Meet Jose Romero | Artist and architect

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jose Romero and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jose, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I am originally from Honduras. Was brought to New Jersey at the age of 10 and then to upstate NY at 13. This is where I credit my upbringing to, Schenectady NY. In Honduras I grew up a rich kid with everything, as my father had his own law firm and my mother was an assistant principal. We had savings coming to the US but they quickly went away and then we struggled in upstate NY. I started working at a very early age, and I credit necessity, and wanting to have nice things for myself as I did in Honduras, with giving me the push to work. While in High School in Schenectady, I took up art and architecture classes. My parents tried dissuading me from pursuing art, but I ended up studying architecture at Pratt Institute, which is ranked 6th in the world as an art school, so there it began… I studied art and architecture for a semester in Rome, Italy. This experience really opened up my inspiration towards painting. I started painting in the fall of 99′, when I got back to New York for my senior year. I now have an artistic career (and my ultimate goal is to become a full time artist), and practice architecture, designing about 2 or 3 projects a year. My full time job is in Hendersonville, working for Lightsett, a fiber optics engineering firm. So as you can see, the struggle from early on is what fueled my fire. We struggled to pay the rent in my teenage years, and from that time on I distanced myself from asking too much of my parents and now find myself working in 3 different disciplines.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have lived a life you can write a book about. From my beginnings in Central America to our immigration to the USA. Then to my life in New York City where I studied at a prestigious school and lived there afterward for the better part of the 2000’s, riding around the city on my motorcycle like a crazy maniac and playing soccer with different clubs… To our young family, wonderful wife (Olga) and 3 children (Marcelo, Sofia and Julian) and what transpired in South Carolina the last decade and a half. Struggling with depression while trying to keep a job and raise 3 kids. I suppose I forgot to give Olga a shout out as well, she deserves one. Putting up with me and my antics has not been easy… The mind of the artist is a gauntlet with no resolution…

This brings me to my art, what makes it different you ask? I think it’s the fact that I celebrate life to the fullest with it. The ups and downs, in good ways and in bad, my life has been a celebration. And this is what I’m trying to get the viewer to see and celebrate with me. From the simple things to the irrevocable and incomprehensible things that almost make us regret, and while I did at some point, I truly don’t today. My work tells stories, even in the truly abstract ones, one can find some meaning and see stories which are told by someone with a keen eye, and I am the eye, observing everything and taking it all in. As terrible as this may sound, and as much as I struggled after it and still do sometimes, I’m glad I got to see and live 911. It taught me a huge lesson, to not let one day pass without a moment you take in. Each day could be our last.. I had a heart attack a year and a half ago. When I went in for the quintuple bypass, everything went dark. I don’t remember a thing, except when I woke up and saw my beautiful wife’s face, and my father laughing. He had quadruple bypass at 49, so I beat him in both age and severity…lol

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would definitely have to do a fancy dinner at Hall’s Chophouse in downtown Greenville or perhaps the Grand Bohemian. Then Falls Park, one night of baseball, another of soccer, and then some cold ones at the arena watching hockey. I would definitely take him to 13 Stripes at the Mills in Taylors, after all it’s only 5 minutes from my house, with dinner from the Fare House next door. In the ideal visit, my friend would come during a week of First Friday. We would go to the Greenville Center for Arts that evening, then Railside Studios to visit my artist friends which include the renown Mark Mulfinger, finishing downstairs at the Distinct Cider Room, where my friend Derrick pours the drinks and always has lively conversation. Saturday evening we would hang out in my backyard by the fire pit with wine and smores. After all, you can see the stars down here…

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost my parents. People kept telling them when we were in Honduras to bring me to New York. While they didn’t achieve success for themselves, it is their offspring which succeeded in America.

Second, Mitch Lehde, Keith Gilbert and MHK Architecture. I met Mitch in the Summer of 2019 and started working for him. In the Spring of 2020 I decided to again start pursuing my artistic career, having taken the best of the 2010’s off due to depression lingering from PTSD, as I had witnessed 911 while in New York from a rooftop on Canal Street in Manhattan. The Greenville Center for Creative Arts had just rejected my proposal for a show and I was pretty down on myself. Mitch and Keith took it upon themselves to throw me a show at the offices of MHK in downtown S. Main Street. About 50 people showed up, and from there I got a solo show at the Greer Center for Arts, and the Greenville Center for Arts shortly followed. After that I went on to show at various galleries in the upstate and in particular the Wild Hare Gallery in Travelers Rest, where Kym Easter and Joann Benzinger have welcomed me with open arms every year since they first opened 4 years ago. And now New York with Art Expo NY this past month in Pier 36 Manhattan. From there I met Access Art, a group of agents who will be exhibiting my art at The Armory Show, again in Manhattan, Art Frieze London, The Affordable Art Fair Stockholm, and last Art Basel Miami. Thanks Mitch and Keith, I’m indebted to you both.

Website: www.zhibit.org/chemaro

Instagram: @romerojoseartist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=641224125

Other: Just google “Jose Romero Artist” and you will find me…

Image Credits
Glim Studio