Puerto Rico - April 25, 2025 –  Sabroso! is excited to announce a new solo exhibition From Brooklyn to Borinquen by artist Jason Pulgarin in collaboration with Spot Gallery run by Elegel Group. This exhibition marks the culmination of Pulgarin’s two-month residency at SPOT Gallery, opening on May 2nd, 2025 at 2023 Calle Loíza in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Jason Pulgarin’s From Brooklyn to Borinquen brings the iconography of Los Sures, Brooklyn, to Puerto Rico. Through ceramics and watercolors, Pulgarin captures the essence of his world growing up—everyday objects and memories that carry deep cultural meaning, reflecting the grit, soul, and creativity of his community.

This exhibition flips the usual narrative. Instead of Puerto Rican culture migrating to the U.S., Pulgarin brings the diasporican experience back home to Puerto Rico. As a Nuyorican, he offers a reality that is not that different from the one lived in the archipelago. It’s a reminder that geography might separate us, but our shared history, struggles, and culture are what hold us together. You’ll see vignettes of Pulgarin’s childhood in his work, from his grandfather’s gambling addiction; his mother’s altars with cigars, candles, and prayers; to cassette tapes setting the soundtrack for Sunday cleaning. His work doesn’t sugarcoat anything. It’s unapologetic, gritty, and grounded in the symbols of his upbringing—scratch-offs, basketballs, boomboxes, altars, ashtrays—the real, raw elements of life that shaped him.

As Antonio Del Valle Lago, Co-Founder of Sabroso! and Curatorial Director, observes, “Jason is driven by a desire to immortalize a New York that no longer exists—a pre-gentrified Williamsburg, full of soul and memory, which he channels with both authenticity and emotion in his work. Jason has taken on his most ambitious challenge yet: creating life-size ceramic sculptures that embody the textures, postures, and spirit of the New York he grew up in—works that are, quite literally, larger than life. In just three months, Jason has produced over 30 ceramic sculptures—raw, tender, and full of character. Each piece is a chapter in a personal and cultural history: a celebration of style, survival, and storytelling.”

Stefan, Director of Elegel Group further explains, “Jason is the perfect artist to represent the work we do at the Residency and Gallery at SPOT. His New York City upbringing, his style of highly relatable contemporary art and his pieces filled with the shared imagery of our NYC youth invoke both a nostalgia and emotion for time lost. This is an impressive series that we are proud was made and shown at SPOT.” 

Pulgarin describes himself as a “living embodiment of the hood,” a trench baby whose work celebrates the creativity, grit, and culture that defines these spaces. “The hood is what makes things cool,” he remarks. “We’re the trendsetters.” This exhibition is Pulgarin’s truth—his life and the lives of the people around him. And he doesn’t hold back. “This show is going past the stereotypical things that you see. This is real shit, things I, and the people around me, have experienced and lived. I take objects that represent memory, time, and place,” he explains. Through his art, Pulgarin celebrates the beauty in the struggle and the creativity born from it.