Mélissa Raymond (b. 1980, Montreal, QC) and René Sandín’s (b. 1980, Puerto Rico) artistic practice is nourished by a pluricultural regard and an interest in the aesthetics of territorial identity. With an incise conceptual edge, and through processes of encounter, documentation and reproduction, their work meanders through endemic aspects related to territory and tropicality, with an often postcolonial sub-commentary. In recent years, their work has focused on the presence of color in the municipal landscapes of Puerto Rico, revealing a triangular relationship between land, painting and a sense of Puerto Ricanness: a municipal-tropical practice of abstraction, offering a deviated view of the island’s Caribbean enchantment and insular character.
Mélissa and René are based between Montréal, Québec and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Mélissa and René are based between Montréal, Québec and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Grants awarded
2023 Canada Council for the Arts (CAC): Explore and Create - Research and Creation grant for the project Color & Territory: Towards a Perceptual Approach
2023 Canada Council for the Arts: Explore and Create - Concept to Realization grant for the exhibition project L’état incertain / An Uncertain State at Centre Clark.
2022 Canada Council for the Arts: Travel Grant - to present the solo exhibition Face au soleil at El Kilómetro in San Juan, Puerto Rico
2021 Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) - Research and Creation grant for the project Tropical Dislocation.
2021 Canada Council for the Arts: Explore and Create - Research and Creation grant for the project Tropical Dislocation.
2020 La Cuarentena 2: Emergency fund for artists and visual arts workers from Puerto Rico, awarded by Km0.2 gallery, with funding provided by the Flamboyán Fund for the Arts (awarded to René Sandín).
Selection of current and past exhibitions
2024 (upcoming) MECA RD24 International Art Fair in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, as part of El Kilómetro’s group showcase (curated by Roberto Tirado and Karlo Ibarra)
2023 Pluralismos at El Kilómetro in San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Roberto Tirado and Karlo Ibarra)
2023 Unspoken Identities at Ana Mas Projects, in Barcelona, Spain (curated by Abdiel Segarra Ríos)
2023 L’état incertain / An Uncertain State at Centre Clark, in Montréal, Québec (as artists & co-curators)
2022 Real State of Mind at Untitled Art Fair, in Miami Beach, USA (curated by Karlo Ibarra and Roberto Tirado)
2022 Tamo’ Aquí / We Here at Embajada, in San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Christopher & Manuela Paz)
2022 À distance de soi / At a distance, from within at Projet Casa, Montreal, QC, as part of the Art Pop Music Festival (curated by Bettina Pérez and Tyra Trono)
2022 In Dispersion / En la dispersión at VisArts Center in Rockville, Maryland, USA (curated by Sofía Gallisá Muriente)
2022 Face au soleil, solo exhibition at El Kilómetro, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
2021 Counter Flags at The Abrons Arts Center, New York City, NY, USA (curated by Natalia Viera Salgado)
2021 [...]entreformas at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, in San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Abdiel Segarra Ríos)
2020 Landmark at Km0.2, in San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Roberto Tirado and Karlo Ibarra)
2019 El Espacio Común at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, in San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Vanessa Hernández Gracia)
2019 Turismo Interno, solo show at El Lobi, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
2019 Caribe Geopolitical Bliss, solo show at Diagonal, in San Juan, Puerto Rico
2019 I’m not Drunk at Km0.2, in San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Radamés “Juni” Figueroa)
2019 Pa’ Chilear at REM Project, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, (curated by Jesús “Bubu” Negrón)
2016 2da Gran Bienal Tropical in Piñones, Loíza, Puerto Rico (curated jointly by Pablo León de La Barra, Marina Reyes Franco, Radamés “Juni” Figueroa, Stefan Benchoam and Jesús “Bubu” Negrón)
2015 Un Verano en Puerta de Tierra in Puerta de Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico (curated by Marina Reyes Franco)