Arturo Morales was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York City at the age of nine. He studied fine art, graphic design, and illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Following his studies, Arturo had a successful 35-year career as a Graphic Designer, Senior Art Director, and Illustrator. Arturo spent 28 years of his career with Pace Communications in New York City where he designed visual marketing strategies for luxury real estate clients. During his time with Pace Communications, Arturo and his design team received numerous awards for their graphic design and marketing projects.
From his childhood, Arturo has always been inspired by the artwork of others. Those who have influenced his work include: N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, Milton Glaser, Eugene Karlin, Burton Silverman, and James McMullan.
While he began painting as a youth and had always devoted thought to returning to his artwork, it was not until after his successful career in the graphic design field and with the encouragement of his family that Arturo began painting again in 2010. Arturo became a member of the Arts Guild of New Jersey in Rahway, NJ, where he studied expressive watercolor with Lito David, a master watercolorist, who encouraged Arturo to display his artwork.
Arturo first exhibited his artwork at the 2012 East Brunswick Arts Festival, where he won first prize for a painting he worked on under the tutelage of Mr. David. His second exhibit was at the Monroe Township Art Exhibition, where Arturo was selected from contributing artists to be in the art show, an honor for him, and was asked to reenter the exhibition for the subsequent year. Since then, Arturo has also exhibited at the Barronfest Arts Festival in Woodbridge, NJ and was a featured artist at the Bouras Properties building in Summit, NJ. Most recently, Arturo exhibited his artwork for the third straight year at the 2014 East Brunswick Arts Festival, where he again won first prize.
Arturo would like to specifically thank his teacher, Mr. David, for his support, encouragement, and advice throughout his continual development as an artist. While Arturo appreciates and uses multiple mediums in his paintings, he has developed a strong appreciation for watercolor.
“Watercolor has a magical quality, when at first you put brush to the paper it seems to talk back to the artist, the color says this is how strong and powerful I am, or how soft and subtle. The water says this is where I want to flow and blend. It is this silent dialog that the artist must constantly engage in, not knowing at times where it will end up but sometimes being pleasantly surprised. The simple blending of two values can create a window of three dimensions where once there was a stark white paper. There are those purists who believe that there are certain rules in watercolor painting, but water, the unpredictable medium itself, begs the artist to explore, to do something unusual, to see if you can control it; there are no rules. I’m still trying to control it. I’m still trying to do something unusual. And I’m still being surprised.”