BIO

Esaí Alfredo (B. 1997, Caguas, Puerto Rico) is a painter from Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. Through richly emotive characters, his work explores landscapes that are at once monumental and intimate—spaces where curiosity, wonder, concern, and admiration serve as guides through layered inner worlds.

Alfredo earned his BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2020. His solo presentations include Starless (2025) at EXPO Chicago, Caminos Hacia El Mundo Nocturno /Roads to the Nocturnal World (2024) at The Armory Show, Mundo Nocturno / Nocturnal World (2023) at Art Basel Miami Beach, NIGHTFALL (2022) at Spinello Projects, and Lo Que Pasó en Yabucoa (2021) at Embajada Gallery in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Selected two-person and group exhibitions include There’s No Place Like Home (2025) at Duet at the WSA, Twinning (2025) at Jessica Silverman Gallery and Body & Spirit (2024) at Spinello Projects. 

His work is part of the permanent collections at the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, the Hort Family Collection (New York City, NY), and the Hope Foundation (Miami, FL). 

Alfredo is represented by Spinello Projects and is currently based in Miami, Florida

I am a painter who’s drawn to vibrant colors and the contrasts of nighttime. With it, I paint queer boys in moments of stillness or searching, set against empty landscapes, ruins, imagined worlds, or quiet interiors. These scenes carry pieces of my life: being captivated by Titanic (1997), growing up in a small Puerto Rican town beside an oil refinery, wandering at night with friends, and learning to accept and celebrate myself as a queer man.

My practice consists of taking photos of people, landscapes, interiors and using 3d models. Using these, I make small gouache studies or sketches, testing color, light, and composition. The final painting grows slowly, layer by layer, from darkness into light.

Film is my greatest influence—especially science fiction, fantasy, and directors such as Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock. I often take a still from a movie and create my own version of it by incorporating the landscapes of Puerto Rico or places I’ve traveled to, and using myself or loved ones as the main characters of the story, turning personal experiences and imagination into something both intimate and cinematic. 

Esaí Alfredo

B. 1997, Caguas, Puerto Rico

Lives and works in Miami, FL

Education

2016 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illustration Major. PAFA The Pennsylvania

Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2015 Atelier San Juan, San Juan, PR

Solo Exhibitions

2025 Starless, Spinello Projects, Expo Chicago, Profile   

Section, Chicago, IL

2024 Caminos Hacia El Mundo Nocturno, Spinello Projects, The Armory Show, New York, NY 

2023 Mundo Nocturno, Spinello Projects, Art Basel Miami Beach, Positions

Sector, Miami, FL

2022 Nightfall, Spinello Projects, Miami, FL

2021 Lo Que Paso En Yabucoa, Embajada, San Juan, PR

Selected Two Person Exhibitions

2025 There's No Place Like Home DUET at WSA, New York, NY

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025 Twinning, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2022 FPAFA Virtual Show, Fellowship of PAFA Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

(Online)

2022 5 To Watch, Avery Galleries, Bryn Mawr, PA

2021 Earth Is A Sinking Ship, Embajada, NADA Miami, Miami, FL

2021 Aliento Fecundo, Galeria Castro Barreto, San Juan, PR

2021 A Complex Embodiment: An Exhibition of Black, BIPOC, Queer, Trans

Femme Art, Los Angeles, CA

2021 Coming Out, Mads Art Gallery, Milan, Italy

2021 The Privilege of Getting Together, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, NY

2020 15th Annual Group Art Exhibition, William Way LGBT Community

Center, Philadelphia, PA

2020 TENSES: Queer Bodies Through Time, William Way LGBT Community

Center, Philadelphia, PA

2019 Beer Coaster Show, Isabela, PR

2019 Roots Of The Past Saving The Future, Wilmington, DE

Collections

2025 JP Morgan Chase Art Collection

2024 Pérez Art Museum (PAMM)

2023 Hort Family Collection, NY

2022 ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL

2020 William Way LGBT Community Center, Philadelphia, PA

Grants & Scholarships

2020 Barnes-de Mazia Scholarship

2019 The Raymond D. & Estelle Rubens Travel Scholarship

2017 Hannah Shickley Memorial Scholarship