Paul Camacho
Morovis, PR, 1929 - San Juan, PR, 1989
Biography Details
Painter and set designer. Camacho attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Beginning in the seventies he exhibited, both individually and in group shows, in Puerto Rico and the United States, and he took part in competitions in the U.S. and Europe, receiving several prizes and honorable mentions through the years. In the seventies, he, Luis Hernández Cruz, Antonio Navia, and Lope Max Díaz became the founding members of the Frente Group, which, despite its short life, published a newspaper of the same name as well as a portfolio of prints. Camacho’s work is characterized by his preference for the “hard edge” style and by its geometry. As Camacho himself said, art should reflect the surrounding reality, and that reality includes “technology, with its suggestive forms of the future”; almost all his work reflects this ideology.
Artist Statement
“The artist is merely a vehicle that reflects its environment and produces a tangible and graphic expression of what surrounds us, over a process of synthesis. Part of our surroundings is the technology with its suggestive forms of the future. It is not saying that they are literal forms, but they can be groups of forms that carry the latent sense of the future. The plastic artist can give visible form to the currents of society and can have foresight of the world to come. Has to maintain itself open and not come to conclusions.”
Paul Camacho, 1977
Formation
Education
s.f.
- New York School of Arts and Design, New York, United States
Professional Experience
1977
- Founding member. Frente Group (Movement of social renovation of art), San Juan, Puerto Rico
Exhibitions
Solo Shows
2009
- Paul Camacho- El redescubrimiento, Galería de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1970
- Zierder Gallery, New York, United States
- Bridgeport University, Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States
Group Shows
2008
- Colección Reyes Veray, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Contexto Puertorriqueño: Del Rococó Colonial al Arte Global, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2000
- Exhibición colectiva, Centro Europa, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1984
- Primer congreso de artistas abstractos de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1981
- Salón Yaucano, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- VI Salón de Pintura UNESCO, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- V Muestra de pintura y escultura puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1979
- III Muestra de pintura y escultura puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1978
- II Muestra de pintura y escultura puertorriqueña, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1977
- II y III Salón de Pintura Amigos de la UNESCO , Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1973
- Puerto Rican Art, Newark Museum, New York, United States
Awards, Distinctions and Achievements
1978
- Mention. IV Salón de Pintura UNESCO, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1973
- First Prize in Graphic. Stanford Museum, Connecticut, United States
1971
- First Prize in Paint. Annual Contest, New England, United States
1970
- First Prize in Paint. Annual Contest, New England, United States
Collections
- Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Bibliography
Catalogues
Paul Camacho: El Redescubrimiento, Galería de Arte, Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Books
Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos de Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Arte e Identidad. San Juan, P.R.: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1998.
Los tesoros de la pintura puertorriqueña. Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. San Juan, P.R. 2000.
Newspapers
Rodríguez, Jorge. “En busca de un espíritu en la nueva tecnología”. El Vocero (San Juan, PR), 26 de marzo de 2009.
González, Leyra. “Cita a las 8:08 pm”. El Nuevo Día (San Juan, PR), 4 de agosto de 2008.