Biography
Javier Orfon was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, in 1989. He earned a B.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, in 2013 and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2022.
In 2025, his fourth solo presentation, Guabairo’s Astrolab, and Ten Thousand Histories of Stones, Hidrante Gallery, Saturce and Puerto Nuevo, San Juan, Puerto Rico. His third solo exhibition, The Eye of Clay, was held at Hidrante Gallery, Santurce, in 2020. His first international solo exhibition, The House of the Souls, curated by Abdiel Segarra Ríos, took place at Espacio Cómplices, Madrid, in 2022.
Orfon has participated in group exhibitions, including Caribbean Yet To Come, curated by Arnaldo Rodríguez Bagué, Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2025). Vaivén: Puerto Rican Art of the XXI Century and its diaspora: Curated by Térez Lacovino and José López Serra, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,United States of America (2025). Erosion Studies: A Slab on the Sea, curated by José López Serra, Hidrante, Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico. His first public art project, The Presence of The Trace, Ensayos en La Naturaleza, Arte en El Yunque, El Portal del Yunque, Río Grande, Puerto Rico(2024-2025). The Vulnerable Stone, curated by José López Serra, Hidrante, Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2024-2025). The Eye in the Stone, curated by Carolina Maki Kitagawa Frisbi and Ana Berenice Garner, Proyecto Píkaro, Mexico City, Mexico (2023). Unspoken Identities (Anamás Projects, Barcelona, 2023), El Momento del Yagrumo (Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, 2021), and No existe un Lugar en el Mundo Poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in The Wake of Hurricane Maria (Whitney Museum of American Art, 2022–2023), where his work is part of the permanent collection.
In 2026, he obtained the Creative Capital State of the Art Prize. He received a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship in 2023. In 2025, Hidrante Gallery invited him to participate in N.A.D.A Booth B216, New York City, New York, United States of North America. He was invited by Anamas Proyect to participate in ARCO Madrid, booth 7C14, IFEMA Madrid, in 2024.
Orfon lives and works between San Lorenzo and Caguas, Puerto Rico.