Raquel Torres Arzola
San Juan, PR, 1976
Biography Details
Photographer, creator of installations and performances, art critic and educator. Torres earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2014; she also has a master's degree in design from Atlantic College (2009) and a bachelor's degree in history from Universidad de Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus (1999). She currently is a professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and is also responsible for the development and implementation of the Education Plan for the 4th Poly/Graphic Triennial: San Juan, Latin America and the Caribbean. Her work has been shown in institutional and alternative venues inside and outside of Puerto Rico and has to her credit printed and virtual publications in academic circles at national and international levels. Her work reflects through alternative mediums, about gender roles and power, daily life, the body and identity.
Artist Statement
“I am interested in art as a creative/conceptual process. Through my artistic work, I propose approaches to locality, identity, gender issues and the relationships of power in specific social contexts. I'm also interested in the development of the formal aspects of an art piece as an interchange component, or as a collective learning experience.”
Raquel Torres Arzola
Formation
Education
2014
- MFA. San Francisco Art Institute, California, United States
2009
- Master’s in Design. Atlantic College, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
1999
- BA with a major in History of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Universidad de Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, Cayey, Puerto Rico
Professional Experience
2021-presente
- Education Curator. Education Department, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2014-2019
- Professor. Fine Arts Department, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2014-2015
- Education Curator. 4th Poly/Graphic Triennial: San Juan, Latin America and the Caribbean
2011
- Coordinator, Series of lectures, “Arte e Historia: documentos, fuente, concepto, inspiración”. Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2010
- Coordinator, “Conversaciones en torno a la fotografía” Forum. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2015
- Ysla i Resaca, Galería Francisco Oller, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2012
- Las mil y una noches with This is not an altar, Área: Lugar de Proyectos, Caguas, Puerto Rico
Group Shows
2015
- Prólogo a un objeto, Área: Lugar de Proyectos, Caguas, Puerto Rico
2014
- Primera persona performance, Área: Lugar de Proyectos, Caguas, Puerto Rico
- Cuerpo/Materia: Performance 2000-2014, Museo del Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- El arte de la Instalación: una pre-historia, Museo de Casa Blanca, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Universos Paralelos, Galería Francisco Oller, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
2013
- Measured Bodies, The Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, California, United States
- RE-public, Ever Gold Gallery, San Francisco, California, United States
- Puerto Rico: Ida y Vuelta, Hybrida Art Festival, Las Naves, Valencia, Spain
- Muestra Nacional de Arte, Museo del Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2012
- Shifting Margins, OFF Space, San Francisco, California, United States
- Afro-Latinos, Museo de Arte de Caguas, Caguas, Puerto Rico
Collections
- Museo de Arte de Caguas, Caguas, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Magazines
Sculpture Magazine (Washington, USA), Vol. 32, No. 3, April 2013.
Books
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico. Careos, Relevos: 25 años del Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico. San Juan, 2010.
Universidad de Salamanca, Universidad de Puerto Rico. Eds. Universos paralelos. Salamanca, 2014.
Web
Bravo, Laura. “Desmitificaciones plásticas del sí quiero”. 80 grados Revista Digital, 6 de abril de 2012.
http://www.80grados.net/desmitificaciones-plasticas-del-si-quiero/
“Raquel Torres Arzola at Area”. DaWire, Online Platform for Contemporary Art, June 19, 2012.
http://dawire.com/2012/06/19/raquel-torres-arzola-at-area/
Trelles, Mercedes. “Muestra Nacional de Arte”. Visión Doble, May 15, 2013.
http://www.visiondoble.net/2013/05/15/articulo-mercedes/
García Benítez, Mariana. “Los restos que peregrinan la ciudad”. Visión Doble, May 15, 2014.
http://www.visiondoble.net/2014/05/15/los-restos-que-peregrinan-la-ciuda...
Romero, Rosario. “Incógnitas lejanas convertidas en gozos cercanos”. Visión Doble, February 15, 2014. http://www.visiondoble.net/2014/02/15/incognitas-lejanas-convertidas-en-...