Héctor Rafael

Born of Puerto Rican parents in Santiago de Compostela, Spain and raised in Puerto Rico. The artist has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Painting from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University and a Master of Art Education from Universidad Ana G. Méndez. At Syracuse University, Héctor Rafael studied under the tutelage of artists Sharon Gold, Jerome Witkin and Michael Sickler. His art education continued right after completing his B.F.A. in an unconventional manner.

Héctor Rafael worked as an Art Handler and Cataloguer at Christie’s New York (1996-2002); where he was able to study firsthand the artwork of some of the great masters in the history of art. The artist's paintings have been included in exhibitions in Puerto Rico, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles,  New York, Miami, Boston, Istanbul (Turkey), London (United Kingdom), Barcelona (Spain), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Lisbon (Portugal), Florence, Mantua and Venice (Italy). His role as an educator has made him very influential in a new generation of Puerto Rican artists and professionals in creative fields.

In 2019 Héctor Rafael was recognized in Europe for his artistic merit during the Bienal Internacional de Arte de Barcelona at the Museu Europeu d'Art Modern (MEAM) in Barcelona, Spain and in Mantova Biennale Internazionale d’ Arte Contemporanea at Museo Diocesano Francesco Gonzaga in Mantua, Italy. Russo Studio di Consulenza Artistica and Effetto Arte Foundation granted three awards recognizing his artistic and stylistic merit in 2023: 1° International Prize Donatello at Palazzo Borghese in Florence, the International Prize Leonardo Da Vinci at Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan and the International Prize Michelangelo at Teatro Italia in Rome, Italy. In 2024 Héctor Rafael received for the second time the International Prize Botticelli at Palazzo Borguese in Florence, Italy (the first time was in 2019). The artist’s work is part of prestigious private and public collections including Colección Reyes Veray,  Museo de Arte de Caguas, Museo de Arte Francisco Oller and the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance (PRAA) in Chicago, Illinois.