Jorge Felix

Jorge Felix Bio

Jorge Felix is an artist and community curator born and raised in Puerto Rico and based in Chicago. He is known for his shaped canvases in his Body Construction series that have been exhibited in solo and group shows. He was a member and organizer of coop studio-galleries in Wicker Park, where he responded to gentrification in the area by engaging in community activism. In addition to his work as a graphic artist, illustrator, and set designer, his practice as a community curator was developed by experiences working with organizations such as the Field Museum's Cultural Connections program, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, and the National Boricua Human Rights Network. His curatorial projects include Not Enough Space, which toured internationally telling the story of two Puerto Rican political prisoners unfairly incarcerated in isolation in a maximum-security prison; "Faces of Puerto Rican Migration" documenting migration stories from Puerto Rico to Chicago from the 1930s to the 1950s; and La Primera Parada: Chicago’s Stonewall Moments documenting the first time an LGBTQ community group demanded inclusion in their community parades, including the Bud Billiken, Mexican Independence Day, and Puerto Rican parades.

To reconcile his community organizing with his artwork, Felix took his art to the streets by developing the Sofrito Conversations series, a social-performance that engages the public in conversations at community festivals, libraries, and cultural centers while preparing his grandmother's recipe of sofrito. Sofrito Conversations are anecdotal cooking presentations about Felix's experiences working as an artist, community curatorial work, and community organizer.

Felix holds an MFA in painting from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in arts administration (MAAA) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.