William Rios is a multidisciplinary artist and musician, traversing sculpture, painting, mixed media collage, woodwork, photography, video, performance, and installation. He incorporates in his works various techniques with a diversity of elements, colors, textures, objects, and music.
Rios is an artist-in-residence, photographer, and was a preparator for the four most recent exhibitions at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora (The Cuban Museum) in Miami:
- Baruj Salinas (1972-2022 works) – currently in exhibition at The Cuban Museum
- Ysrael Abraham Seinuk: Stretching the Horizon [Havana 1931 – New York 2010] – currently in exhibition at The Cuban Museum
- 60 Years of Operation Pedro Pan
- 60th Anniversary of Bay of Pigs, Brigade 2506
Rios’ artwork was on view at the Historic E.H. Gato Building in Key West, Florida, and is in exhibition in Floridian south coast galleries. His handmade musical boxes, which he crafted using the paper theater old-fashioned technique dating back to the early 19th century in Europe, were displayed in 2021 at the Main Library of Miami Dade College’s Wolfson Campus in downtown, and remain on view at the Campus Presidential suite 1301. Rios has also designed and created woodwork furniture pieces for private and commercial clients.
His ongoing project, “Cautiva – The Many Faces”, is a collection of hundreds of portraits from individuals of all generations and nationalities holding his “Captive” artwork, and exploring their connection with this emblematic piece. Rios is also working on a documentary of the life of the legendary composer, arranger and guitarist Juanito Márquez, who at 93 years old, is one of the last living legends of Cuban and Latin American music.
