Puerto Rican artist Enrique Mora is a rare talent with a natural sense for what is beauty, what is art. As a self-taught painter, Mora’s use of passionate colors, voluptuous shapes, and his love for women have led to his unique interpretation of the female form. Color plays a vital role in Mora’s art. Growing up in the Caribbean, Mora was exposed to the lavish colors of a lush island surrounded by a vast deep blue sea. Not only did the aesthetics of the island serve to influence Mora, but also his Puerto Rican heritage, which is full of color, passion and erotica.As a young man, Mora arrived on the Puerto Rican art scene through solo exhibitions and corporate collections. With a desire to expand his audience, Mora spent much of the late 1980’s touring numerous cities throughout Puerto Rico and the United States exposing those in his wake to his brilliant, sensual tropical gift. Never deviating from the island and its Spanish legacy as his central influences, Mora, however, has succumbed to his curiosity for different landscapes and culture, which led him to explore the Caribbean, South America, Germany and the United States. Mora maintains a gallery in San Juan, the city of his birth, but insists that Jacksonville is the city where he made himself as an artist. “I found a niche here,” he says. Local collectors of his work are among an international following that extends as far east as Japan.His works primarily celebrate the female form, focusing on the many roles of woman--as fighter, caretaker and lover. Whether he’s painting wind-blown hair, a pouting set of ruby red lips, or a cobalt blue skyline, his source of inspiration for 15-years has been his personal care-free philosophy. “I [am inspired by] the freedom of birds, the colors of the tropics, the mother in love. I like to fish and dance and have a good time, and I want that feeling to come across in my paintings. I really like feeling good!”Mora has been represented by Stellers Gallery since 1988.