Alexandra Acosta Vilanova (El Vocero) writes about Puerto Rican artist Enoc Pérez, whose newest exhibition, “Las islas del encanto” [The Islands of Enchantment]—curated by Juan Carlos López Quintero— is on view on the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR) till April 2023. Listed here are excerpts from her article:
In relation to Puerto Rico, artist Enoc Pérez can’t cut back it to “portray flags or writing messages on work.” He assures us that the Island is an area of contradictions and complexities. “The buildings themselves, the inns are progressive modernist structure, and, on the identical time, they’re the image of the colony.”
Pérez is taken into account one of many fundamental exponents of latest artwork. He developed his inventive profession in america, however his work is included in exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and North America. [. . .]
He’s exhibiting Las islas del encanto on the Museum of Artwork of Puerto Rico (MAPR) with a collection of 59 items in oil on canvas, which revisit reminiscences of iconic constructions, interiors, and landscapes. Works akin to Normandie, Lodge La Concha, San Juan, Caribe Hilton, Ponce Inter Continental and Lodge San Juan, Isla Verde stand out.
Juan Carlos López Quintero, curator of the exhibition, defined, “These buildings symbolize a promise of happiness, of modernity, of nice achievements. And also you see that at present a lot of them are in ruins. That is a crucial element. That’s the reason it’s the island of enchantment and the islands, as a result of you will note that there are six moments in Enoch’s portray that talk of that promise of happiness.”
Pérez affirms that he paints actuality, “I’m not inventing something. I paint no matter captures my consideration. Optimistic or unfavourable, it doesn’t matter.”
“By means of panorama we are able to decide the world. The panorama can be us. That panorama belongs to you, it belongs to me and what we supply inside, no one can take it away from you, besides storms and that sort of factor. So, what I’m making an attempt to do with these landscapes is to stay standing, to maintain up, as a result of each time there’s a storm, we lose one thing, as a folks,” the artist stated in an interview with EL VOCERO.
“There’s additionally the query of how we Puerto Ricans additionally succeed, regardless of how unhealthy the catastrophe; I don’t see myself as a sufferer. For instance, I noticed a video of those women cleansing a home within the south of the island after the final storm and the home fully flooded, however there they had been, dancing. I stated to myself, ‘Ah, see, a society like this, you possibly can’t kill it.’ I’ve by no means seen such a factor. And that’s what I wish to concentrate on,” added the painter. [. . .]
Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero. See unique article (in Spanish) at https://www.elvocero.com/escenario/cultura/enoc-p-rez-y-las-islas-del-encanto/article_c2e97832-5960-11ed-8e57-17d1ad17c35f.html
[Photo by Peter Amador Rivera/EL VOCERO.]