Emoni Viruet ("EH-muh-nee vee-RWET")

I’m driven into art by the uncanny, the preternatural. In my oil paintings, I create surreal environments that incorporate elements of astronomy, botany, geology, and architecture to evoke a sense of liminality and challenge conventional laws of physics. My work also centers on complex interplays of light and shadow (chiaroscuro), intermingled with a vibrant Puerto Rico-influenced color palette. I aim for viewers to feel transported into this otherworldliness and for it to give them pause.

— Emoni Viruet

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Emoni Viruet began her artistic exploration at a very early age, far more interested in attempting to mimic the shapes and characters around her than playing with toys. During her childhood, much of Viruet’s thoughts were transfixed on how light and shadow interplay, as well as the variegated textures and colors of objects. As she advanced in her art, she endeavored to mimic these aspects of her observations, two motifs very important in her current work.

Viruet went on to study art at the University of Puerto Rico. Soon thereafter, she transferred to the University of Maryland, where she earned two bachelor’s degrees: a B.A. in Studio Art, with a specialization in drawing and painting, and a B.A. in Italian. After her studies, Viruet went on to live in northern Italy for seven years, where she worked as a private tutor and public teacher of English, Spanish, and Italian. Her focus, however, continued to be her artwork.

In Italy, her work won the Premio Leonardo, held in the Savigliano in Arte, as well as the Arte in Torre Prize, which celebrated the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification and transformation into a republic. Her art was also commissioned by large corporations, the music industry, the gaming industry as well as individual art lovers and collectors.

In 2017, Viruet returned to Puerto Rico after Hurricane María destroyed much of the island’s infrastructure. During this time, in addition to helping her family manage resources, she volunteered as a mediator and translator for American officials and island natives.

Viruet’s first language is Spanish. She is fluent in English and Italian and conversant in German and Japanese. Viruet works primarily with oils, but also with acrylics, pencils, colored pencils, watercolors, and oil pastels. While she enjoys creating traditional art (landscapes and portraits), her focus centers on surrealistic and vivid scenes, represented in ways that are recognizable but unique and recontexualized.

Viruet’s influences include Inka Essenhigh, Miriam Escofet, Jacek Yerka, Alexis Rockman, Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Van Gogh, Zdzisław Beksiński, Frida Kahlo, and Roger Dean. Buonarroti, DaVinci, Caravaggio, and Bosch comprise the “old” masters who most inform Viruet’s art.