Artist Statement
My main objective has been to explore human behavior and its development through the artistic process: its methods and manifestations. I utilize these as a tool to explore myself and define what I do. Finding a creative equation has never been part of my agenda. Being a second-generation wood worker has given me the capacity and the mastery of the tools and materials I utilize without losing the organic and constructionist elements that will always be present in my artwork. I fuse my work with the political realities that surround us, giving validity to the present without abandoning the artisanal labor that the material offers. Coming from a colonized country and having been raised by a family constantly being surveilled by the state because of their political convictions, I have had to discern and analyze my purpose in the visual arts, leaving clear my repudiation toward the processes of abuse of power and violation of Human Rights.
I utilize art as a tool to awaken the collective mindset to the disparate situations brought about by the differences between social classes. Mostly drawn to wood, I highlight its misuse, facing the worldwide ecological problem using objects and tools in my work, as support or structure, seizing its design and purpose, reclaiming a change of direction for our society. I find most of my materials on the street, an act I utilize to highlight the excess and consumerism that surrounds us. In a certain way the artworks lengthen the life of the material, demanding more consciousness about mass production versus the singularity of the objects. My intention is to create a space for dialogue and awareness, of concern for the future of wildlife and mankind. I do this to demonstrate to the viewer a work of art about the aggressiveness of life without the work itself becoming part of the problem.
Biography
A self-taught sculptor, Josué took his first steps as an art maker alongside his family; his mother is a fashion designer, and his father is a woodworker and luthier. Mr.Guarionex studied civil engineering (1991) at the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce and later pursued studies in diesel mechanics. In 1996, he studied photography at the Universidad de Sagrado Corazón. During this period, professor Nitza Luna recommended him to renowned photographer Jack Delano (Farm Security Administration photographer) to work as his assistant. He also worked with Pulitzer nominated photographer Jorge Ramírez, in advertising campaigns and underwater and commercial photography, and coordinated several photographic productions with Mr. Ramírez, including the advertising campaign for the Puerto Rico and St. Croix US Virgin Islands Tourism Company, in 1997. After moving to New York City in 2000, he became an active member of the Puerto Rican artistic community in El Barrio/Spanish Harlem, and began an audiovisual project dedicated to the documentation of Afro-Puerto Rican music. In 2004, Josué, returned to Puerto Rico and established his furniture design studio Guarionex Design. His first exhibition of wood sculptures, Rollingpin=Espacios Ideales, took place at Guatíbiri Gallery in Río Piedras (2009) PR.
In 2011, he moved back to New York, during this period he began to explore new ways of creating artistic language with found materials and participates in various projects as an organizer and co-curator. He was also selected to be part of the artists' residency at the Andrew Freeman Home and was the recipient of a Bronx Recognizes Its Own in sculpture (grant awarded by the Bronx Council on the Arts). In 2017, his work Crosscut (2021), a permanent public sculpture was unanimously selected and commissioned by MTA.
His work has also been exhibited at BAAD (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), Bronx, NY; El Museo de las Américas: IV Biennial of Photography in San Juan PR, Hostos Community College, Bronx, NY; Dominico-Americano Cultural Center, Dominican Republic; Palacio de Bellas Artes of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Bronx Art Space, NY; HACO Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx, NY; Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, Manhattan, NY.
My main objective has been to explore human behavior and its development through the artistic process: its methods and manifestations. I utilize these as a tool to explore myself and define what I do. Finding a creative equation has never been part of my agenda. Being a second-generation wood worker has given me the capacity and the mastery of the tools and materials I utilize without losing the organic and constructionist elements that will always be present in my artwork. I fuse my work with the political realities that surround us, giving validity to the present without abandoning the artisanal labor that the material offers. Coming from a colonized country and having been raised by a family constantly being surveilled by the state because of their political convictions, I have had to discern and analyze my purpose in the visual arts, leaving clear my repudiation toward the processes of abuse of power and violation of Human Rights.
I utilize art as a tool to awaken the collective mindset to the disparate situations brought about by the differences between social classes. Mostly drawn to wood, I highlight its misuse, facing the worldwide ecological problem using objects and tools in my work, as support or structure, seizing its design and purpose, reclaiming a change of direction for our society. I find most of my materials on the street, an act I utilize to highlight the excess and consumerism that surrounds us. In a certain way the artworks lengthen the life of the material, demanding more consciousness about mass production versus the singularity of the objects. My intention is to create a space for dialogue and awareness, of concern for the future of wildlife and mankind. I do this to demonstrate to the viewer a work of art about the aggressiveness of life without the work itself becoming part of the problem.
Biography
A self-taught sculptor, Josué took his first steps as an art maker alongside his family; his mother is a fashion designer, and his father is a woodworker and luthier. Mr.Guarionex studied civil engineering (1991) at the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce and later pursued studies in diesel mechanics. In 1996, he studied photography at the Universidad de Sagrado Corazón. During this period, professor Nitza Luna recommended him to renowned photographer Jack Delano (Farm Security Administration photographer) to work as his assistant. He also worked with Pulitzer nominated photographer Jorge Ramírez, in advertising campaigns and underwater and commercial photography, and coordinated several photographic productions with Mr. Ramírez, including the advertising campaign for the Puerto Rico and St. Croix US Virgin Islands Tourism Company, in 1997. After moving to New York City in 2000, he became an active member of the Puerto Rican artistic community in El Barrio/Spanish Harlem, and began an audiovisual project dedicated to the documentation of Afro-Puerto Rican music. In 2004, Josué, returned to Puerto Rico and established his furniture design studio Guarionex Design. His first exhibition of wood sculptures, Rollingpin=Espacios Ideales, took place at Guatíbiri Gallery in Río Piedras (2009) PR.
In 2011, he moved back to New York, during this period he began to explore new ways of creating artistic language with found materials and participates in various projects as an organizer and co-curator. He was also selected to be part of the artists' residency at the Andrew Freeman Home and was the recipient of a Bronx Recognizes Its Own in sculpture (grant awarded by the Bronx Council on the Arts). In 2017, his work Crosscut (2021), a permanent public sculpture was unanimously selected and commissioned by MTA.
His work has also been exhibited at BAAD (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), Bronx, NY; El Museo de las Américas: IV Biennial of Photography in San Juan PR, Hostos Community College, Bronx, NY; Dominico-Americano Cultural Center, Dominican Republic; Palacio de Bellas Artes of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Bronx Art Space, NY; HACO Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx, NY; Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, Manhattan, NY.
