Yiyo Tirado- Rivera
Bio
Yiyo Tirado-Rivera (b. San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1990) lives and works in San Juan. He earned a BA in Design and Graphic Arts from the School of Fine Arts and Design (EAPD). Since 2015, he has co-directed the contemporary art platform KM 0.2 with Karlo Andrei Ibarra in Santurce. A recipient of Beta-Local’s "La Práctica" fellowship, he has exhibited in Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Chile, the US, Spain, and the Dominican Republic. His work has been featured in No existe un mundo poshuracán at the Whitney Museum and Tropical is Political at the Americas Society and MAC-PR. Upcoming Exhibitions: 2024 Solo at Mahara+Co, Miami, and Duo at Andrew Freedman Home, NY. Awards/Residencies: NADA UKS Residency (Oslo), Andrew Freedman Home Residency (2024), Beta-Local Fellowship (2017-18). Individual Shows: Ocaso (2024), Tropical Blizz Ball Sale (2021). Collective Shows: Jameel Arts Centre (Dubai), Tropical is Political (2023-24).
Statement
Yiyo Tirado-Rivera’s work deconstructs aesthetic regimes tied to architecture, construction, the tourist economy, and the depiction of the Caribbean as a paradisiacal image. Through investigations of Puerto Rico’s territorial status, public spaces, and socio-political geography, his art critiques the colonial model shaping public landscapes to serve the tourism industry. Through sculptures, photographs, and paintings, he subverts traditional representations of the Caribbean and challenges fetishized, imperialist visions.
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in