Short Bio
Adrian Tió maintains the Hare of the Dog Press & Studio at the Hatch Street Studios in New Bedford, MA.
Statement
I have always felt torn between two cultures - the suburban middle-class objectivity of my American birth, and the passionate sensitivity of my Latino heritage. I am of direct Puerto Rican decent, though born in the Mid-West. Although there are still a number of relatives in Puerto Rico, (the Díaz side of the family), my contacts are more often with the stateside kin. Most of my life has been spent in middle-class America; the suburbs are my barrio, and English is my primary language. My journey has instead been a look back at why I was once culturally shy of my own ethnicity, and how I have since grown into the legacy of my family.My use of bright color, rhythmic patterning and expressive figurative imagery, often combined with mixed media, provides an opportunity to look back into family history while looking forward through new events and individuals with whom I come into contact. Ongoing studio developments in printmaking, often including bilingual text, offer a visual format that seeks to communicate to a broader, bilingual audience.
The visual arts have long been a significant part of Latino culture, providing a visible means of expressing the legacy of our Spanish, Taino and African forebears. My studio time has been spent in developing a bi-visual means of communicating to both cultures through my artwork. The works are hybrids; they combine elements of both mainstream America and exotic Hispania. Through these works, I attempt to reach out to my Latino heritage in a concerted effort to expand and enrich my mainstream identity. Through these artworks I strive to navigate a balance between these two worlds.
Biography
The artist was born 1951 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to parents who had emigrated from the Caribbean Island of Puerto Rico. Tió received his fine arts training from Temple University (B.A. 1974), the University of Cincinnati (M.F.A. 1979), and studied at the Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy (1975-76). The artist has exhibited nationally as well as regionally in drawing, painting, and printmaking for over 40 years, and has conducted workshops on mural painting, papermaking and the book arts. Tió has received recognition for his work through exhibition awards and creative research grants from Arts Midwest/NEA, Indiana Arts Commission, Indiana State University Arts Endowment, Ohio Arts Council, New Forms Regional Grant Program, Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, and Bowling Green State University. Residing in Mattapoisett, MA, Tió is a former Professor of Fine Arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
