Retablos de mi Pueblo--page two (of 4 pages arranged in chronological order)

Edwin Báez Carrasquillo
exhibit at Museo de las Américas, San Juan,Puerto Rico




El Pintor del Cerro, 2010

This work, with its outer stained-glass window-like frame, depicts within in a kind of altarpiece/triptych the working Puerto Rican artist, Pablo Marcano García, whose paintings initially depicted the lives of the people but evolved to a stained glass look, in this case, with religious figures. See his website here.

 

Oquendo--Tallador de Caballos, 2010

This work celebrates the artist Angel Luis Oquendo, known for his carved wooden sculptures of horses. The tools of his trade are also represented on the left. The poster on the back wall advertises a "feria de artesanias" in the indigenous village of Jayuya.
 
 

Retablo Espada, 2012

This scene represents the workshop of the Espada family in the city of San Germán, Puerto Rico in the early 19th century. Felipe de la Espada was known for his santos as well as altarpieces commissioned by churches.

The background shows the village of San Germán and its church.
 

Trembló la Tierra, 2013

Like many of his wall reliefs, the story cannot be contained within the frame. Here below and around the framed box are additional sculptural details to underline the destruction of earthquakes in Puerto Rico.
 
The stray dog is the only witness left in this scene of destruction. Above him the battered lamp post is about to fall.
 

Devoción, 2013

This elaborate wall relief depict a woman's fear as a hurricane rips through her neighborhood. The calendar on the wall gives the date of the storm (1928) and inside a tree branch tears through her window. The woman prays while the cat beside her watches the destruction.

Expanding beyond the frame, elements from the central relief are enlarged and repeated outside--the small wooden radio, the calendar, the flowered sack, and the double window with tree branch.
 


Continue to page 3.


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© 2015 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.