BIO

Dominican artist Joshuel Rijo was born in La Romana, Dominican Republic in October 1988. He has made several group exhibitions nationwide. He exhibited in 2016 at La Aldea Cultura; He has also held exhibitions in the town hall of La Romana and Villa Hermosa respectively, as well as in the House of Culture. In 2014 he was awarded by the City Council as Young Exemplar and good progress in the area of culture and the plastic arts. And later he won the national award for Barograph Design. His mentors include Welcome Báez, Norberto Uribe, Silfa Casso and José Marte. His inspiration comes from women. “I try to capture their expressions in the moment of intimacy with their partner, always taking care of nuances and artistic style.” Joshuel has his own particular way of how he processes his works of art. He always goes after something that inspires him. “First, I take the photograph of a real pose so that the work transmits what I want people to feel. Then, I start with the process of creating the paint layer by layer to make it as real as possible.” He generally approaches hyperrealism although he sometimes mixes the media with expressionism, but it is very rare. Since Joshuel can remember, he tells us that he has always expressed himself in this way and sometimes he would remember situations in his home. He would reflect it with colorful pencils. “When I fell in love, I always sent drawings that will reflect my feelings. There always happens something that would make a mark in some way and inspire me to capture that on canvas. It is always something related to what I live, with my adventures, crazy nights, my works have an identity, a history, a why.”