{"id":1421,"date":"2025-08-13T16:09:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T16:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2025-08-21T09:16:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T09:16:18","slug":"found-objects-hold-puerto-rican-lineage-in-adrian-viajero-romans-layered-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/13\/found-objects-hold-puerto-rican-lineage-in-adrian-viajero-romans-layered-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Found Objects Hold Puerto Rican Lineage in Adri\u00e1n Viajero Rom\u00e1n\u2019s Layered Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Found<\/p>\n

\u201cThe objects I use often serve as memory keepers,\u201d says Adri\u00e1n Viajero Rom\u00e1n<\/a>. \u201cSometimes they find me\u2014objects with history, decay, or presence\u2014and I build a piece around them. Other times, I begin with a story I want to tell and seek materials that can hold that narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rom\u00e1n finds an intuitive balance between object and idea, allowing each to influence the other as he melds two-dimensional portraiture with three-dimensional forms like wooden frames, religious iconography, frayed chicken wire, and even an empty can of Goya black beans. These found\u2014and seemingly mundane\u2014items hold stories that reflect the artist\u2019s ongoing interests: memory, migration, and the genealogies we can trace through the objects that accompany us or that we leave behind.<\/p>\n

\"a
\u201cPicking Up The Pieces\u201d (2018), portrait of Maria Kerialys Aldea de Jesus of Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, graphite on wood, terry cloth, plastic bottles, newspaper, 24 x 18 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Based between Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, Rom\u00e1n frequently reflects on the experience of the Puerto Rican diaspora and the bifurcated way of living that can emerge when people leave their homelands. He\u2019s deeply interested in the correlations between belonging and displacement and how preserving the past is essential to telling honest stories about ourselves and communities.<\/p>\n

The artist\u2019s works often feature children, who appear as both innocent and supremely knowing. Staring at the viewer with serious eyes, these youthful protagonists might be steadfastly engaged in a game or otherwise posed in a way that suggests impermanence. The child in \u201cPicking Up The Pieces,\u201d for example, grasps a white terrycloth towel in her pudgy hand while sitting atop crunched plastic bottles, a precarious seat that will only hold for so long. Rom\u00e1n shares:<\/p>\n

\n

The children become physical, dimensional presences, symbols of possibility and resilience that inhabit our space as reminders of hope and imagination\u2026 I often depict children because they carry both the innocence of potential and the clarity of truth. In these works, the children aren\u2019t passive. They\u2019re dreaming, resisting, surviving. They become living monuments, carrying the weight of history while pointing us toward the future.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In his solo exhibition titled Archivos Vivos<\/em> at The National Puerto Rican Museum<\/a> in Chicago, the artist presents his mixed-media sculptures and installations as a sort of journey through Puerto Rican identity. As its name suggests, archival imagery and objects appear frequently to illustrate the various influences on this collective experience. <\/p>\n

\"an
From \u2018Archivos Vivos.\u2019 Photo by Danny Cantu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As part of this exhibition, Rom\u00e1n facilitated a pair of workshops that invited community members to reflect on their own experiences and encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and then create either a paper airplane or boat. Participants also responded to a more profound, enduring question: \u201cWhat does citizenship mean\u2014especially for Puerto Ricans, whose U.S. citizenship was imposed, not chosen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis workshop came at a time of heightened urgency,\u201d Rom\u00e1n says, noting that just days before the gatherings, federal agents<\/a> visited the museum unannounced. \u201cIt was a chilling reminder that our communities are still being surveilled, targeted, and threatened. This is why we must keep telling our stories\u2014why we gather in these spaces to remember, create, and resist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Archivos Vivos<\/em> is on view through January 17, 2026. A new installation in his Caja De Memoria Viva<\/em> series will open this October at the National Portrait Gallery, with a replica to follow for Puro Ritmo<\/em> at the Smithsonian Latino American Museum in April. Until then, keep up with the artist\u2019s work on his website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"an
\u201cMi Caridad\u201d (2010), charcoal and graphite on wood, vintage objects (trunk, photos, toys, washboard, and books), 24 x 36 x 24 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cCaja De Memoria Viva II, Sobrevivientes: Digna Quiles\u201d (2018), charcoal on wood, 48 x 49 x 48 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
Interior detail of \u201cCaja De Memoria Viva II, Sobrevivientes: Digna Quiles\u201d (2018), charcoal on wood, 48 x 49 x 48 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
From \u2018Archivos Vivos.\u2019 Photo by Danny Cantu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cNi\u00f1o Santo\u201d (2011), graphite and charcoal on wood, window frame, wire, rope, iron claw foot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"children's
From \u2018Archivos Vivos.\u2019 Photo by Danny Cantu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cSi Yo Sue\u00f1o,\u201d graphite on wood, vintage suitcase, wood frame, book, twine, wood toy, 17 x 29 x 6 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"the
The artist during the installation of \u2018Archivos Vivos.\u2019 Photo by Danny Cantu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Found Objects Hold Puerto Rican Lineage in Adri\u00e1n Viajero Rom\u00e1n\u2019s Layered Portraits<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe objects I use often serve as memory keepers,\u201d says Adri\u00e1n Viajero Rom\u00e1n. \u201cSometimes they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1435,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions\/1435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beatlesfansunite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}