MY PUERTO RICO: Artist Biography

Patrick McGrath
My work responds to consumer media culture and the historical use of Christian icons in colonial Latin America. As a painter, growing up in Puerto Rico, one of the oldest colonies in the world and at the same time one of the countries with most cars per square mile, I explore the relationship between traditional icons and our modern day consumer society.
The paintings project a world filled with unexpected anachronisms where spirituality is transgressed by triviality. Religious symbols loose their original meaning and are amorally converted into disposable marketplace products from the Media culture.
This recontextualization of the “retablo” altarpiece painting imported from the Old World in colonial times, allows me to question today's assumptions about the demise of colonialism. By utilizing the “retablo” format, I can emulate previous indoctrination strategies and question the imported set of values from the corporate global economy. The “retablos” act then as purveyors of the belief system intrinsic to a capitalist society, which, assuming control over the media, diffuses the pervasive corporate propaganda and manufactures mass consent with its offers of salvation. While these religious icons loose their aura of sanctity displaced by some product or celebrity, these in turn seem to gain a pseudo-religious position.
In some of my paintings the cult to TV celebrities and movie stars pretends to take over every possible space reaching a ubiquitously self-centered divinity status. Many of the “retablos” that I have created are paintings distributed in three united plates. These triptychs operate as history books meant to be read carefully ‘between the lines'. The lines in this case are the constant commercial interruptions implicit in the message. The work intends to pronounce a commentary about how the neoliberal globalization, with its consumerist doctrines, transmitted by the media, have altered dramatically the way we understand religion, live and relate to each other and our environment. Through a redefinition of our cultural identity and establishing a dialogue with history, I intend to confront the intolerable historic amnesia that affects us all.


Erick Sánchez
The painter and photographer Erick Sánchez was born in May, 1973 in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Beginning in 1996, Erick began to express his feelings through the medium of paint. Later, he began to develop his formation in the American Academy of the New York Art Students League and the San Juan Art Students League. At the same time, he continued traveling and taking additional courses in the United States to further enrich his work and broaden his experience. Since 2001 is the resident painter artist of Galería Sanchez in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. And today, after many long hours of hard work and dedication, success and recognition have been realized.
At this time in his life, Erick presents to us a series of paintings founded in the great puertorrican landscapes and seascapes. His work transports us to an ideal place that is full of peace and harmony. These new works are composites in forms intended to communicate to us something much deeper than originally believed. The painter Erick Sánchez allows us to travel to and connect us with his most recent work by exploring the limitless bounds of nature through his experimentation and expression.
The atmosphere found on the natural surroundings of the island of Puerto Rico on which he lives are most important to the artist, and have now become the basis for his new work. The various elements of the tropical environment, the innumerable tangible and intangible, as they are seen through the infinite variations in sunlight, are reflected in his latest works.The viewer is transported to the outside world of Puerto Rico to see what the artist sees, and experience the same sensations as the artist as he experiments and works in the countryside. His work is an expression of his innermost self...his feelings, the manner in which he thinks, his deep spirituality, and his love of God the Creator.
With his skills, Sánchez compels us to reflect what is truly natural and beautiful, by awakening in us what may have been forgotten or overlooked, or by instilling in us something new and surprising as we confront nature as seen by the artist.
Some of the recognition and awards the artist has received in the recent, among others are, 100 Contemporary International Artists from European Communities Artists Library, Group Show Winner of the Viridian Artists 16th National Juried Exhibition in New York City, Who is Who in Art, Encounters Juried Exhibition Honorable Mention in the Museum of the Americas, Miami, Florida, Artist of the Commemorative Painting of the Ponce Carnival, 2005, San Juan Man of Distinction for his dedication and work in the field of National Arts, Honorable Mention in the Photography Biennial Show of the ICP and third place in the UNESCO 2005 Photography Competition in Puerto Rico. Arte puertorriqueño. Galería de arte contemporáneo del Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico. Artista puertorriqueño pintor Erick Sánchez . Pinturas de Erick Sanchez . Paisajes de Puerto Rico por Erick Sánchez.


Héctor Román
The artist was born in 1965 in Chicago, IL. In 1992 completed his Bachelor in Arts with a concentration in Painting and Graphic Arts. In 1996, finished his Master in Fine Arts, with a mayor in Painting and a minor in Alternative Photography at the Pratt Institute, of New York.
The artist also has a vast teaching experience as Art Instructor in 2006 at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico, Ponce Art Appreciation and Fine Arts. Art Instructor during 1996- present at Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico Bayamón, San Germán and Aguadilla Campuses in Photography, Fine Arts and Art Apreciation. Art Instructor between 2000- 2001 Gear-up Trio Program Interamerican University of Puerto Rico San Germán, PR. Lajas Elementary School Drawing and painting and as Visual Arts Consultant in 1994 on the Department of Social and Community Services New York City Housing Authority in Painting classes.
Héctor Román has showed his work in nationals and international exhibitions, among others, in 2007 Revelations Galería Sánchez Old San Juan, Puerto Rico 2005 Fosas y Espadas Sin Título, Galería de Arte Contemporáneo Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1996 Moon Eclipse Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, 2003 Muestra Nacional de Artes Plásticas Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española La Puntilla, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2001 Ceramic in Arquitecture Arquitecture in ceramic Galería de Arte, Chardón Building UPR, Mayagüez, PR. And in 1998 Bienal Internacional de Fotografía Museo de las Américas, Cuartel de Ballajá Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
In his new series of abstract paintings and instalations Héctor Román is exploring the Invasion of a Space. Throughout the existence of time, cultures have been adapting to their environment, blending with the flora and fauna, keeping in peace and respecting their surrounding as sacred. With the development of their need for survival they have acquired for thousands of years of knowledge on how to adapt and conserve their traditions in order to pass on generations to generations. Every activity that they do from hunting to dancing involved respect to their ancestors and mother earth. Sadly nowadays everything has changed; the concept of conservation is substituted for greed and selfishness. Traditions are disappearing as fast as the rainforest; encyclopedias of knowledge from our elder disintegrate like burning lands ready for “modernism”. Where is the balance? We have broken the cycle!
“With this in mind I would like to contribute my thoughts on this issue with my art. My work is influenced by indigenous cultures from the Caribbean to all around the world. Thousands of year’s worth of knowledge disappearing before our eyes. With my recent pieces I’ve been focused on “invasion of a space”, to destroy and to erase any trace of a sacred land. Asphalt and earth is my medium to represent my paintings, asphalt representing our use of highways and fuel, dividing, contaminating and creating boundaries reducing space. Earth representing the sacredness of land, cultures and traditions.

My Puerto Rico is an Exhibition sponsored by our Main Sponsor: The Rhode Island Fundation and The Univesity of Rhode Island. Parts of the funds was provided by: Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and City of Providence.