Livia Ortiz Rios

Livia (b. Puerto Rico) is a New York–based visual artist whose practice explores dualities and the generative power of fragmentation. Through layered works on plexiglass, acetate, and other translucent supports, she merges painting, sculpture, and installation. Her material approach incorporates light, shadow, and reflection, challenging perceptions of order and chaos, structure and fluidity, and the in-between spaces where transformation unfolds.

Livia has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at Embajada Gallery (San Juan, PR), Fjord Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR). She has participated in residencies and fellowships such as Vermont Studio Center, Can Serrat (Spain), and most recently R.A.R.O. Bogotá (Colombia, 2025), where she deepened her exploration of layering, fragmentation, and cultural in-betweenness.

She holds an MFA in Studio Arts from Memphis College of Art and a BA in Fine Arts from the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.

At Woodward, Ortiz Ríos will develop a new body of colored pencil drawings on paper and acetate that explore fragmentation, resilience, and transformation through layered transparency, light, and shadow.