Artist of the day: Artist of te Day, November 17, 2021: Daniel Lind-Ramos, a Puerto Rican painter and sculptor (#1420)

Daniel Lind-Ramos (1953) is a Puerto Rican painter and sculptor, born in Loíza, a coastal town in Puerto Rico. He studied painting at the University of Puerto Rico in 1975 and in 1980 he graduated from NYU with a master’s of art degree. In addition to his studio practice, Lind-Ramos also currently teaches in the Humanities Department at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao.

Lind-Ramos paints on canvas with oil using traditional and uncommon applications techniques from brushes to spatulas. He also works with recycled or reused materials such as cardboard, wire screen, discarded appliances, car parts, the foliage of coconut palm trees, broken musical instruments and other used items.

He was described as the "breakout star" or highlight of the 2019 Whitney Biennial by multiple reviewers, with the New York Times writing that his sculpture Maria Maria exemplified the pieces in the Biennial that "reassert the power of spirituality." Critic Holland Cotter elaborated on the sculpture, explaining how Lind-Ramos "creat[ed] from wood, beads, coconuts and a blue FEMA tarp, a figure that is both the Virgin Mary and personification of the hurricane that devastated the island in 2017 ... the piece looks presidingly majestic."

His works are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Latin American Art, El Museo del Barrio, and the Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lind-Ramos uses found materials from all over his community to create assemblages that engage Puerto Rico's history and present-day life. His sculpture Maria-Maria refers to both the Virgin Mary and Hurricane Maria, which killed more than 3,000 Puerto Ricans and destroyed much of the island in 2017. His sculptures 1797: Vencedor (1797: Victorious) and Centinelas (Sentinels) recall the British invasion of San Juan in 1797, which was defeated in part thanks to the Black militia of Loíza and Cangrejos. Drawing on items imbued with memory, Lind-Ramos creates works that connect his community to their history.

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