On April 9 the Institute for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) showcased the work of two Puerto Rican filmmakers, Richard Santiago and Jorge “Fish” Rodriguez.

Richard Santiago presented a brief excerpt of a documentary he is making with Rodríguez on Puerto Rico boxers. Before the film was shown, Santiago spoke about the commitment that young Puerto Rican boxers make to their training, “These boxers are like Tibeten monks,” said Santiago. “No drinking, no sex, etc. to prepare for fighting.”

Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez shared a myriad of projects he’s worked on past and present. He showed the music video he directed for Calle 13 for the song AtreveteTe-Te, which won a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 2006. Rodríguez worked intently to create a music video that challenged the types of images seen in mainstream hip-hop videos.  The video’s protagonists do not wear massive gold chains and pop bottles of champagne.  The video also calls into question the Americanization of Puerto Rican life by including images of Puerto Rican women wearing blond wigs walking in front of rows of houses painted the same color, reminiscent of Levittown.

Rodríguez did not formally study filmmaking; instead he studied sculpture and specialized in image and design in college.  He relied on on-line tutorials to learn film techniques. Rodríguez became involved in film after a trip he made to Argentina. He was at a bar in a poor neighborhood of Buenos Aires discussing politics and Latin American history with locals. Through that conversation he became aware of South America’s “Dirty War” during which thousands of students, intellectuals, and professionals were targeted by the Argentine government. It was then that he vowed to return to Argentina within a year to create a documentary on the Plaza de Mayo massacre.

During that trip to Argentina, Rodriguez’s consciousness about Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States was fomented. That consciousness- raising experience was artistically transformative. When referring to his art before his trip, Rodriguez’s said, “everything was superficial.”

Jorge “Fish” Rodríguez has also directed the music video for Pasarela by Puerto Rican rapper/singer Dalmata. Rodríguez plans to create a full-length feature film in the future and continues to create films in order “to provoke, to show reality, to talk about what’s happening.”

by Eric López

Eric López

The Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) opened a new exhibit entitled “Úteros” by the artist Richard Santiago on Saturday, April 3.

Santiago is a renowned Puerto Rican painter and filmmaker who resides in Puerto Rico and has exhibited work in galleries all over the world.  He has a B.A. in Art from Marist College in New York and an MFA in Painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

The artist recently returned to painting, after pursuing film for several years.  His return to this medium coincided with the birth of his son.  Santiago spoke about the symbolic meaning of pregnancy and compared the universe to a womb. He poses that there is a cosmic connection between women and the

universe.

“Úteros” is a collection of over 20 paintings that contrast retrospective pieces from the period before Santiago stopped painting with his most recent work.

The images in Santiago’s paintings range from surrealistic landscapes with human figures to cosmic phenomena like black holes.  Whether using vibrant colors to create abstract representations of space or depicting Puerto Rican peasants from the 1940’s, Santiago’s images are captivating and powerful.

The pieces in this exhibit show sensitivity to and an acute awareness of the intersection and inter-relatedness of the human experience, the universe, art and Puerto Rican historical memory.  “Úteros” can be viewed at IPRAC until June.

Magdaleno Castañeda –

On the eve of Three Kings Day, Humboldt Park witnessed a special visit by Puerto Rican artist, Osvaldo Budet, whose paintings were unveiled at the opening night of “Romantic Political Affair,” an exhibit of the artist’s work at the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC). Despite the cold of a typical Chicago winter, dozens of people, including a television camera crew, gathered at IPRAC for an evening of art and appetizers. The exhibit consisted of seven paintings that varied between color and black and white.

Ray Vázquez, president of the IPRAC Board of Directors, welcomed everyone to the opening of the exhibit, which will run until March 5. José E. López, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, introduced Budet and thanked him for his visit, as well as for the mural Budet created at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School. “How do we camouflage through art, messages we want to send about resistance,” was the question López asked the audience in explaining the themes behind Budet’s work.

“There is a duality between comedy and tragedy in Mexican life and cultural expression that resonates with Budet’s art in “Romantic Political Affair,” said López, who made also made connections between Budet’s work to that of Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo. When Budet spoke, he first thanked everyone for attending the exhibit and explained a little about his paintings saying, “I try to make politics more accessible to me and to all through humor.” This humor was visible in the “Where’s Waldo?” characteristic of Budet’s painting, which all include an image of himself. “Humor is a key to deal with anything,” Budet said. Many of his painting combine the humor with political events from the past like the Spanish Civil War as well as the Vietnam War. Budet also emphasized the importance of identity in his work. “The only thing we have is identity and we have to unite to keep our identity and respect other’s identity.”

After his speech, Budet socialized with the crowd and answered the public’s questions regarding his artwork. He also invited everyone to the community workshop and lecture at IPRAC held on January 9. It was great for Budet to have taken time from his busy schedule of studying art in Germany to visit Paseo Boricua. IPRAC was a very fitting place for the “Romantic Political Affair” exhibit because as Budet said, “Here is a place that preserves our culture.”