Puerto Rico is a hotbed of music, gastronomy, and tourism. Because of this, it is no surprise that Puerto Ricans also share a rich art culture.
Prolific portraitist Jose Campeche captured historical figures living in Puerto Rico during the 18th century. During his tenure, he also created impressive religious portraits; painting more than 400 works just for the church alone.
Impressionist Francisco Oller painted everything from still life to complex paintings like “El Velorio” which serve as vivid windows into Puerto Rico’s past.
Jose Rosa, Antonio Martorell, Ramon Frade, Miguel Pou, the list of talented artists goes on all the way to the contemporary art of today.
The University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (USF CAM) in Tampa, has curated such cultural works of art. Its exhibit titled “Constant Storm: Art From Puerto Rico And The Diaspora.” shines a spotlight on a Puerto Rican population that has increased in Florida. Mass immigration events caused by the back to back natural disasters caused by recent earthquakes, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the COVID pandemic pushed between 30,000 and 50,000 people to the Sunshine State.
“You’re encouraged to start in the smaller gallery,” says Gillian Olortegui, a Student Assistant at the USF CAM. The artists planned out the optimum way to move through the exhibit in a way that would enhance a museum patron’s experience.
By following this programmed order, patrons first experience a set of static art exhibits. The works in this area are housed in a subtly lit space that is serene and quiet. Artwork by Ivelisse Jimenez, Gamaliel Rodriguez, Yiyo Tirado Rivera, and Jorge Gonzalez Santos range from canvas paintings to a sand sculpture which is designed to deteriorate with the environment.
As visitors move away from this section of traditional art styles, patrons move through a small hallway housing a video presentation titled “Foreign in a Domestic Sense” by Natalia Lessalle-Morrillo and Sofia Gallisa Muriente.
“It’s a four video installation that syncs up with each other,” says Olortegui about her favorite part of the exhibit.
The video artwork displays fragmented events which the spectator then becomes part of as they assemble them all together in their mind. This piece of interpretative art is a decompression chamber of sorts that prepares patrons to enter into the more abstract final section of the exhibit.
It is more than obvious once you reach this last section of the Constant Storm exhibit. In contrast with the entrance, visitors are bombarded with bright colors, loud competing sounds, and the jarring use of bold materials.
Standing out are two artworks prominently featured in the promotional material for this particular USF CAM exhibit. First, you run into a brightly colored shaved ice cart titled “Pimp My Piragua” by Miguel Luciano. The piragua, or shaved ice, is a staple of Puerto Rican culture. The piraguero who makes the piraguas is easily identifiable by the carts that they push.
To a Puerto Rican, “Pimp my Piragua” needs little explanation as an art piece that highlights the melting pot of Puerto Rican and US mainland culture. In his piece Luciano takes the traditional piragua cart and “pimps it up” by attaching it to a low-rider style bicycle and painting the whole thing with bright orange paint. To top it off, Luciano added an audio system that would easily be found in any fiebru’s (audiophile) car.
If the organizers of the Constant Storm exhibit would start this section with an extremely bold specimen, they should find an art piece that’s just as strong to finish the exhibit with. Wanda Raimundi and Kristina Tollefson’s combined performance and material art piece fit the bill perfectly.
A professor at the University of Central Florida, Tollefson created a traditional Afro-Puerto Rican dress out of materials such as blue tarp, advertisement signs, and other debris left behind by hurricanes. Wanda Raimundi then used this dress to create an interpretative art piece part where she walked through certain city venues and danced to traditional Afro-Puerto Rican music.
The result of all this effort became a piece titled “Exodus / Pilgrimage” displayed by showing the performances on a video screen and by prominently displaying the dress on a mannequin facing the exit. It’s almost like the exhibit organizers wanted to remind patrons that despite the hardship faced by the people of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, they will make the best of what they have and continue moving forward to preserve their culture into the future.
“Constant Storm: Art From Puerto Rico And The Diaspora” is on display at the USF Contemporary Art Museum through December 4th, 2021.