Born San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1989. Lives and works in New York City, Arrigoitia was first introduced to drawing by his grandfather, an architect, his mother who taught him how to sketch cartoons and a mural painting of Rafael Tuffino’s “La Plena”. Born in San Juan, he moved with his family to São Paulo, Brazil at the age of eight. There, he attended his first São Paulo Art Biennial in 1998, this was his first experience at an art museum. During a school field trip, the same year, he visited the studio of a Brazilian multidisciplinary artist, Arcangelo Ianelli, and learned about another Iconic Brazilian painter, Tarsila do Amaral. Arrigoitia had been surrounded by art directly and indirectly since he was very young but it was an exhibition of Basquiat “Una antología para Puerto Rico” in 2006 that made him define himself as an aspiring artist. The drawings of Basquiat reminded him of his school notebooks full of doodles and half-done homework. It made him understand that an artwork could have multiple interpretations and influences. The multiple sources of information and multicultural identity were something that appealed to him due to the fact of his diverse background. After graduating from high school, Arrigoitia enrolled at the University of Puerto Rico and the School of Visual Arts (EAP) in old San Juan. During his studies, he was also involved with the local street art scene and created various murals around old San Juan and Santurce, Puerto Rico.
His work was first featured in a 2009 exhibition at “Manos en Lienzo” which presented works by fourteen young Puerto Rican artists, sponsored by Banco Popular. Since moving to New York City in 2017, Jose Arrigoitia has continued exhibiting internationally, both in the United States and Mexico. His works have become more abstract, specifically influenced by Spanish informalist paintings. Arrigoitia has been featured in exhibitions at Miami Arts Connections, Apartaco Mexico, and Swivel Gallery NY. He has been represented by Sabroso Projects and Petrus Gallery based in San Juan.
CV
2009 Manos en Lienzo Banco Popular,San Juan, Puerto Rico
2010 ArteFactoide, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico
2012 Exhibición Navidad Art Room, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
2013 Exhibición Anual de Artes Plásticas, EAP, Old San Juan, Puerto Rico
2013 Santurce Es Ley, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2013 Artist Showcase FlightCult, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2013 Encuentro de Arte de Jóvenes Galería Petrus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2014 Perspectivas Plaza las Americas, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2015 Show Room Galeria Viota, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
2016 1800 Galeria Petrus, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2016 Arts Connections, Miami, Florida
2017 Mazda Artdrive, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2017 Andrew Edlin Gallery, N.Y.C, New York
2018 The Living Gallery Outpost, N.Y.C, New York
2020 El Junte (Works on Paper/ online exhibition) Sabroso Projects, New York
2021 Relampago Caribeno (Sabroso Projects & Edith Vaisberg) Apartaco CDMX, Mexico
2022 The Cowboys Made Me Cry,(curated by:Graham Wilson, Swivel gallery) Saugerties, N.Y
2022 The Patriot, O’Flaherty’s, N.Y.C, New York