Rafael Colón Morales
Trujillo Alto, PR, 1941
Biography Details
Painter. Studied at Universidad de Puerto Rico, at American University, Washington, DC and at Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain. He has been Professor at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Broooklyn Community College, and the Art School from el Museo del Barrio, both in New York. During the seventies, he made a name for himself through painting, interested with the experimentation of mediums and techniques, especially with the one developed with the application of layers of acrylic polymers which he then removes to create textures and chromatic transparencies in his work. His expressive vocabulary wavers between figuration and attraction in recreating sceneries loaded with profound mystery and a deep metaphysical significance.
Artist Statement
Over the years, his creative process has been diverse but consistent in the continuous pursuit of ideas and technical possibilities. He developed a self-imagery in a particular way, by applying layers of matte or transparent acrylic (which he calls "skins") on the pictorial surface, especially on canvas. This technique is only part of the components of his present series "Visitando a los maestros". Colón Morales has been a student of the Masters, that’s why the approach to the works is varied. The artist studies them from his own perspective; the idea always precedes the process. This course attains more than a stylistic presence or copy of any work, an interpretation or re-creation of the painting itself. His appreciation, for many years, of Caravaggio’s paintings, stands out in his new work based on a detail of the Conversion of Saint Paul.
Source: Myrna E. Rodríguez, Crítica de Arte, Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte. Mayo del 2004
Formation
Education
1966-1967
- Courses of Graphic Arts. Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Spain
1965-1966
- Post-Graduate Studies. American University, Washington DC, United States
1964
- Bachelor of Arts. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Professional Experience
1995-1996
- Curator. Pre-Columbian Phase, Museo de Arte Puertorriqueño, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1995
- Professor. Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1989-1991
- Director and curator. El Barrio International Gallery, New York, United States
1984-1989
- Curator. El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1988-1989
- Interim Director. El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1980-1983
- Lecturer and museum doncent. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States
1978-1981
- Printmaking Professor. The Art School, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1972-1976
- Profesor de historia de arte puertorriqueño. Brookling Community College, Nueva York, Estados Unidos
- Puerto Rican Art History Professor. Brookling Community College, New York, United States
1968-1971
- Art Professor. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1968-1971
- Art Professor. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Arecibo Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2012
- Transparencias, Museo Francisco Oller, Bayamón Municipality, Bayamón, Puerto Rico
2003
- Visitando los Maestros, Pamil Fine Art, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
2001
- Epidermis, Galería de Arte Espinal, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1999
- Crisálida, Museo de las Américas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Skins, UCF Fine Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
1997
- Rafael Colón Morales Pinturas, Galería Girasol, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1995
- Pinturas recientes, Centro Europa, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Pellejos, Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1993
- Retrospectiva, Galería Domus, Centro de Arte Latinoamericano de Arte y Decoración, Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1991
- Pinturas, Taller Boricua, New York, United States
1989
- Crayola, Galeria Moriviví, New York, United States
1988
- Pinturas, Museo Casa Ulanga, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
1987
- Rafael Colón Morales, Galería Costa Azul, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1985
- Pinturas, Hampden Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
1984
- Manifestación de Innovaciones Artísticas, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1982
- Children of Darkness Restrospectiva, Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
- Miniaturas y Pellejos, Galeria Morivivi, New York, United States
1981
- Pinturas, Fondo Monetario Internacional, Washington DC, United States
1978
- Pinturas y Pellejos Transparentes, Cayman Gallery, New York, United States
1973
- Galería Tanamá, Arecibo, Puerto Rico
1968
- Pinturas, Galería Santiago, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1965
- Pinturas, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1963
- Pinturas, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1962
- Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Group Shows
2010
- Work of Its Contemporary Artists in the Grand Opening of Its New Art Space at the Skyline Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, LeonidesArt New York Gallery, New York, United States
- Only Arts Remains, Artists Views imparting meaning to form, LeonidesArt New York Gallery, New York, United States
2008
- Colección Reyes-Veray, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2007
- Contexto puertorriqueño: del rococó colonial al arte global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2002
- Estrellas en el Cielo, Pamil Fine Art, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
- Dos: Rafael Colón Morales y Alexis Portalatín, Galería de Arte OP, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Visitando los Maestros, Galeria Pamil, San Juan Puerto Rico
1999
- Subasta de Arte Puertorriqueño, A beneficio del Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, The Ritz Carlton San Juan Hotel & Casino, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1995
- Aproximación Caribeña: Exposición de 12 artistas puertorriqueños, Colegio Dominicano de Artistas Plásticos, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Obras Recientes, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1994
- Certamen de Artes Plásticas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1993
- Reclaim, Recover, Reaffirm: A Twenty-Five Year Dialogue, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1986
- Galería Costa Azul, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1985
- Caribbean Expressions, Goddard Center Community Relations, New York, United States
- The Spanish Fan, Toussan Gallery, New York, United States
1984
- Tres Artistas Puertorriqueños, Casa Blanca Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1983
- Salón de Dibujo, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1982
- Caribbean Myths and Sylmbols, Rutgers University, New Jersey; Latin American Contermporary Artists, Fordham University, New York, United States
1981
- Muestra de Pintura, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1977
- Rafael Colón Morales y Carmelo Fontánez, Galería Girasol, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Latin Excellence, Xerox Annual International Invitational Exhibition, Xerox Square Exhibition Center, Rochester, New York, United States
- Muestra de Pintura Puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Counterweight Whitney Biennale Exhibit, Five Galleries, New York, United States
1976
- Iman-Latin American Artists Residing in New York, Center of Interamerican Relations, New York, United States
- Nam-Exhibits of Ten Contemporary Hispanic Artist, Community Gallery, Brooklyn Museum, New York, United States
- Discoveries from Here and There, Brooklyn Collector Gallery, New York, United States
1975
- The Spirit of Independence, Cayman Gallery, New York, United States
- Latin American Graphics, Forum Gallery, Puerto Rican Forum, New York, United States
1974
- Festival de Navidad, Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico, El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
1973
- Exposición Homenaje a Pedro Albizu Campos, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1967
- Exposición Inaugural, Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
1966
- Casa de Las Américas, Madrid, Spain
1964
- Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Galería Santiago, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Galería Campeche, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1962
- Colectiva de Arte Puertorriqueño, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1961
- Colectiva de Arte Puertorriqueño, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1960
- Colectiva de Arte Puertorriqueño, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
2013
- Resident Artist. Bayamón Municipality, Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Collections
- Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- ATLAND, Inc., San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Citibank Corporation, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Colegio Dominicano de Artistas Plásticos, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- El Museo del Barrio, New York, United States
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Santurce Medical Mall, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Starcom, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
- Suiza Dairy Corporation, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Taller Boricua, New York, United States
Bibliography
Books
Delgado, Osiris. “Enciclopedia de Puerto Rico”, Vol. VIII, San Juan: Editorial EDIT, 1971.
Catalogues
“Genealogy of Puerto Rican Art”, Museo del Barrio, Nueva York, Estados Unidos, 1974.
“The figure in Latin American Art”, Montclair College, Nueva Jersey, Estados Unidos, 1985.
Oller, Couture and Manet”, El Museo del Barrio, Nueva York, Estados Unidos, 1984.
“Myths and Legends”, American Museum of Natural History, Nueva York, Estados Unidos, 1983.
“Political Aspects of Puerto Rican Art”, Cooper Union School of Science and Arts, Nueva York, Estados Unidos, 1982.
“Caribbean Myths and Symbols”, Rutgers University, Nueva Jersey, Estados Unidos, 1982.
“Puerto Rican Art”, Georgetown University, Washington DC, Estados Unidos, 1981.
“Symbols in Viking Art”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, Estados Unidos, 1980
“Puerto Rican Artists in New York”, Stanford University, California, Estados Unidos, 1977.
Newspapers
Álvarez Lezama, Manuel “A Sojourn into a Versatile Artist’s World”. The San Juan Star (San Juan, PR), 18 de mayo de 1993.
Ashburry, Evan. “Colon Morales at The Museum of the Bronx”. The New York Times (Nueva York, EU), 29 de marzo de 1979.
Colón, Doreen. “Lenguaje Espiritual”. El Nueva Día (San Juan, PR), 23 de junio 1994.
Pérez Ruiz, José A. “Los Ojos Escrutadores de Rafael Colón Morales”. El Diario (San Juan, PR), 12 de enero de 1995, p.18.
Rodríguez, Myrna. “The Surreal World of Colón-Morales”. The San Juan Star (san Juan, PR), 23 de enero de 1983.
Tió, Teresa. “Rafel Colón Morales y los Pellejps”. El Mundo (San Juan, PR), 9 de marzo de 1984.
Fuentes, José. “Rafael Colón Morales: una visión de caos en una muestra única”. El Mundo (San Juan, PR), 30 de marzo de 1984.
Glueck, Grace.”Rafel Colón Morales”. The New York Times (Nueva York, EU), 11 de febrero de 1986.
Hervkovitz, David. “It was grey even when it was sunny”. The Village Voice, 24 de septiembre de 1978.
Morales Blanes, Sandra. “En epidermis Colón Morales”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 13 de junio de 2001.
Pérez Ruiz, José A. “En las zonas marginales”. El Vocero (San Juan, PR), 17 de junio de 1999.
Magazines
“Puerto Rican Nationalist Art: A Tradition, A Nacesity”, Artworkers News (Nueva York, EU), 1982.
“Puerto Rican Artists in New York, Vortice”, Standord University, (California, EU), 1978.