Juan Carlos Amador grounds his recent work in two essential elements: cellulose and time. Using reclaimed wooden moldings from the 1980s and ’90s-originally designed for framing artworks-Amador transforms objects tied to the past into modular sculptural forms. These materials carry their own histories, inviting viewers to look beyond surface aesthetics and consider the temporal layers embedded within them. Drawing from the long tradition of artists who challenge the function of the frame, Amador reimagines it as a sculptural element rather than a boundary. His totemic constructions honor the inherent properties of the wood while referencing modernist efforts to break from convention. The absence of frames in the accompanying drawings echoes this gesture, positioning the entire exhibition as an exploration of memory, material, and the passage of time.
This captivating painting merges tradition and modernity, bridging cultural narratives and contemporary design.
Las Mascaras V, 2023. Paintings
Las Mascaras V, 2023
From The Las Mascaras (The masks) Series
Spray paint, acrylic and gel medium on canvas
Dimensions: 66 H x 58 W in.
Unframed
Juan Carlos Amador López is a multimedia artist, born in Mayagüez and raised on the coast of Aguadilla. He has dedicated himself to the visual arts since completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, with his creative emphasis placed on the concept of color. Through his contemporary works, he revisits and reevaluates the Neo-Impressionist pictorial method—also known as Divisionism—characteristic of the late 19th-century movement.
His recent abstractions display a unique style and focus on optical color combinations, ranging from the fragmented application of pure pigmentation to extensive, oval shapes of semi-opaque pigments. Amador superimposes these translucent color patches with the intention of filling the plane with an assortment of hues frozen in a process of transformation. Free from the burden of a specific narrative or message, the meaning of these works depends on the appreciation of each viewer—on their individual and biological capacity to instantly perceive, comprehend, and interpret color introspectively.
Juan Carlos Amador has exhibited his work both within and outside of Puerto Rico, with his most recent exhibition having been on the island of Saint Thomas. His work is also part of important local and international private collections.
