Background
Martorell Cardona was born on April 18, 1939, in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He is the son of Antonio Martorell II and Luisa Cardona.
Martorell Cardona was born on April 18, 1939, in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He is the son of Antonio Martorell II and Luisa Cardona.
He studied diplomacy at Georgetown University in Washington, District of Columbia, and then went to study painting with Julio Martín Caro in Madrid. In the 1960s, he worked in Ponce, collaborating with Sor Isolina Ferre in the creation of community art workshops. He also worked at the workshop of Lorenzo Homar at the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.
He currently is the Resident Artist of the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey and directs the Ramón Frade Museum at the same institution.
He regularly exhibits in Puerto Rico and the United States and participates in arts events around the world. He spends his time between his workshops in Ponce, Hato Rey, and New York, his presentations worldwide and his academic work in Cayey, Puerto Rico. He is the first of three children.
He first started showing interest in arts as a small child with drawings.
Martorell"s incursion into the arts came by the way of theater on 25 April 2001. He participated in the scenography of "Celebración Verdiana " for the opera by Plácido Domingo.
Painting Martorell currently has a workshop in New York and another one on Calle Salmon (old Calle Comercio) in barrio Playa, Ponce, at a building that dates to 1815 and which he has occupied since 2007. Of his breezy workshop at Playa de Ponce and his spiritual connection there he has said "more than Ponceño, I am a Playero..My north now is the South and its wide horizons." He also illustrated the American Broadcasting Company de Puerto Rico published by Troutman Press.
Quotations: "more than Ponceño, I am a Playero..My north now is the South and its wide horizons.".