People

Whom to talk to to learn more about contemporary Puerto Rican art... By no means a complete list but a good starting point:

Curators, critics, authors, profesors
Collectors

Curators, critics, authors, profesors
Ricardo Alegria	born on April 14, 1921 in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, deceased on July 7, 2011 in San Juan; has been with and/or founded and/or directed the following institutions: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, Museo de Las Américas	prpop.org/biografias bibliotecavirtualut.suagm.edu
Manuel Álvarez Lezama	Puerto Rican art critic (formerly with El Nuevo Día)
Marimar Benítez	curator, art historian, art critic and director of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico; born in San Juan in 1942	eap.edu
Fatima Bercht	chief curator at El Museo del Barrio, New York; former director of the Visual Arts Department at the Americas Society, New York	elmuseo.org
Laura Bravo López	Spanish art historian, professor in Art Theory at the UPR campus in Mayagüez; has published "Ficciones certificadas: Invención y apariencia en la creación fotográfica actual (1975-2000)" in 2006; writes for Exit Book	uprm.edu
Taina B. Caragol	Formerly New York based Puerto Rican researcher and Latin American Art specialist; Consultant, Latin American bibliographer at the Museum of Modern Art Library, MoMA, and Coordinator of the Survey of Archives of Latino Art (2003-2006); worked in the education department of the MAP till 2011; lives in San Juan
Papo Colo	Puerto Rican artist and cultural producer; founded Exit Art and Trickster Theater in New York together with Jeanette Ingberman; born 1947 in San Juan, lives in New York and Puerta de Tierra	papocolostop.com exitart.org trickstertheater.org
Deborah Cullen	American curator at El Museo del Barrio, New York; co-curator of "El Museo's Bienal - The (S) Files", 1999-2005 of "Here & There/Aquí & Allá", 2001 and of "None of the Above" (Real Art Ways, Hartford, Connecticut), 2004; married to New York based Puerto Rican artist Arnaldo Morales	elmuseo.org
Yrsa Dávila	cultural promotor, exhibition organizer and consultant for many prestigious institutions and projects in the last 20+ years; Puerto Rican
Elaine Delgado	Puerto Rican; former director of the Artes Plásticas division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña; works for Museo de Arte de Ponce since summer 2008
Marcos Dimas	New York based artist, founder and artistic director of Taller Boricua, New York; born 1943 in Cabo Rojo	tallerboricua.org
Margarita Fernández Zavala	Puerto Rican curator, critic, author and profesor at the University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón campus; co-curator of the first "Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe"; founder of Mujeres Artistas de Puerto Rico Inc.; former director of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico
Elvis Fuentes Rodríguez	Cuban born independent art historian, curator and critic; came to Puerto Rico in 2004, wrote for El Nuevo Dia, worked for the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña and the Museo de Arte de Cayey, curator of award winning exhibition at the XXVI Bienal Internacional de Artes Gráficas, Ljubljana, Eslovenia, 2005 (selection of "La Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe"); CIRCA curator from 2006 on; curator at El Museo del Barrio, New York
Humberto Figueroa Torres	Puerto Rican; former director of the Artes Plásticas division of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (previous to Elaine Delgado); now at the Museum in Cayey (University Campus)
Mercedes Gómez	Puerto Rican professor; since spring 2010 executive director of the ICP; former director of Ballet Concierto de Puerto Rico, former executive director of the Corporación de las Artes Musicales de Puerto Rico	www.icp.gobierno.pr
Julieta González	Venezuelan; based in San Juan; associate curator of Latin American art at Tate Modern	artealdia.com
Cheryl Hartup	American; since June 2005 chief curator of the Museo de Arte de Ponce; former associate curator at the Miami Art Museum	museoarteponce.org
Silvia Karman Cubiñá	Puerto Rican; since Oct. 2008 executive director and chief curator of Bass Museum of Art (Miami Beach, FL), founding director of The Moore Space, Miami (since 2002); co-curated "None of the Above" (Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT, 2004); one of the CIRCA curators; was the Puerto Rico commissioner to the 1997 Bienal de Sao Paolo; has curated shows with Pepón Osorio, Allora & Calzadilla,...; was a finalist for the Walter Hopps Award for Curatorial Achievement (2007); was one of only ten fellows at the Center for Curatorial Leadership program in New York	bassmuseum.org themoorespace.org artdaily.org curatorialleadership.org
Lisa Ladner	Swiss-Puerto Rican founder of el-status.com (2005), El Status Studio (2006), El Pulguero de los Artistas (2008, 2009), Feria de Arte Sonoro (FAS 08, FAS 2010) and the art project Peripher; cultural project manager and communicator, freelance curator, writer, webpublisher and photographer; lives in Zurich and San Juan	see contact page for additional information
María Angela López	since 2007 director of Museo de Las Américas	prtc.net/~musame/
Teresa López	Puerto Rican artist, teacher and editor of Orificio (discontinued in autumn 2009)	Magazine Orificio: geocities.com/orificio_2000 Personal Website: geocities.com/zepolt
Cathy Lucas	Looks over the legacy of the late art dealer, curator and mentor Luigi Marrozzini (Rome, 1933-San Juan, 1997); fosters distribution of original works on paper	artefoundation.org
Michelle "Michy" Marxuach	Puerto Rican curator, director of Beta-Local, former director of M&M proyectos and founder of the Studio Residency Program Fortaleza 302 (closed); got international recognition with PUERTO RICO '00 [paréntesis en la "ciudad"], PUERTO RICO '02 [en ruta] and PUERTO RICO '04 [tribute to the messenger]	betalocal.org mmproyectos.com artnexus
Elsa Meléndez	Puerto Rican artist, curator of the Museo de Arte de Caguas
Oscar Mestey Villamil	Puerto Rican visual and theatre artist, dance choreographer and profesor at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR)
Marysol Nieves	Born 1965 in Camden, New Jersey to Puerto Rican parents. 2004 - March 31st, 2006 curator at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; former director of Visual Arts at The Americas Society, New York and former senior curator at the Bronx Museum of the Arts; has selected the Puerto Rican artists for the "El Museo's Bienal - The (S) Files", 2005; has been appointed Assistant Vice President of Latin Art Department at Sotheby's New York (Nov 2007)	press release Sotheby's
Roberto José Nieves	Founder and director of CIRCA, first international contemporary art fair in the Caribbean and Central América. Works with artistic directors Elvis Fuentes Rodriguez (CU) and Celina Nogueras Cuevas (PR) and curators such as Paco Barragan (ES).	CIRCA website article CIRCA 06 article CIRCA 07
Celina Nogueras Cuevas	Puerto Rican cultural producer; curator/producer of Graphopoli (first biennial of urban art at the MAPR), president of Muuaaa (cultural proyects generator); artistic director of CIRCA; chief editor of ENTORNO, the oficial publication of the Colegio de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico; worked as a consultant for the Puerto Rican Public Art project	CIRCA website ENTORNO magazin
Marilú Purcell Villafañe	modern and contemporary art curator, art history professor; since February 2009 director of the Visual Arts Program, the collections and the National Gallery of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture; was responsable for the 2nd Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan; Puerto Rican, born 1971	www.icp.gobierno.pr
Brenna Quigley	director of Apoyo a las Artes at the ICP; manages the National Endowment for the Arts funds	www.icp.gobierno.pr
Marianne Ramírez Aponte	Director of MAC (since Dec 08); was exhibition director at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR); former exhibition manager and head of education programm at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC); Puerto Rican, married to artist Edgar Rodríguez Luiggi	museocontemporaneopr.org mapr.org
Mari Carmen Ramírez	First director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas, based at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX and curator at the same museum; special advisory director of "La Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe"; former director of the Museo de Arte de Ponce, Puerto Rico and of the Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico; Puerto Rican	mfah.org ICAA trienalsanjuan.org
Yasmin Ramírez	New York based Research Associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, NY; currently writing a book on the history of Puerto Rican artists in NYC entitled "Nuyorican Vanguards"; co-curator of "El Museo's Bienal, The (S)Files/The Selected Files (1999, 2000, 2002)", El Museo del Barrio, New York; former consulting curator at El Museo and curator at Taller Boricua	centropr.org
Lilliana Ramos Collado	Puerto Rican; curator at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo	museocontemporaneopr.org
Lourdes Ramos	Executive director of the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico	mapr.org
Adlin Ríos Rigau	Puerto Rican art critic, curator and writer, director of the Galería de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón	sagrado.edu
Dennis Rodríguez Ramon	Bronx born Puerto Rican curator, film producer, art dealer and collector; director of now closed Galería Sin Título (Old San Juan) which has served many newcomers as starting point; focussed not only on drawing, paining and installation, but also on film shorts, theater, performance; founder of Festival de la Tiza (Chalk Festival), Puerto Rico
Carmen T. Ruiz de Fischler	former executive director of the ICP, former director of the MAPR; now director of the Museo y Centro de Estudios Humanisticos, Dra. Josefina Camacho de la Nuez (MCEH) of the University of Turabo in Gurabo, Puerto Rico	museo.ut.pr
Juan Sánchez	New York based Puerto Rican artist, political activist and profesor at the Hunter College, CUNY, New York; initiator of RICANdition; has helped many Puerto Rican artists who freshly arrived in New York; born 1954 in Brooklyn
Hiromi Shiba de Lecompte	Former director and curator at Museo de Arte de Ponce and now president of the Puerto Rican chapter of the Asociación Internacional de Críticos de Arte (AICA)
María Emilia "Miyuca" Somoza	Puerto Rican artist, born 1938 in San Sebastian; thriving force and long time director behind the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC) which she left after 24 years in November 2008; former director of the Fine Arts department of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña; retired	museocontemporaneopr.org
Corinne Timsit	French; worked for Alfonso Arana, ran art galleries in Paris and Old San Juan (closed 1999); organized Basquiat show at MAPR in Puerto Rico, publisher and editor of ArtPremium (currently inactive), lives in Puerto Rico and France	artpremium.com
Teresa Tió	former executive director of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (2001-2005); Puerto Rican	www.icp.gobierno.pr
José Antonio Torres Martino	acclaimed artist who was honored with an individual exhibition at the MAP, 2005, and author of "Mirar y ver", 2001; born 1916 in Ponce	MAP exhibiton
Susana Torruella Leval	director emeritus of El Museo del Barrio; former director and chief curator of El Museo del Barrio; former curator at MoCHA, the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, New York	elmuseo.org
Mercedes Trelles Hernández	curator and art critic; profesor at the University of Puerto Rico; former curator at MAPR
Haydée Venegas	former director/curator at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico; freelance curator, writer, art critic; faculty member of EAP; Puerto Rican (1950 - Dec 31, 2011)	article by the author: PR Art, 2003 (pdf) Obituaries: AICA | AICA (German Section)
Joel Weinstein	satirical writer who deceased in 2008 and will be missed not only by his partner Cheryl Hartup (MAP curator) but also for his Rotund World website that covered art events and living experiences in Puerto Rico in refreshing new way	rworld.thenextfewhours.com
Sonia Zayas	Puerto Rican; Manager in Fine Arts and Small Business Administration; Researcher, Art Consultant and Editor in Museum Studies and Art History; Marketing, Customer Service and Sales Specialist; ran Galería Sánchez Contemporary Fine Art from 2004 - 2008; currently lives in Brooklyn, New York
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Collectors
Pepe Alvarez	Collection was part of the CIRCA 07 VIP programm at the "Country Club", Dorado Beach East; collects works by Japanese artist Shintaro Miyake and more
José B. "Chilo" Andreu & Millie/Milly Pietri	"Chilo" is a Puerto Rican engineer; the couple collects Puerto Rican and international contemporary art
John T. Belk III & Margarita Serapión	collectors of Puerto Rican and international contemporary art
Diana & Moisés Berezdivin	owners of Espacio 1414; Cuban born couple, owners of Kress fashion stores (in Puerto Rico since 1963)	espacio1414.com
Ignacio Cortés	owner of Chocolate Cortés; collection concentrates on Caribbean and Latin American art	ArtPremium
Maria & Alberto de la Cruz	he's the chairman of Coca Cola Puerto Rico; contemporary collection including German Neo-Expressionists, Puerto Rico's Melvin Martínez and more (visiting the collection was part of CIRCA 06's VIP program)
Miguel Antonio Ferrer	former president and CEO of the UBS bank in Puerto Rico; patron of the arts, collector	ArtPremium
Dinorah & Horacio Campolietto	works by Erwin Olaf, Andres Serrano and others
José Hernandez Castrodad	entrepreneur and collector Hernandez Castrodad owns the 2'500-square-foot art space Area in Caguas and made the Area Metro project possible	artnet.com
Millie & Luis Gutierrez	the architect and his wife are collectors of contemporary Latin Américan photography and other (mainly Puerto Rican) art; office space in Miramar serves as an exhibition space with changing exhibitions	luisgutierrezarchitects.com
Warren Antonio James	Arecibo born and New York based architect and artist; member of the Young Collectors of El Museo del Barrio
María Olga & Ramón Luis Lugo	German artist Matthias Köster lists these collectors as collectors of his work; professional political lobbyist (?)
Mara & Javier Méndez	works by UK artist Walead Beshty (photography) and others
Pedro & Cheti Muñoz Marín	collector of Puerto Rican contemporary art
Bertita & Guillermo L. Martínez
César & Mima Reyes	collector of international and Puerto Rican contemporary art; César is a psychiatrist; artist Jorge Pardo designed their house in Naguabo, PR	artnet.com
Otto Reyes	Puerto Rican architect and art collector Otto Octavio Reyes Casanova and his wife Vionnette Veray have collected about 1,500 Puerto Rican art works - mostly paintings; 153 of them made it into the 2008 Reyes-Veray show in the MAC which present venue Reyes had remodeled	coleccionreyes-veray.com
Dennis A. Simonpietri Monefeldt & Margarita Fernández Zavala	he a lawyer with an affinity for Puerto Rican post-war prints, she an independent investigator, curator, professor with a healthy interest for emerging artists and art done by women - together they own a collection of contemporary Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Latin American and some European paintings, prints, sculptures, objects, even futuristic santos; large art library and artistic book editions
Carlos Trapaga	Collection was part of the CIRCA 07 VIP programm at the "Country Club", Dorado Beach East
Rosalía & Humberto Ugobono	works by Melvin Martinez, Jonathan Meese, Guillermo Kuitca and others; Mr. Ugobono is "Puerto Rico's most seasoned collector" according to some art editors
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