Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Puerto Rico Connection

Old San Juan
December 2009




The Connection


I read a great article in the New York Times about Carmen Herrera being the hot new thing in the art world at the age of 94. Tony Bechara, said “We have a saying in Puerto Rico,” “The bus — la guagua — always comes for those who wait.” I LOVE her response and whole attitude, she said "“Well, Tony, I’ve been at the bus stop for 94 years!” LOL! There was much she said that resonated with me. In regards to painting “I do it because I have to do it; it’s a compulsion that also gives me pleasure,” and "Ms. Herrera was sustained, she said, by the unflinching support of her husband of 61 years" (I am lucky to have the same sort of support). "When pressed about what looks to some like a sensual female shape in the painting, she said: “Look, to me it was white, beautiful white, and then the white was shrieking for the green, and the little triangle created a force field. People see very sexy things — dirty minds! — but to me sex is sex, and triangles are triangles.”
People bring their own experiences and interpretations in viewing artwork but I find it annoying when they try to impose that view as being how the artist meant it or claiming that is the only interpretation.
Sometimes people see what they want to see, yes!