Aixa Requena began her career making paintings of large format, figurative, and expressionism with the use of intense colors. Her first individual exhibit took place at the Liga de Estudiantes de Arte de San Juanin the late 1980’s. Then her creativeness took a different turn and she began to make art with a particular technique mixing photography with paint.

“After that exhibit I was curious about photography; I did not want to create a collage, I wanted to print directly on the fabric as if it was just another pigment of paint. After it was printed on the fabric, I would paint it. It was kind of a mix media art,” said Requena, who took that technique a step further and developed it on wood and metal surfaces.

Two of her projects more representative of this stage included the series of Antilles Textures based on the architecture of the region, and the Caribbean Virgins, a tribute to the tropical woman. Antilles Textures was the base of one of the most important art exhibits made by Requena, which took place in 1999 at the UNESCO exhibition hall in Paris.

The Caribbean Virgins was a more feminist and poetic piece, while Antilles Textures was more political based on culture and history. Its style included some architecture fragments of wood, Caribbean homes, and Old San Juan walls; all having some layers of history,” said Requena, who was born in Old San Juan and also has her workshop there.

In early 2000, Requena moved to New York where she earned a master’s degree in art at Hunter College and began a new era in her creative work. She worked more with installation art and videos. One of her early works was called “Between Spaces,” a piece with scenagraphy that consisted of a subway train car with paintings, video, and ephemeral sculptures.

Requena’s art particularly her celebrated Antilles Textures can be seen at the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, both situated in Santurce. Also, the Museum of Latinamerican Art in Los Angeles, the Univeristy of Notre Dame in Indiana, and the Museo del Barrio in New York display some of her pieces.

Today, Requena began again to develop a mix of photography but this time incorporating new ideas, which has transformed her work. “I have returned to photography and converted it into a painting but with other foundations; I am working with transparent surfaces, and assembling them on top of eachother,” Requena said.

To buy work by Aixa Requena, you can visit Atelier Aixa Requena in Old San Juan, or call (787) 722-1782 or send an email to aixarequena@yahoo.com.