Diógenes Ballester (b. 1956 La Playa de Ponce, Puerto Rico). MFA, U of W at Madison, 1986. Ballester is a visual artist, educator, and writer. He works in different artistic media including painting, printmaking, drawing, new media, and installation art and is recognized as a master of encaustic painting and printmaking. He has received numerous honors for his artistic work and has exhibited widely in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. His essay “Perspectives: On the XII San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Printmaking at the Transition to the 21st Century” as the President of the San Juan Biennial, which challenged printmaking Biennials to look at their history and re-conceptualize printmaking biennials for the 21st century, has been used throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.