Knowledge is Power

by Rafael Algarín

December 19 – March 15, 2026

Reception January 23 from 6:30 -7:30 PM

Algarín’s work explores energy, movement, and human essence through an expressive visual cadence of lines and layered forms. Drawing from the pulse of Santurce and the broader Caribbean diaspora, he blends figurative and abstract elements to reveal the invisible forces that connect individuals to their environments. Each painting and mural is a meditation on presence—an attempt to register the stories, vibrations, and roots embedded in a given place.

Influenced by the raw poetry of the street and the formal discipline of fine art, his process balances intuition with intention. Community rituals, music culture, ancestral memory, and the urban landscape all inform his compositions. Whether painting live on stage with musicians like Calle 13 or building textured fields in Berlin’s underground art scene, Algarín’s aim is constant: to translate feeling into form and awaken connection through color, rhythm, and line. For him, art is a cross-border dialogue—visual, emotional, and cultural—opening portals between people, languages, and time. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Rafael Algarín is a Puerto Rican visual artist, graphic artist, and muralist based in Babylon, New York. Trained at the Central School of Visual Arts and the University School of Plastic Arts and Design in Old San Juan, he brings a rigorous design sensibility to a practice rooted in drawing, painting, and large-scale public works. His language of fluid, interlacing lines—oscillating between figuration and abstraction—maps the energies he perceives within people and places, transforming walls and canvases into vibrant fields of motion and meaning.

Algarín’s collaborations span music and contemporary art alike, including projects with Bad Bunny, Calle 13, Rafa Pabón, and the Berlin-based label Steyoyoke. International in scope, his murals appear across Puerto Rico and abroad, with notable participation as an official artist at Santurce es Ley 8. He has also traveled and collaborated with leading Puerto Rican muralists such as Alexis Díaz and Celso González. Across contexts—festival, street, stage, or gallery—he approaches each site as a conversation with community, architecture, and rhythm.

To purchase works on view please contact info@patchoguearts.org