Jorge Rios
Jorge Rios’s practice is driven by process and rooted in the history of abstraction. He combines gestural brushstrokes, drips, and stains with graphic elements such as grids and patterns, using highly saturated pigments on large canvases and paper.
These contrasting techniques reflect different approaches to painting, including fast and slow mark-making, soft and hard edges, and accidentality versus intentionality. He is interested in how opposing forces—such as artifice (illusion and construction) and truth (emotion and sincerity)—can coexist within a single picture.
Ultimately, his work aims to blur the line between aesthetic trickery and artistic honesty. He prioritizes stylistic variety over a consistent visual identity, with paintings that function like a funhouse mirror in which different artistic movements and attitudes are reflected, while conveying a sense of ongoing jest.
Untitled | 2025 | acrylic on paper | 12x9inches (frame 16.75x14.75) | Not for sale (gallery collection)
Untitled | 2025 | acrylic on paper | 12x9inches (frame 16.75x14.75) | 375USD
Untitled | 2025 | acrylic on paper | 12x9inches (frame 16.75x14.75) | 375USD
Untitled | 2025 | acrylic on paper | 12x9inches (frame 16.75x14.75) | 375USD
Untitled | 2025 | acrylic on paper | 12x9inches (frame 16.75x14.75) | 375USD
Education
MFA, Washington University in St. Louis, MO (2023)
BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL (2021)
Additional Education
NYC Crit Club, The Canopy Program, New York, NY (2024–2025)
Solo Exhibitions
For My Next Trick…, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, FL (2024)
Random Specific, Pan American Art Projects Satellite Space, Miami, FL (2021)
La Edad del Viento, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, FL (2021)
June 16, 2018, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, FL (2019)
Cellar Door, Cevor Latin American Art, Miami, FL (2017)
Las Moscas, Threshold One / García Squared Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (2015)
Recent Work, Habana Libre Gallery, Havana, Cuba (2013)
Ode to My Generation, 11 Havana Biennale, Havana, Cuba (2012)
Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed, 23 y 12 Gallery, Havana, Cuba (2011)
Selected Group Exhibitions
Back in the Future, Platform Art Space, New York, NY (2026)
Raccoon Energy, NYC Crit Club, New York, NY (2025)
A Short Lived Torture of Cacophony, HIERRO Contemporary, New York, NY (2025)
XXL, Brintz + COUNTY, Palm Beach, FL (2024)
The Air That Inhabits, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO (2023)
Protection No Longer Assured, SOLO Collection, Madrid, Spain (2023)
NADA Curated: Reduction to Satire, New Art Dealers Alliance (online) (2022)
ABCDEFG, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, FL (2022)
100 Years of Cuban Art, Pan American Art Projects, Miami, FL (2020)
Art vs Fetichism, Pan American Art Projects Annex, Miami, FL (2017)
City Remix, Concrete Space, Miami, FL (2017)
Threshold One, García Squared Contemporary, Kansas City, MO (2014)
Habana Up, San Marino / Rome (2012)
Collections
El Espacio 23 (Jorge M. Pérez Collection)
SOLO Collection
Grants & Awards
James Bernard Haggarty Scholarship, NYC Crit Club (2023)
Chancellor’s Graduate Fellowship, Washington University in St. Louis (2021)
Presidential Merit Scholarship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2019)
Selected Press
New American Paintings, Midwest Issue #167 (2023)
LVL3 (2023)
Canvas Rebel (2023)
Miami Herald (2019)
Art on Cuba Magazine (2019)