Biography

Hector Urena a self-taught painter has become a staple in The Union of Dominican Visual Artist (UDVA). Hector Urena grew up in the city of Santiago, Dominican Republic. As a young boy Hector spent most of his days drawing in his notebooks pictures of popular cartoon characters and portraits of family and friends. Art was a passion that stayed with him long after the drawings stopped.In 1981, Hector immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic, fifteen years after his arrival a familiar spark was ignited and his passion for art reemerged. In 1996, motivated by family and friends Urena decided to make his work public in a joint exhibit with Dominican painter Persio Minier. This exhibit was a landmark in Urena’s career as an artist establishing him as an artistic representative in New York City’s Hispanic community. Urena’s pieces are as diverse as the city itself, ranging from images of still life with exotic flowers draped in vivid colors, romantic landscapes of his native “Quisqueya” , and abstraction of geometric figures with emotionally heavy themes