Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, United States
1996
- Bachelor's of Painting. Escuela de Artes Plásticas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2014
- Imagin r survivor, Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2011
- Hábitat, Metro Plataforma Organizada, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2006
- Gen-tegumento, CIRCA 06, Centro de Convenciones de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2004
- Hombres con babilla, opulencia, demencia y debilidad: drastic harmlessness of an ego depletion, Galería Viota, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2003
- Barbarians, fugitives, victims and frantics: redistribución de una astucia adormecida, Galería Viota, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1998
- Fantastical projections of algunos muñequitos, Galería Sin Título, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1996
- PORTORIsenses, Galería Rojo y Negro, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Group Shows
2018
- MECA International Art Fair, National Gallery, Museo Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Art Truck Expo, Santurce es Ley; 2BLEO, Santurce, Puerto Rico
- About Clay, Souvenir 154, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Sala de Artefactos, Instituto de Subcultura, Santurce, Puerto Rico
2017
- Untitled Art Fair, National Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States
- The Rich Port Collective, Butter Gallery, Wynwood, Miami, Florida, United States
- MECA International Art Fair, National Gallery, Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Perspectiva de Género, Museo de Arte de Caguas, Caguas, Puerto Rico
- Terrícolas 2017, Narrativa, Ficción e Hipérbole en el arte, ArtLab, Santurce, Puerto Rico
2016
- Juego o juguete, 2BLEÓ, Santurce, Puerto Rico
- Colectiva Monopatín 3 Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Terrícolas 2016, Narrativa, Ficción e Hipérbole en el arte, ArtLab, Santurce, Puerto Rico
2014
- MultiViral,
- Drawing Collective, Casa Ashford, Condado, Puerto Rico
2013
- Pie forzado. oo1, Georgia College Museum, Milledgeville, Georgia, United States
- O te peinas o te haces rolos, La Productora, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Colectiva 1, 2bleo, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2012
- Interconexiones: Lecturas curatoriales de la Colección del MAPR, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Pasiones Contemporáneas, arte americano, europeo y latinoamericano de la colección Serapión & Belk, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
- El último libro, proyecto de Luis Camnitzer, Carl von Ossietzky Staats und Universitäts Bibliothek de Hamburgo, Hamburg, Germany
- ¡¡Vive la crisis!!, Galería de Guerrilla, Campo de Cebada, Madrid, Spain
- Colective exhibition METRO, METRO, Plataforma Organizada, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2011
- PueLtorrican infiltration, Artimaña, Madrid, Spain
- Signos Vitales: Nuevas Adquisiciones del MAC 2009-2011, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Inaugural exhibition METRO, METRO, Plataforma Organizada, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- El último libro, proyecto de Luis Camnitzer, Biblioteca Aguilar, New York Public Library, New York, United States
2010
- CIRCA PR 10, Walter Otero Gallery, Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2009
- Chiquitolina, Centro Curatorial La 15, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- CIRCA PR 09, Walter Otero Gallery, Centro de Convenciones de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2008
- Fantastic Voyage, Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States
- $999.99 Exhibition, Diana Lowenstein Fine Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States
- SCOPE Miami, Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States
- Exposición de la Colección Reyes-Veray, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- El último libro, proyecto de Luis Camnitzer, Biblioteca Nacional de la República de Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- En sus marcas, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- It’s Not Easy, Exit Underground at Exit Art, New York, United States
- Season Review, Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States
- SCOPE Basel, Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
- Art Chicago, Diana Lowenstein Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, United States
- CIRCA PR 08, Walter Otero Gallery, Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2007
- CIRCA PR 07, Walter Otero Gallery, Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- El Pulpo / Octopus, Galería Nacional, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2006
- Muestra Nacional de Arte Puertorriqueño, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- CIRCA PR 2006, Puerto Rico Convention Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Arteamerica, Merrill Lynch, Coconut Grove Convention Center, Miami, Florida, United States
2005
- Art International Zurich, Kongresshaus, Switzerland
- Arteamerica, Merrill Lynch, Coconut Grove Convention Center, Miami, Florida, United States
- Subasta, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, United States
2002
- Making up situations, Hunter Collage, Time Square Gallery, New York, United States
2001
- El arte en Puerto Rico a través del tiempo, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2000
- The S-Files, Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1999
- Los tesoros de la pintura puertorriqueña, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1998
- Jóvenes Creadores de Ibero América, Casa de Ayuntamientos de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
- First Prize. International Association of Art Critics, Puerto Rico Chapter, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Collections
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Catalogues
“Rabindranat Díaz-Cardona, Barbarians, fugitives, victims and frantics: redistribución de una astucia adormecida”. Galería Viota, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2003.
Web
Quiñones, Juan Carlos. “Conversación con Rabindranat Díaz Cardona”. 80 grados. 28 de marzo de 2014. https://www.80grados.net/here-there-be-boxers-voyeurs-revolutionaries-ar...