(b. San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1964).
Salabarrías Valle works with mass-produced consumer imagery of the spiritual or the domestic. In his early work, Salabarrías Valle explored mass-produced representations of Catholicism. He employed Christian iconography and developed a Noah’s Ark series incorporating plastic or screen-printed animals. Salabarrías Valle is a proficient painter and printmaker, but in the last few years he has jettisoned his own touch in favor of installations populated by readymade objects that, through their critical placement, are rich in a humor and nostalgia that his own handicraft could only simulate. In his latest installation works, Salabarrías Valle invents spaces of pleasure that reflect upon childhood, memory, and the place of nature in contemporary culture. Colorful children’s pools and plastic flowers create walk-through situations. His installation, Paraiso Terrenal (Earthly Paradise) incorporates such found items,
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