We recently had the chance to connect with Juan Alberto Negroni and have shared our conversation below.
Juan Alberto, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: Who are you learning from right now?
I am learning from myself…
I am teaching my self to slow down, to be less of an over thinker, to be more grateful and take better care of myself and the ones around me. I am teaching myself to have more compassion and empathy. I am learning to emancipate myself from creative trends and follow my instincts with more confidence.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Juan Alberto Negroni
I am a Puerto Rican artist and educator based in Dallas since 2015.
My multidisciplinary work, rooted in drawing, painting, and art installation, explores memory, place, and postcolonial identity.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
I believe my parents and my grandparents on my mother’s side always sensed that creativity would shape my life. They nurtured that instinct from the beginning, surrounding me with culture and giving me every opportunity to explore it. My grandparents gave me my first drawing pad and my first drawing table, small gestures that felt like permission to imagine without limits. And the encouragement I received from my mother was unwavering, so profound that I’m only now beginning to understand its depth.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I’ve certainly faced moments of doubt. Those thoughts appear more often than people might imagine. But instead of discouraging me, they’ve become a source of fuel. At some point, I stopped trying to prove myself to others. My focus now is on proving to myself that I am capable of sustaining a life centered on what I love. I trust my practice, I trust the work, and I don’t rely on external validation to define its value or direction.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That the artist is the center of the industry and its most important element.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I do the work I was trained and built to do. And I was trained in what I decided to do. I have a solid studio practice and more than twenty years of experience as an educator. At this point in my career, both roles are inseparable, each strengthens the other, and neither exists in isolation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.juanalbertonegroni.com
- Instagram: @_n_e_g_r_o_n_i_
Image Credits
Headshot photograph by Caroline Ann Hayes / Artwork images courtesy of the artist, Juan Alberto Negroni
