Petrus Gallery’s visionary owner/director Sylvia Villafañe detected a niche in Puerto Rico’s contemporary art market and in 1997 decided to open Petrus in a small locale in Puerto Nuevo, one of San Juan busiest districts. Due to its immediate success the gallery was relocated to a building catering to its specific needs in a strategic cross road between Miramar Historic District and the center of avant garde art in San Juan, Santurce.
Villafañe is a key player in the marketing, exposure and further development of local plastic artists. She has proved them to be not only excellent artists but also cement the fact that their work is a good investment.
The gallery’s roaster include such legendary masters as Antonio Martorell, Luis Hernandez Cruz, Jaime Carrero, Julio Suarez, Elizam Escobar, Marta Perez, Carlos Davila Rinaldi, among others. In collaboration with some of the most prestigious galleries in the world (Marlborough Gallery for example), Petrus has created alliances that have given the local public the opportunity to be exposed to internationally renowned artists such as Lilliana Porter, Tom Otterness, Manolo Valdes among others.
Petrus mission is to create curatorial projects of great magnitude in order to place in context the content and history of the Puerto Rican art.
As gallery we propose:
Promote cultural affairs that improve and strengthen the economy of the local art market.
Forge a socio-cultural platform directed towards educational, motivational and the intellectual development of young individuals utilizing alternative educational projects.
Continue to position Puerto Rico in the spotlight of the international art world.
Facilitate the creative process and help establish aesthetic, cultural and social interaction within the community.
With the support of other cultural organizations continue developing the kind of projects that directly and positively improve the urban and cultural development of the Santurce area.
Develop institutional and multidisciplinary projects to keep alive the artistic sensitivity of the artists, the collectors and the general public.
“The explosion of contemporary art in San Juan owes a debt to this gallery, launched back in 1998. Slightly off the beaten path, in residential Miramar, Galería Petrus is a whitewashed new-building duplex that stands in sharp contrast to the area’s pastel-painted bungalows. Presenting colorful visual art and sculpture, it provides an antidote to the kitsch found in Viejo San Juan. Owner Sylvia Villafañe is a strong champion of local talent, from the up-and-coming to the established”.
Wallpaper* City Guide San Juan
Phaidon Publisher
“The first significant entrant into Santurce’s growing art scene was Petrus, (726 calle Hoare; 787-289-0505; petrusgallery.com), which has been at the forefront of contemporary Puerto Rican art since 2003”… “The owner Sylvia Villafañe, said she choose the neighborhood, because Old San Juan, which used to be the city’s art mecca, was becoming too expensive and constricted. “I love Santurce is more active now,” she said. “It’s great to see young artists arrive.””
The New York Times
