Antonio Broccoli Porto - First Art Exhibition

First Art Exhibition

In May 1979 Broccoli Porto held an art exhibition in the Thomas Payne Museum of New Rochelle, New York, as part of a Nationally accredited Honors Program Thesis entiltled "Historical Landscapes". In the 1980s, he traveled to Italy and continued his artistic studies at the "Accademia di Belle Arti Brera" (Brera Academy of Fine Arts) in Milan. The artist has a dual citizenship, that of Italy and the United States. When he returned to New York, he studied two years of Latin percussion at the Harbour Conservatory located in "El Barrio" of Manhattan. Influenced by his great love of Puerto Rican culture, Broccoli Porto moved to Puerto Rico and enrolled in "La Liga de Arte" (League of Art) in San Juan. He also studied for three years at "Escuela de Artes Plasticas" (School of the Plastic Arts) located in Old San Juan. There he took art courses on painting and sculpture. Broccoli Porto had as professors Eric Lluch, an understudy of Andy Warhol and Master Sculptor José Garcia Campos, who would be of great influence in his metal works. Puerto Rican music became an important part of his life and is reflected in his art. A large amount of his collection is made up of musical themes interpreted through the plastic arts. Professor Judy Betts (a renowned writer and Watercolorist from Louisiana, U.S.A.) served as a great influence his use of blends and transparencies in watercolour paintings, for which he is well known. Broccoli Porto eventually decided to use his maternal surname, Porto, as his artist signature because of its ties to the island of Puerto Rico.

Broccoli Porto was a member of The Association of Watercolorists of Puerto Rico (AAPR) for more than 8 years and served for a brief period as Vice President of that organization. He is listed with the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (Puerto Rican Institute of Culture) as a Puerto Rican visual artist and sculptor. He is an active member of the UNESCO Artists of Puerto Rico.