Rafael Trelles was born on April 27, 1957 in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He started studying painting at the age of eleven, under the guidance of Julio Yort (Spanish painter from Cataluña), For the next eleven years he continued his education with other renowned Puerto Rican and Spanish painters.

In 1980, Trelles obtained a Magna Cum Laude Bachelor Degree at the University of Puerto Rico. A year later he won the first prize in painting category at the painters competition sponsored by Revista Sin Nombre. He travelled abroad and visited the most important museums and galeries in Europe (Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Basel, Zurich, Florence, Venice, Rome, Athens, Knossos, Madrid and Barcelona).

In 1983, he travelled to Mexico where he pursued graduate studies at the Universidad Autónoma de México. In 1986, he decided to move to Canary Islands, Spain where he created a special collection of paintings (twenty two pieces) known as Tarot del Universo (Universal Tarot) inspired in the Spanish Tarot cards.

In the same year, he moved back to Puerto Rico and won the first prize in the drawing category at the artists competition sponsored by Revista Sin Nombre. In 1991, he showed an art installation titled Visitas al Velorio (a special homage to Francisco Oller) at the University of Puerto Rico. In 1992 his art installation won the Critics Association Award.

He was granted by "Fondo Nacional para el Financiamiento del Quehacer Cultural de Puerto Rico" with the prize “Premio al Mérito” as an acknowledgement to his excellent cultural and artistic career. In 1997, he showed a special selection of paintings created between 1992-97 at the Ponce Art Museum. In 1998 he received the Art Medal granted by "Asociación Puertorriqueña de Artistas Plásticos" affiliated to UNESCO. Since 1995, Rafael Trelles has been represented by Elite Fine Arts Gallery at Coral Gables, Florida and by Mr. Carlos Conde III in Puerto Rico. He has had important art exhibitions in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, United States, Mexico, France and Germany. In the field of arts, Trelles has also worked on art installations, constructions, performances, custom design, scenography, art at the streets (arte en la calle) and experimental performances.