Remembering Ramón Frade & his drawings

The exhibition Entre líneas: Frade y el dibujo contemporáneo (Between Lines: Frade and Contemporary drawing) at the Art Museum Dr. Pío López Martínez of the University of Puerto Rico in Cayey opened at the beginning 2011. 35 contemporary artists participate in this exhibition in homage to the Puerto Rican artist Ramón Frade and the creative process of drawing. Among these artists I’m participating with two of my drawings on paper: “Io Saturnalia” and “Arcadia”, both done in 2010.

Io Saturnalia (2010) pencil and ink on paper 12" x 8"

Last year while in Puerto Rico I had the opportunity to visit the museum and view some of the work of Frade I hadn’t seen before, like photographs, drawings and other studies this master painter executed for his paintings.  I consider it important to mention that Frade is not only considered one of the most important Puerto Rican painters of the past century but that he was also an exceptional draughtsman, architect and photographer. The experience was quite refreshing. In my opinion, the traditional practice with the painter’s trade of preparing preliminary sketches, taking photographs and drawing has been forgotten by many in the contemporary “mcculture” driven by immediate consumption of technically undernourished products with lack of content. In the exhibition Entre Líneas: Frade y el dibujo contemporáneo, the importance, soundness and validity of drawing as part of the visual repertoire and practice of the contemporary artist is quite evident.

Drawing, preliminary study and photograph by Frade

Frade's Study for El pan nuestro  (Our Daily Bread) 1905

During my visit I had a chance to meet with the curator of this exhibition

Mariel Quiñones Vélez. Mariel very attentively guided me though the museum and talked about the collection. I remember we talked about the importance of the process in art and preparing sketches for a work of art. It is one big important part that is missed by most people who visit a museum and see the works of great masters.  And it is precisely this vital part of the work of the artist that this museum does great justice by showing us drawings, preliminary studies, photographic material, documents and even the painter’s own palette, elements that are so revealing of Frade and his work.

Photo of the Puerto Rican painter Ramón Frade

Furniture, easel, painting palette and other objects from Frade's studio

Me with Mariel Quiñones Vélez, the curator at the museum

To end the exhibition Entre Líneas: Frade y el dibujo contemporáneo, the museum invites us to mingle with the participating artists on December 4th of 2011 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.  for reasons that are beyond me I will not be able to be there with all of you but I encourage you to visit the museum, see the works and meet these contemporary  Puerto Rican artists in a dialogue with the work of Ramón  Frade.  The exhibition will be held until January 10^th 2012. During the holiday season the museum will be open to the public the following days from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.: December 27^th to the 30^th & January 2^nd to the 4^th & the 7^th & 8^th of 2012. Starting from January 9^th the Museum will be open with its regular schedule.  For more information you can call 787-738-0650 or senda n e-mail at jonathan.berrios@upr.edu 

From Saints, heroes and corporations: Archetypes in evolution

In recent years my work has been evolving not only technically but conceptually.  From my paintings of saints and corporations to the study of mythological subject matter and now astrology, there has been a guiding force behind this creative impulse.   It has been relatively recent that I have gown aware of this guiding force that is far more important than it’s time/culture based visual expressions.  I have come to the conclusion that saints, heroes, gods,  monsters and even corporations today are children of something called an "archetype”. I include corporations because our government considers them as people. Personally I see them closer to act like gods or monsters.

An archetype is a transcendental energy that finds expression in various human forms and also in nature. It is a cosmic energy therefore it is beyond humanity. In astrology we see them as constellations and planets that act upon our lives. In many religions they take form as deities or saints. In popular culture we see them in their most trivial and superficial forms as pop stars and corporate mascots. Archetypes can be found everywhere and they inhabit our inner being.  In nature different animals are possessed by these archetypes and for this reason many animist tribal religions see them as guardian spirits.

By studying historic, mythic, religious and contemporary narratives long enough I have discovered recurring pattern that enables me to point out the interconnectedness of it all. As an artist I find this quite fascinating and a tremendous source of inspiration. In 2006 I started painting catholic saints and re’contextualizing these In the light of our neo-colonial consumerist culture. I started to wonder about exploring other possible forms. Eventually in 2010 I grew interested in painting heroes and gods from classical mythology.  After reading Cosmos and Psyche Intimations of a New World View by RichardTarnas I was drawn in to the study of archetypal astrology.

By exploring myths I found much relevance in astrology as the myths find concrete expressions in our culture today. Greco-Roman Mythology still lives on in our calendar, the days of the week, our zodiac wheel and they are very much alive in us  and all aspects of society whether we are aware of them or not. Today I’ve taken the task of compiling an inventory of images from religious iconography, mythology, astrology, Tarot and twelve top global issues and putting them together in one of many charts that I make with the intention of determining the underlying archetype.  To find their correspondences and relations has become my main focus in art.  It is becoming evident in my latest project Mcolonial Citizen. I will soon share more on my explorations on this subject and my latest project.

All images in this entry are taken from the drawing journals of the author. Copyrighted material 2011.

Painting Today, What does it mean?

In an age of fast food, fast cars fast information and advanced technology, why paint? What is it that drives me to dedicate my whole life to such an antiquated practice that involves the use of long sticks with animal hair glued on the tips picking up mineral pigments suspended in oil and applying and moving this substance around and over a piece of wood or linen. Doesn't this seem awkwardly out of touch and sync with our times? There are many ways to see this issue but this has been a question I've had for some time and still I keep painting. Maybe I already answered the question without knowing it.  Of course I’m not the only one or the first to ask the question of why to paint today.

Me at my new studio in Savannah, Georgia

I remember this question really caught my imagination in a class I had at SCAD (where I did my M.F.A. in painting). The class was “Painting theories and processes” and it was taught by Professor Craig Drennen at that time. The question took me by surprise and everyone had different responses to it but what mattered most was to stop and ask why. Conceptual art delves much into the “why’s” and there is much to be learned from this simple question. Painters seldom ponder on the nature of what they do but those who do, benefit greatly from possibilities the answer may award. Many arrive to a satisfying conclusion and solid justification of why they do what they do but often have to go through a period of crisis before seeing the light. It is like entering a dark cold cavern and feeling lost and hopeless for a moment but then by persistence we may see the light at the end of the tunnel. In this cavern we may find the remnants of primitive civilizations and some of the first images made by man: paintings. By re-discovering this perpetual mystery one may be possessed by the magic, the ritual and initiation involved in the first human creations. There is something ancestral, hidden and mysterious about painting.

Cave paintings at Altamira, Spain

We can stand in awe of a masterpiece and there is a catharsis. Our imagination flies and then after a while everything falls into place, everything makes sense, just like a divinely inspired sermon on the mount. We understand, not in a rational manner but in a much more profound way.

Allegory to Prudence (2011) By Patrick McGrath Muñiz

On display at Antigua Galeria de Arte, Guatemala.

Today we are surrounded by technology and our lives seem pressed between quick consumption and working hard, making money to pay the bills. Now everything is downloaded, streamed or paid online. There are apps for everything and simulating reality on our I-phones is our means of understanding reality Life really changed with digital cameras, Photoshop, U-Tube, Facebook and our own blogs or websites. Now anyone can be an artist, writer, movie director and photographer. So where does painting fit into all of this? Even though painting has been manipulated, digitalized, uploaded, posted and downloaded, there is an essential part of painting that remains resistant to change.  There is a crafty hard-labor element about it. It requires patience, persistence and lots of different skills. Yes, there is more than one skill involved in the act of painting and many take painting as just one skill. Some of the many skills are: Drawing, composing, mixing, conveying the illusion of the third dimension (for figurative painters), creative thought, conceptual analysis, decision making and critical thought. And I’m not even mentioning all the commercial skills involved. 

My painting palette

So for those who think this is just an easy pleasant hobby-like task, think about these skills as those required for any other job. Just think of how much work goes into a painting and how easily dismissed or unnoticed it goes by the general public. Many of my paintings require days, even weeks to create. It is not uncommon to see people go by and look at a painting for less than a minute. Have TV commercials, that last less than that, injected ADHD into our minds? Or maybe it’s the 15 minute ones on U-tube.  Did I mention paintings require attention skills also?

Detail of one of my paintings "The Judgement" (2009)

By painting today I reaffirm my connection to the past, I re-connect to my primitive ritualistic origins. By painting as opposed to taking pictures with a digital camera and manipulating them in Photoshop, I insist in the importance of hard manual work in creating a unique piece of art. Even though I take many pictures, work them in Photoshop and do collages, I see these as means to an end and my end is to produce a painting.  I respect the work of digital artists and photographers as they have developed their own set of skills to make their work. Painting on the other hand is not a product of our time or recent history as photography, digital art or even conceptual art.  If one wishes to know what the meaning of painting is just have a look at the history of it and that will give you a very good sense of it. By painting today I invoke the inner abstract landscapes of the modern psyche, the spiritually elevated landscapes of Impressionism, the Baroque Catholic saints, the neo-Pagan gods of the Renaissance, the ancient Egyptian mummy portraits of Fayum and the magical animal spirits of Altamira.  Painting transcends because it deals with the spirit inhabited in matter and brings everything back to life. Without painting, we would be deprived of a vital part of our humanity. This is the main reason why I paint.

Working on my most recent project "Mcolonial Citizen" twelve retablo paintings about social inequality in  our Neo-colonial times, subject that I will write about on my next blog entry.