In November, the Ponce Museum of Art [Museo de Arte de Ponce], in Ponce, Puerto Rico, unveiled its latest acquisition during its “Members’ Night” [Noche de Socios]. This new piece is Rogelio Báez Vega’s “Concrete Museum.” Here are translated excerpts from the museum’s Facebook announcement.
During the recent Members’ Night, held on Thursday, November 6, 2025, museum members enjoyed a unique opportunity: to admire for the first time (and only time, for now) the magnificent work “Concrete Museum,” by renowned Puerto Rican artist Rogelio Báez Vega.
“Concrete Museum,” which captures the iconic staircase at the lobby of the Museum’s main building, revives the promise and possibilities the Museum offered during its construction phase, a thought that resonates in the context of the current situation. Inspired by a photograph by Otto Prado Soto (ca. 1965), the work demonstrates Báez Vega’s impeccable technique, using wax softened with turpentine as a binder for gold dust to create an elegant and shimmering surface.
The artist stated that the intention behind the work was “to show and amplify the historical and political underpinnings of the [Ponce Museum of Art] project and its future development through various symbols emanating from the image, so that they resonate with the viewer. In the painting, the golden walls allude to a symbol of the untouchable, the ethereal, and the unattainable. The red handrail may represent the sacrifice of the hands that erected the walls of the cultural institution, themes I always try to merge in my work.” [. . .]
About the artist (from rogeliobaezvega.com):
Rogelio Báez Vega is a Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist whose work engages with themes of colonial history, the constructed landscape, and vernacular architecture, while drawing from Caribbean literature and contemporary political culture.
He studied visual arts at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño and the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico. His work is part of several prestigious collections, including the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Norval Foundation in South Africa, New Britain Museum of American Art, among others. His accolades include grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, and the Gottlieb Foundation, as well as awards from institutions such as NALAC, Lexus and Oriental Bank.
He has participated in notable artist residencies, including MASS MoCA (2018), Art Omi (2019), Vermont Studio Center (2019), and the Joan Mitchell Center Residency in New Orleans (2024). This summer, he was the artist in residence at Adhesivo Contemporary in CDMX.
Báez Vega actively exhibits his work both locally and internationally. His first museum exhibition was held at the Museo de Arte y Diseño de (MADMi) in 2024, which featured more than 20 paintings produced over the past six years. In November 2024, he presented a new series of paintings at one of London’s leading contemporary art galleries.
Báez Vega founded the Estudio de Grabado Experimental (EGE), a community printmaking workshop dedicated to the creation, experimentation, and study of Puerto Rican printmaking, with the goal of providing a learning space for the immediate community of Villa Palmeras. [. . .]
For original text, see https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1K6sAdgWxt/?mibextid=wwXIfr
See more on the artist at https://www.rogeliobaezvega.com/
@rogeliobaezvega
In November, the Ponce Museum of Art [Museo de Arte de Ponce], in Ponce, Puerto Rico, unveiled its latest acquisition during its “Members’ Night” [Noche de Socios]. This new piece is Rogelio Báez Vega’s “Concrete Museum.” Here are translated excerpts from the museum’s Facebook announcement. During the recent Members’ Night, held on Thursday, November 6,
