In Luz Primordial (Sol y Luna, de Puerto Rico a Los Angeles) (1993), the earliest extant work of this period, light is represented in a surprisingly tactile fashion; thick, distinct brushstrokes condense in a pale yellow nucleus and radiate to the composition’s edges in striations of sienna and forest green. Colón’s focus on the sun and the moon—two celestial bodies that shine with the same light—underscores her longstanding investigation of the relationship between perception and reality, while the radiant central core portends the internal nuclei of her organic wall sculptures. 

Colón’s manifestations of the ephemeral forces of color and light are informed by her close study of Monet, Van Gogh, and other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. In their highly saturated palette of verdant greens and ferrous reds, however, these early paintings also register the formative influence of the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam. From an early age Colón resonated with Lam’s The Jungle (1943), recognizing in his Surrealist-Cubist masterpiece a vision of the Caribbean as a site of colonialist trauma, and indigenous resistance embodied as indomitable nature. This theme infuses a series of raw landscapes in which Colón synthesizes her experiences of particular locales in Puerto Rico and Southern California.