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| "Point of View' digital collage. |
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Found Objects & Puerto Rican Lineage Portraits
by Adrián Viajero Román’s
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“Aguas De Libertad” (2012), graphite on wood, cardboard, pastel, 36 x 24 inches. |
“The objects I use often serve as memory keepers,” says Adrián Viajero Román. “Sometimes they find me—objects with history, decay, or presence—and 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.”
Román 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—and seemingly mundane—items hold stories that reflect the artist’s ongoing interests: memory, migration, and the genealogies we can trace through the objects that accompany us or that we leave behind.
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| “Picking Up The Pieces” (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 |
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| From ‘Archivos Vivos.’ Photo by Danny Cantu |
Based between Brooklyn, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, Román 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’s deeply interested in the correlations between belonging and displacement and how preserving the past is essential to telling honest stories about ourselves and communities.
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| “Mi Caridad” (2010), charcoal and graphite on wood, vintage objects (trunk, photos, toys, washboard, and books), 24 x 36 x 24 inches |
The artist’s 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 “Picking Up The Pieces,” 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. Román shares:
The children become physical, dimensional presences, symbols of possibility and resilience that inhabit our space as reminders of hope and imagination… I often depict children because they carry both the innocence of potential and the clarity of truth. In these works, the children aren’t passive. They’re dreaming, resisting, surviving. They become living monuments, carrying the weight of history while pointing us toward the future.
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| “Caja De Memoria Viva II, Sobrevivientes: Digna Quiles” (2018), charcoal on wood, 48 x 49 x 48 inches |
Archivos Vivos is on view through January 17, 2026. A new installation in his Caja De Memoria Viva series will open this October at the National Portrait Gallery, with a replica to follow for Puro Ritmo at the Smithsonian Latino American Museum in April. Keep up with the artist’s work on his website and Instagram.
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| From ‘Archivos Vivos.’ Photo by Danny Cantu |
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| “Niño Santo” (2011), graphite and charcoal on wood, window frame, wire, rope, iron claw foot |
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| “Si Yo Sueño,” graphite on wood, vintage suitcase, wood frame, book, twine, wood toy, 17 x 29 x 6 inches |
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| The artist during the installation of ‘Archivos Vivos.’ Photo by Danny Cantu |
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2 comments:
These artworks by Adrián Viajero Román are really interesting. Jacki I admire how you always find new (to me) artists and their work. I learn so much here. Thank you.
Have a good start into the new week.
Thank you so much, Elenor. I learn a lot from my searches too. So many talentsd artists uout there. I believe everyone had a given talent, the game is to recognize and let it be seen? Happy week, dear Elenor.
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