Javier Carrasquillo
Photographer • Artist • Explorer
Drawing Lines Where Nobody Sees
Lines are easy to draw; they conform to rules and obey logic. Lines are easy to find; they define our world. Lines are easy to follow; they prescribe the paths we take. Lines are easy to understand; they tell stories that are linear and familiar.
This is not a linear story.
This is a multitude of perspectives, an overlap of angles. This is a tale of a thousand details, a thousand beauties, for a thousand beholders. This is a defiance of rules, a challenging of timelines, a showing of stories that no line can tell. This is a coloring outside, beyond, and around all lines.
So where do you draw the line where nobody can see it? Some say that the best spotlights are in the shadows, where secrets have been left unlocked and untold, where seeds of genius are yet to see the light. Left raw, unscathed, and untainted, these spotlights are the ultimate truth: frozen in time and space, disrupting linear flows as we know them, and with utmost subtlety, drawing lines where nobody has thought to see, where nobody even knew.
This is the truth that called Javier Carrasquillo and ignited his artistic journey. Those are the lines that drew him, away from the expected, away from the known, from the linear. His endeavor was, and remains, to drop all masks and strip bare all norms and aesthetic judgements, to shed all the typical lines that confined our truths and invite us to draw and see the lines where nobody else can.
If his work cuts across all lines and transgresses all genres, his background is a multidisciplinary culmination of expertise, in theory, practice, and research, resonating across his work. With a specialty in Art History and Photography, a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico in 2011 where he later worked as an associate professor of Audiovisual Communication, and years of experience in education and art workshop leadership, Javier embodies an intersectional dedication to the holistic, a tireless quest for diversity, and a perceptive eye that always sees, and sees otherwise.
Javier’s journey culminates in daring and controversial collections of award-winning artwork, fusing sharp eyes and mind, beautiful technique, and daring aesthetics. You are frozen in time and space, in lines that regress and progress at once, as your gaze loses itself in daring details, unsettling dialectics, and uncompromising representations.
Angelica
Angelica, the very first work of the 11 eleven series, treads lightly and makes an imposing appearance all at once. Her posture is liminal, gracefully dancing between light and darkness, escaping worldly labels and earthly dimensions. Her gestures cast a thousand fleeting shadows before you, a thousand illusions in your mind, and insurmountable doubt within you. You try to capture every ephemera, but Angelica’s stillness is too vibrant. You cannot help but sway, submit, and just follow her lead.
The Patron Saint Of Rio Piedras
Angelica’s liminal posture and uncompressing attitude are echoed by The Patron Saint of Rio Piedras, another seminal work of the 11 eleven series, and one of Javier Carrasquillo’s award-winning work on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico. She is your most blissful and most unsettling encounter. She calls you out without staring you down. She crosses all lines, especially those between you and her. Out of the frame she comes forth, and into the frame she pulls you in, effortlessly. She does not occupy the space. She claims it; she manifests it. She does not ask for an effigy, for she is herself immortal. She does not want blessings, for she is the halo bestowed. She does not seek validation, for her mind, body, and soul are only and authentically hers. As you are frozen in time, her story unfolds before your eyes and the interplay of light and dark takes your gaze back and forth.
The relentless journey of Javier Carrasquillo also encompasses versatile and colorful coasters that reflect the artist’s dedication, talents, and vision. Exquisite in every setting and authentic for every moment, these works of art merge top-quality material and technique, stirring new moods and igniting fresh experiences.
Javier Carrasquillo follows his own lead, wherever it takes him, whatever unplanned stories it unfolds and new masterpieces it uncovers. And there they were calling him, unexpectedly, as during one of his trips to Portugal: cork hand and messenger bags featuring intricate prints and colorful patterns, and made from prime-quality material. The finest and latest addition to a tireless journey.